To install click the Add extension button. That's it.


Kelly Slayton
Congratulations on this excellent venture… what a great idea!
Alexander Grigorievskiy
Live Statistics
English Articles
Improved in 24 Hours
Added in 24 Hours

History of the Jews in Germany

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

German Jews
יהדות גרמניה‬ (Hebrew)
Deutsche Juden (German)
דייטשע יידן (Yiddish)
Total population
118,000[1] to 250,000[2]
Regions with significant populations
 Germany Israel USA Chile Argentina Brazil Mexico Colombia UK
German, Russian, English, Hebrew, other immigrant languages, historically: Yiddish
Judaism, Agnosticism, Atheism or other religions
Related ethnic groups
other Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews

Jewish settlers founded the Ashkenazi Jewish community in the Early (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (circa 1000–1299 CE). The community survived under Charlemagne, but suffered during the Crusades. Accusations of well poisoning during the Black Death (1346–53) led to mass slaughter of German Jews,[3] and they fled in large numbers to Poland. The Jewish communities of the cities of Mainz, Speyer, and Worms became the center of Jewish life during Medieval times. "This was a golden age as area bishops protected the Jews resulting in increased trade and prosperity."[4] The First Crusade began an era of persecution of Jews in Germany.[5] Entire communities, like those of Trier, Worms, Mainz, and Cologne, were murdered. The war upon the Hussite heretics became the signal for renewed persecution of Jews. The end of the 15th century was a period of religious hatred that ascribed to Jews all possible evils. The atrocities during the Khmelnytsky Uprising committed by Khmelnytskyi's Cossacks (1648, in the Ukrainian part of southeastern Poland) drove the Polish Jews back into western Germany. With Napoleon's fall in 1815, growing nationalism resulted in increasing repression. From August to October 1819, pogroms that came to be known as the Hep-Hep riots took place throughout Germany. During this time, many German states stripped Jews of their civil rights. As a result, many German Jews began to emigrate.

From the time of Moses Mendelssohn until the 20th century, the community gradually achieved emancipation, and then prospered.[6] In January 1933, some 522,000 Jews lived in Germany. After the Nazis took power and implemented their antisemitic ideology and policies, the Jewish community was increasingly persecuted. About 60% (numbering around 304,000) emigrated during the first six years of the Nazi dictatorship. In 1933, persecution of the Jews became an official Nazi policy. In 1935 and 1936, the pace of antisemitic persecution increased. In 1936, Jews were banned from all professional jobs, effectively preventing them from participating in education, politics, higher education, and industry. The SS ordered the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht) the night of November 9–10, 1938. The storefronts of Jewish shops and offices were smashed and vandalized, and many synagogues were destroyed by fire. This prompted a wave of Jewish mass emigration from Germany throughout the 1930s. Only roughly 214,000 Jews were left in Germany proper (1937 borders) on the eve of World War II.

Beginning in late 1941, the remaining community was subjected to systematic deportations to ghettos, and ultimately, to death camps in Eastern Europe.[7] In May 1943, Germany was declared judenrein (clean of Jews; also judenfrei: free of Jews).[7] By the end of the war, an estimated 160,000 to 180,000 German Jews had been killed by the Nazi regime, by the Germans and their collaborators.[7] A total of about 6 million European Jews were murdered under the direction of the Nazis, in the genocide that later came to be known as the Holocaust.

After the war, the Jewish community in Germany started to slowly grow again. Beginning around 1990, a spurt of growth was fueled by immigration from the former Soviet Union, so that at the turn of the 21st century, Germany had the only growing Jewish community in Europe,[8] and the majority of German Jews were Russian-speaking. By 2014, the Jewish population of Germany had leveled off at 118,000, not including non-Jewish members of households; the total estimated 'enlarged' population of Jews living in Germany, including non-Jewish household members, is close to 250,000. [9]

Currently in Germany, denial of the Holocaust or that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust (§ 130 StGB) is a criminal act; violations can be punished with up to five years of prison.[10] In 2006, on the occasion of the World Cup held in Germany, the then Interior Minister of Germany, Wolfgang Schäuble, urged vigilism against far-right extremism, saying: "We will not tolerate any form of extremism, xenophobia, or anti-Semitism."[11] In spite of Germany's measures against these groups and anti-Semites, a number of incidents have occurred in recent years.

