Jews in Weimar Germany Revision Resource (Unit 1)

By Sam McConnochie

Glossary:
Secularisation: Process of moving away from religious observance and fitting into the culture around you. Assimilation: Integrating into society by adopting language, culture and values of the mainstream society. Also known as Acculturation. Some strong Jews felt they would lose their Jewish identify and refused to integrate.

History of the Jews:

The history of the Jews from very early on was not good: 135: Romans prohibit circumcision , reading the Torah and eating unleavened bread over Jewish rituals.

855: Jews expelled from Italy by Louis II

1349 Jews through Europe massacred 6,000 burned to death in Mainz, 500 killed in Brussels and Jews in Frankfurt etc commit suicide to avoid torture. 1517: Pope declares all Jews must live in Ghettos and wear badges of shame. 1648: 100,000 to 200,000 killed in Chmelnitski Pogroms in Ukraine 1941-5: Six million Jews killed in the Holocaust

Jews in Germany:
Orthodox Jews: Strictly observe Judaism. Example, didnt assimilate into Germany due to the fear of losing Jewish identity. Assimilated Jews: Didnt practice Judaism and some even converted to other religions. Threw themselves into German culture. Most were fiercely loyal to Germany and didnt want to be a Jewish German or a German Jew they wanted to be just German.

Zionist Jews: Believed that Germany was not the holy land they had been searching for so they should not assimilated with the country as they thought there was better places out there.
Volkisch Germans: Nationalistic Germans who didnt believe the Jews could become Germans as they felt Jews were Jews and you should be judged on race not citizenship Treaty of Versailles: Had split up many parts of Germany and some ethnic Germans were no longer part of Germany with the borders always changing. Very hard during the time to know if you were German, Jewish or something else. Social Structure: 1. Top were Jews who reached great wealth and were celebrities in culture like writers, publishers and composers. 2. Successful Jews businessmen who have had a good education at University and are in law or medicine. 3. Small businessmen and craftsmen 4. Polacks poor Eastern Jew that found assimilation hard and didnt find employment in Germany easy. They were easy targets for the Anti Semites.

Jewish beliefs during the Weimar Years

Political Beliefs: Jews were found in all parties. Liberal DDP, Catholic Centre Party but most voted for a democratic party. Religion: Orthodox Jews supported Judaism. Neo Orthodox and Liberal Jews felt that assimilation was the best way forward for themselves.

Economic: Many lived good lives as businessmen and craftsmen. Some in the middle. Some 75,000 Eastern Jews or Ostjuden found assimilation hard and didnt prosper.
Political outlooks: Liberal. Liberal Germany had made it possible for Jews to be successful so they continued to support it. They identified with Liberal Germany as they once were outsiders now they were in the thick of it.

Jobs and Culture:

Jews were new to Germany and that was a disadvantage to them as many of the job markets were saturated. They were cornered into doing jobs Christianity did not approve like money lending which lead to Jewish having a large influence over the banks in Germany for some time. Rothschild's, Mendelsohn's families owned 50%of private banks. Jews made up 1% of population but were 16% of lawyer 11% of doctors. Jews used the new reforms in Liberal Germany to expand into new markets that were not saturated by Germans for example Panel Doctors used to look after the health of employees in business. 70,000 Jews served in WW1 and 12,000 died. Most were extremely loyal and patriotic and served well and were awarded medals.

Influenced the Media greatly. Berlin Tageblutt and Frankfurter Zeitung were 2 Jewish newspapers that presented the liberal views many Jews had.
Jewish firms dominated coalmines, steelworks and chemical industry. 60% of Jews were in some form of trade/commerce 80% of cloth industry in Germany was Jewish owned.

Average Jews earn three times as much as other Germans.( Cause of some Anti Semitism in Germany).
Jews were predominately middle class craftsmen or businessmen. Jews made up 1% of the population but were 16% of all lawyers and 11% of all doctors in Germany. The legal profession fell into place with their morals and ideas. Jewish musicians, artists and composers helped Weimar Germany flourish in culture.

Extent of Assimilation:
For many Jews fully assimilating was too much. Their clothes, lifestyle and language still showed they were Jewish. Even for the ones who accepted assimilation it wasnt their fault they could be integrated. Many of the Jews had strong hopes for life in Germany. They hoped a liberal government would give them more protection from discrimination and attacks. Marriage to other religions was at an all time high at 54% supporting the fact that many Jews were changing their ways. Many Jews had left the Zionist Federation because they no longer felt the need to carry on moving.

Some Orthodox and Zionist Jews felt anxiety that they would never be fully happy in Germany. They didnt view it as their homeland and they didnt liken the idea of assimilating due to the idea of losing their Jewish Identity. Suicide was at a hig h and divorce rates too. It seemed many Jews couldnt handle being on a limbo. Am I Jewish or German?

The Individuals:
Walter Gropius, Bruno Taut and Erich Mendelsohn- group of architects made important inroads for social housing. Arnold Schoenberg and Hanns Eisler- Jewish composers who did well and made famous music in Weimar Germany. Julius Magnus- Editor of journal German Bar Association. Erich Frey- Famous lawyer who worked in underworld justice. Schoen Family- Owned thirty stores that sold clothes and shoes. Eugene Guttmann- Head of Dresdner Bank. Jakob Goldschmidt- Darmstadt National Bank. Both these men reinforced Germany economy after WW1.

Theodor Wolff- worked for a publisher company called Mosse. In 1918 founder of the DDP (German Liberal Party)
Rathenau Family: Controlled large electrical engineering firm. All of these people were Jews they all had a large influence on Germany however it wasnt massively out of proportion that is what the Nazis want you to think.