From Rome to the Crusades

Jews depicted ca. 1185 in the Hortus deliciarum of the Abbess Herrad of Landsberg.

Jewish migration from Roman Italy is considered the most likely source of the first Jews on German territory. While the date of the first settlement of Jews in the regions which the Romans called Germania Superior, Germania Inferior, and Magna Germania is not known, the first authentic document relating to a large and well-organized Jewish community in these regions dates from 321[12][13][14][15] and refers to Cologne on the Rhine[16][17][18] (Jewish immigrants began settling in Rome itself as early as 139 BC[19]). It indicates that the legal status of the Jews there was the same as elsewhere in the Roman Empire. They enjoyed some civil liberties, but were restricted regarding the dissemination of their culture, the keeping of non-Jewish slaves, and the holding of office under the government.


Charlemagne (800–814) readily made use of the Church for the purpose of infusing coherence into the loosely joined parts of his extensive empire, by any means a blind tool of the canonical law. He employed Jews for diplomatic purposes, sending, for instance, a Jew as interpreter and guide with his embassy to Harun al-Rashid. Yet, even then, a gradual change occurred in the lives of the Jews. The Church forbade Christians to be usurers, so the Jews secured the remunerative monopoly of money-lending. This decree caused a mixed reaction of people in general in the Frankish empire (including Germany) to the Jews: Jewish people were sought everywhere, as well as avoided. This ambivalence about Jews occurred because their capital was indispensable, while their business was viewed as disreputable. This curious combination of circumstances increased Jewish influence and Jews went about the country freely, settling also in the eastern portions (Old Saxony and Duchy of Thuringia). Aside from Cologne, the earliest communities were established in Mainz, Worms, Speyer, and Regensburg.[20]

The status of the German Jews remained unchanged under Charlemagne's successor, Louis the Pious. Jews were unrestricted in their commerce; however, they paid somewhat higher taxes into the state treasury than did the non-Jews. A special officer, the Judenmeister, was appointed by the government to protect Jewish privileges. The later Carolingians, however, followed the demands of the Church more and more. The bishops continually argued at the synods for including and enforcing decrees of the canonical law, with the consequence that the majority Christian populace mistrusted the Jewish unbelievers. This feeling, among both princes and people, was further stimulated by the attacks on the civic equality of the Jews. Beginning with the 10th century, Holy Week became more and more a period of antisemitic activities, yet the Saxon emperors did not treat the Jews badly, exacting from them merely the taxes levied upon all other merchants. Although the Jews in Germany were as ignorant as their contemporaries in secular studies, they could read and understand the Hebrew prayers and the Bible in the original text. Halakhic studies began to flourish about 1000.

At that time, Rav Gershom ben Judah was teaching at Metz and Mainz, gathering about him pupils from far and near. He is described in Jewish historiography as a model of wisdom, humility, and piety, and became known to succeeding generations as the "Light of the Exile".[21] In highlighting his role in the religious development of Jews in the German lands, the Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906) draws a direct connection to the great spiritual fortitude later shown by the Jewish communities in the era of the Crusades:


Cultural and religious centre of European Jewry

The Jewish communities of the cities of Speyer, Worms, and Mainz formed the league of cities which became the center of Jewish life during Medieval times. These are referred to as the ShUM cities, after the first letters of the Hebrew names: Shin for Speyer (Shpira), Waw for Worms (Varmaisa) and Mem for Mainz (Magentza). The Takkanot Shum (Hebrew: תקנות שו"ם‎ "Enactments of ShUM") were a set of decrees formulated and agreed upon over a period of decades by their Jewish community leaders. The official website for the city of Mainz states:



Historian John Man describes Mainz as "the capital of European Jewry", noting that Gershom ben Judah "was the first to bring copies of the Talmud to Western Europe" and that his directives "helped Jews adapt to European practices."[23]:27–28 Gershom's school attracted Jews from all over Europe, including the famous biblical scholar Rashi;[24] and "in the mid-14th century, it had the largest Jewish community in Europe: some 6,000."[25] "In essence," states the City of Mainz web site, "this was a golden age as area bishops protected the Jews resulting in increased trade and prosperity."[4]

A period of massacres (1096–1349)

Mobs of French and German Crusaders led by Peter the Hermit ravaged Jewish communities in Speyer, Worms, and Mainz during the Rhineland massacres of 1096.

The First Crusade began an era of persecution of Jews in Germany, especially in the Rhineland.[5] Entire communities, like those of Trier, Worms, Mainz, and Cologne, were murdered. The Jewish community of Speyer was saved by the bishop, but 800 were slain in Worms. About 12,000 Jews are said to have perished in the Rhenish cities alone between May and July 1096. Alleged crimes, like desecration of the host, ritual murder, poisoning of wells, and treason, brought hundreds to the stake and drove thousands into exile. Jews were alleged to have caused the inroads of the Mongols, though they suffered equally with the Christians. When the Black Death swept over Europe in 1348–49, some Christians communities accused Jews of poisoning wells. In the Erfurt Massacre of 1349, the members of the entire Jewish community were murdered or expelled from the city, due to superstitions about the Black Death. Royal policy and public ambivalence towards Jews helped the persecuted Jews fleeing the German-speaking lands to form the foundations of what would become the largest Jewish community in Europe in what is now Poland/Ukraine/Romania/Belarus/Lithuania.

In the Holy Roman Empire

Etching of the expulsion of the Jews from Frankfurt on August 23, 1614: The text says, "1,380 persons old and young were counted at the exit of the gate."





The 15th century did not bring any amelioration. What happened in the time of the Crusades happened again. The war upon the Hussites became the signal for renewed persecution of Jews. The Jews of Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia passed through all the terrors of death, forced baptism, or voluntary self-immolation for the sake of their faith. When the Hussites made peace with the Church, the Pope sent the Franciscan friar John of Capistrano to win the renegades back into the fold and inspire them with loathing for heresy and unbelief; 41 martyrs were burned in Wrocław alone, and all Jews were forever banished from Silesia. The Franciscan friar Bernardine of Feltre brought a similar fate upon the communities in southern and western Germany. As a consequence of the fictitious confessions extracted under torture from the Jews of Trent, the populace of many cities, especially of Regensburg, fell upon the Jews and massacred them.


Moses Mendelssohn

Though reading German books was forbidden in the 1700s by Jewish inspectors who had a measure of police power in Germany, Moses Mendelson found his first German book, an edition of Protestant theology, at a well-organized system of Jewish charity for needy Talmud students. Mendelssohn read this book and found proof of the existence of God – his first meeting with a sample of European letters. This was only the beginning to Mendelssohn's inquiries about the knowledge of life. Mendelssohn learned many new languages, and with his whole education consisting of Talmud lessons, he thought in Hebrew and translated for himself every new piece of work he met into this language. The divide between the Jews and the rest of society was caused by a lack of translation between these two languages, and Mendelssohn translated the Torah into German, bridging the gap between the two; this book allowed Jews to speak and write in German, preparing them for participation in German culture and secular science. In 1750, Mendelssohn began to serve as a teacher in the house of Isaac Bernhard, the owner of a silk factory, after beginning his publications of philosophical essays in German. Mendelssohn conceived of God as a perfect Being and had faith in "God's wisdom, righteousness, mercy, and goodness." He argued, "the world results from a creative act through which the divine will seeks to realize the highest good, " and accepted the existence of miracles and revelation as long as belief in God did not depend on them. He also believed that revelation could not contradict reason. Like the deists, Mendelssohn claimed that reason could discover the reality of God, divine providence, and immortality of the soul. He was the first to speak out against the use of excommunication as a religious threat. At the height of his career, in 1769, Mendelssohn was publicly challenged by a Christian apologist, a Zurich pastor named John Lavater, to defend the superiority of Judaism over Christianity. From then on, he was involved in defending Judaism in print. In 1783, he published Jerusalem, or On Religious Power and Judaism. Speculating that no religious institution should use coercion and emphasized that Judaism does not coerce the mind through dogma, he argued that through reason, all people could discover religious philosophical truths, but what made Judaism unique was its revealed code of legal, ritual, and moral law. He said that Jews must live in civil society, but only in a way that their right to observe religious laws is granted, while also recognizing the needs for respect, and multiplicity of religions. He campaigned for emancipation and instructed Jews to form bonds with the gentile governments, attempting to improve the relationship between Jews and Christians while arguing for tolerance and humanity. He became the symbol of the Jewish Enlightenment, the Haskalah.[26]

Early 18th Century


In the late 18th century, a youthful enthusiasm for new ideals of religious equality began to take hold in the western world. Austrian Emperor Joseph II was foremost in espousing these new ideals. As early as 1782, he issued the Patent of Toleration for the Jews of Lower Austria, thereby establishing civic equality for his Jewish subjects.

Before 1806, when general citizenship was largely nonexistent in the Holy Roman Empire, its inhabitants were subject to varying estate regulations. In different ways from one territory of the empire to another, these regulations classified inhabitants into different groups, such as dynasts, members of the court entourage, other aristocrats, city dwellers (burghers), Jews, Huguenots (in Prussia a special estate until 1810), free peasants, serfs, peddlers and Gypsies, with different privileges and burdens attached to each classification. Legal inequality was the principle.

The concept of citizenship was mostly restricted to cities, especially free imperial cities. No general franchise existed, which remained a privilege for the few, who had inherited the status or acquired it when they reached a certain level of taxed income or could afford the expense of the citizen's fee (Bürgergeld). Citizenship was often further restricted to city dwellers affiliated to the locally dominant Christian denomination (Calvinism, Roman Catholicism, or Lutheranism). City dwellers of other denominations or religions and those who lacked the necessary wealth to qualify as citizens were considered to be mere inhabitants who lacked political rights, and were sometimes subject to revocable residence permits.



In the German kingdom of Prussia, the government materially modified the promises made in the disastrous year of 1813. The promised uniform regulation of Jewish affairs was time and again postponed. In the period between 1815 and 1847, no less than 21 territorial laws affecting Jews in the older eight provinces of the Prussian state were in effect, each having to be observed by part of the Jewish community. At that time, no official was authorized to speak in the name of all Prussian Jews, or Jewry in most of the other 41 German states, let alone for all German Jews.

Nevertheless, a few men came forward to promote their cause, foremost among them being Gabriel Riesser (d. 1863), a Jewish lawyer from Hamburg, who demanded full civic equality for his people. He won over public opinion to such an extent that this equality was granted in Prussia on April 6, 1848, in Hanover and Nassau on September 5 and on December 12, respectively, and also in his home state of Hamburg, then home to the second-largest Jewish community in Germany.[27] In Württemberg, equality was conceded on December 3, 1861; in Baden on October 4, 1862; in Holstein on July 14, 1863; and in Saxony on December 3, 1868. After the establishment of the North German Confederation by the law of July 3, 1869, all remaining statutory restrictions imposed on the followers of different religions were abolished; this decree was extended to all the states of the German empire after the events of 1870.

The Jewish Enlightenment

During the General Enlightenment (1600s to late 1700s), many Jewish women began to frequent non-Jewish salons and to campaign for emancipation. In Western Europe and the German states, observance of Jewish law, Halacha, started to be neglected. In the 18th century, some traditional German scholars and leaders, such as the doctor and author of Ma'aseh Tuviyyah, Tobias b. Moses Cohn, appreciated secular culture. The most important feature during this time was the German Aufklärung, which was able to boast of native figures who competed with the finest Western European writers, scholars, and intellectuals. Aside from externalities of language and dress, the Jews internalized the cultural and intellectual norms of the German society. The movement, becoming known as the German or Berlin Haskalah offered many effects to the challenges of German society. As early as the 1740s, many German Jews and some individual Polish and Lithuanian Jews had a desire for secular education. The German-Jewish Enlightenment of the late 18th century, the Haskalah, marks the political, social, and intellectual transition of European Jewry to modernity. Some of the elite members of Jewish society knew European languages. Absolutist governments in Germany, Austria, and Russia deprived the Jewish community's leadership of its authority and many Jews became "Court Jews." Using their connections with Jewish businessmen to serve as military contractors, managers of mints, founders of new industries and providers to the court of precious stones and clothing, they gave economic assistance to the local rulers. Court Jews were protected by the rulers and acted as did everyone else in society in their speech, manners, and awareness of European literature and ideas. Isaac Euchel, for example, represented a new generation of Jews. He maintained a leading role in the German Haskalah, being one of the founding editors of Ha-Me/assef. Euchel was exposed to European languages and culture while living in Prussian centers: Berlin and Koenigsberg. His interests turned towards promoting the educational interests of the Enlightenment with other Jews. Moses Mendelssohn as another enlightenment thinker was the first Jew to bring secular culture to those living an Orthodox Jewish life. He valued reason and felt that anyone could arrive logically at religious truths, while arguing that what makes Judaism unique is its divine revelation of a code of law. Mendelssohn's commitment to Judaism lead to tensions even with some of those who subscribed to Enlightenment philosophy. Faithful Christians who were less opposed to his rationalistic ideas than to his adherence to Judaism found it difficult to accept this Juif de Berlin. In most of Western Europe, the Haskalah ended with large numbers of Jews assimilating. Many Jews stopped adhering to Jewish law, and the struggle for emancipation in Germany awakened some doubts about the future of Jews in Europe and eventually led to both immigrations to America and Zionism. In Russia, antisemitism ended the Haskalah. Some Jews responded to this antisemitism by campaigning for emancipation, while others joined revolutionary movements and assimilated, and some turned to Jewish nationalism in the form of the Zionist Hibbat Zion movement. [28]

Reorganization of the German Jewish Community

The empowerment of the Jews and the rebirth of Jewish science led to a transfer of ancient traditions to the newer generations. Geiger and Holdeim were two founders of the conservative movement in modern Judaism accepted the modern spirit of liberalism. Samson Raphael Hirsch defended traditional customs: denying the modern "spirit". Neither of these beliefs was followed by the faithful Jews; Zachary Frankel created a moderate reform movement in assurance with German communities, public worships were reorganized, reduction of medieval additions to the prayer, congregational singing was introduced, and regular sermons required scientifically trained rabbis. Religious schools were enforced by the state due to a want for the addition of religious structure to secular education of Jewish children. Pulpit oratory started to thrive mainly due to German preachers, such as M. Sachs and M. Joel. Synagogal music was accepted with the help of Louis Lewandowski. Part of the evolution of the Jewish community was the cultivation of Jewish literature and associations created with teachers, rabbis, and leaders of congregations.

Another vital part of the reorganization of the Jewish-German community was the heavy involvement of Jewish women in the community and their new tendencies to assimilate their families into a different lifestyle. Jewish women were contradicting their view points in the sense that they were modernizing, but they also tried to keep some traditions alive. German Jewish mothers were shifting the way they raised their children in ways such as moving their families out of Jewish neighborhoods, thus changing who Jewish children grew up around and conversed with, all in all shifting the dynamic of the then close-knit Jewish community. Additionally, Jewish mothers wished to integrate themselves and their families into German society in other ways.[29] Because of their mothers, Jewish children participated in walks around the neighborhood, sporting events, and other activities that would mold them into becoming more like their other German peers. In order for mothers to assimilate into German culture, they took pleasure in reading newspapers and magazines that focused on the fashion styles, as well as other trends that were up and coming for the time and that the Protestant, bourgeois Germans were exhibiting. Similar to this, German-Jewish mothers also urged their children to partake in music lessons, mainly because it was a popular activity among other Germans. Another effort German-Jewish mothers put into assimilating their families was enforcing the importance of manners on their children. It was noted that non-Jewish Germans saw Jews as disrespectful and unable to grasp the concept of time and place.[29] Because of this, Jewish mothers tried to raise their kids having even better manners than the Protestant children in an effort to combat the pre-existing stereotype put on their children. In addition, Jewish mothers put a large emphasis on proper education for their children in hopes that this would help them grow up to be more respected by their communities and eventually lead to prosperous careers. While Jewish mothers worked tirelessly on ensuring the assimilation of their families, they also attempted to keep the familial aspect of Jewish traditions. They began to look at Shabbat and holidays as less of culturally Jewish days, but more as family reunions of sorts. What was once viewed as a more religious event became more of a social gathering of relatives.[29]

Birth of the Reform Movement

The beginning of the Reform Movement in Judaism was emphasized by David Philipson, who was the rabbi at the largest Reform congregation. The increasing political centralization of the late 18th and early 19th centuries undermined the societal structure that perpetuated traditional Jewish life. Enlightenment ideas began to influence many intellectuals, and the resulting political, economic, and social changes were overpowering. Many Jews felt a tension between Jewish tradition and the way they were now leading their lives-religiously- resulting in less tradition. As the insular religious society that reinforced such observance disintegrated, falling away from vigilant observance without deliberately breaking with Judaism was easy. Some tried to reconcile their religious heritage with their new social surroundings; they reformed traditional Judaism to meet their new needs and to express their spiritual desires. A movement was formed with a set of religious beliefs, and practices that were considered expected and tradition. Reform Judaism was the first modern response to the Jew's emancipation, though reform Judaism differing in all countries caused stresses of autonomy on both the congregation and individual. Some of the reforms were in the practices: circumcisions were abandoned, rabbis wore vests after Protestant ministers, and instrumental accompaniment was used: pipe organs. In addition, the traditional Hebrew prayer book was replaced by German text, and reform synagogues began being called temples which were previously considered the Temple of Jerusalem. Reform communities composed of similar beliefs and Judaism changed at the same pace as the rest of society had. The Jewish people have adapted to religious beliefs and practices to the meet the needs of the Jewish people throughout the generation.[30]


1890: Gustav Ermann, a Jewish soldier in the German Kaiser's army, born in Saarbrücken
A leaflet published in 1920 by the Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten (German Jewish veterans organization) in response to accusations of lack of patriotism: Inscription on the tomb: "12,000 Jewish soldiers died on the field of honor for the fatherland".
Willi Ermann of Saarbrucken, a German Jewish soldier in World War I: Ermann was murdered at Auschwitz in the Holocaust.[31]


During this time, many German states stripped Jews of their civil rights. In the Free City of Frankfurt, only 12 Jewish couples were allowed to marry each year, and the 400,000 gulden the city's Jewish community had paid in 1811 for its emancipation was forfeited. After the Rhineland reverted to Prussian control, Jews lost the rights Napoleon had granted them, were banned from certain professions, and the few who had been appointed to public office before the Napoleonic Wars were dismissed.[32] Throughout numerous German states, Jews had their rights to work, settle, and marry restricted. Without special letters of protection, Jews were banned from many different professions, and often had to resort to jobs considered unrespectable, such as peddling or cattle dealing, to survive. A Jewish man who wanted to marry had to purchase a registration certificate, known as a Matrikel, proving he was in a "respectable" trade or profession. A Matrikel, which could cost up to 1,000 gulden, was usually restricted to firstborn sons.[33] As a result, most Jewish men were unable to legally marry. Throughout Germany, Jews were heavily taxed, and were sometimes discriminated against by gentile craftsmen.

As a result, many German Jews began to emigrate. The emigration was encouraged by German-Jewish newspapers.[33] At first, most emigrants were young, single men from small towns and villages. A smaller number of single women also emigrated. Individual family members would emigrate alone, and then send for family members once they had earned enough money. Emigration eventually swelled, with some German Jewish communities losing up to 70% of their members. At one point, a German-Jewish newspaper reported that all the young Jewish males in the Franconian towns of Hagenbach, Ottingen, and Warnbach had emigrated or were about to emigrate.[33] The United States was the primary destination for emigrating German Jews.


Jews experienced a period of legal equality after 1848. Baden and Württemberg passed the legislation that gave the Jews complete equality before the law in 1861–64. The newly formed German Empire did the same in 1871.[35] Historian Fritz Stern concludes that by 1900, what had emerged was a Jewish-German symbiosis, where German Jews had merged elements of German and Jewish culture into a unique new one. Marriages between Jews and non-Jews became somewhat common from the 19th century; for example, the wife of German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann was Jewish. However, opportunity for high appointments in the military, the diplomatic service, judiciary or senior bureaucracy was very small.[36] Some historians believe that with emancipation the Jewish people lost their roots in their culture and began only using German culture. However, other historians including Marion A. Kaplan, argue that it was the opposite and Jewish women were the initiators of balancing both Jewish and German culture during Imperial Germany.[37] Jewish women played a key role in keeping the Jewish communities in tune with the changing society that was evoked by the Jews being emancipation. Jewish women were the catalyst of modernization within the Jewish community. The years 1870-1918 marked the shift in the women's role in society. Their job in the past had been housekeeping and raising children. Now, however, they began to contribute to the home financially. Jewish mothers were the only tool families had to linking Judaism with German culture. They felt it was their job to raise children that would fit in with bourgeois Germany. Women had to balance enforcing German traditions while also preserving Jewish traditions. Women were in charge of keeping kosher and the Sabbath; as well as, teaching their children German speech and dressing them in German clothing. Jewish women attempted to create an exterior presence of German while maintaining the Jewish lifestyle inside their homes.[37]


World War I

A higher percentage of German Jews fought in World War I than of any other ethnic, religious or political group in Germany; some 12,000 died for their country.[39][40]


In October 1916, the German Military High Command administered the Judenzählung (census of Jews). Designed to confirm accusations of the lack of patriotism among German Jews, the census disproved the charges, but its results were not made public.[41] Denounced as a "statistical monstrosity",[42] the census was a catalyst to intensified antisemitism and social myths such as the "stab-in-the-back myth" (Dolchstoßlegende).[43][44]

Weimar years, 1919–33

Under the Weimar Republic, 1919–1933, German Jews played a major role in politics and diplomacy for the first time in their history, and they strengthened their position in financial, economic, and cultural affairs.[45][46] Hugo Preuß was Interior Minister under the first post-imperial regime and wrote the first draft of the liberal Weimar Constitution.[47] Walther Rathenau, the chairman of General Electric (AEG) and head of the German Democratic Party (DDP), served as foreign minister in 1922, when he negotiated the important Treaty of Rapallo. He was assassinated two months later.[48]



There was sporadic antisemitism based on the false allegation that wartime Germany had been betrayed by an enemy within. There was some violence against German Jews in the early years of the Weimar Republic, and it was led by the paramilitary Freikorps. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1920), a forgery which claimed that Jews were taking over the world, was widely circulated. The second half of the 1920s were prosperous, and antisemitism was much less noticeable. When the Great Depression hit in 1929, it surged again as Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party promoted a virulent strain.

Author Jay Howard Geller says that four possible responses were available to the German Jewish community. The majority of German Jews were only nominally religious and they saw their Jewish identity as only one of several identities; they opted for bourgeois liberalism and assimilation into all phases of German culture. A second group (especially recent migrants from eastern Europe) embraced Judaism and Zionism. A third group of left-wing elements endorsed the universalism of Marxism, which downplayed ethnicity and antisemitism. A fourth group contained some who embraced hardcore German nationalism and minimized or hid their Jewish heritage. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, a fifth option was seized upon by hundreds of thousands: escape into exile, typically at the cost of leaving all wealth behind.[50]

The German legal system generally treated Jews fairly throughout the period.[51] The Centralverein, the major organization of German Jewry, used the court system to vigorously defend Jewry against antisemitic attacks across Germany; it proved generally successful.[52]


Jewish intellectuals and creative professionals were among the leading figures in many areas of Weimar culture. German university faculties became universally open to Jewish scholars in 1918. Leading Jewish intellectuals on university faculties included physicist Albert Einstein; sociologists Karl Mannheim, Erich Fromm, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse; philosophers Ernst Cassirer and Edmund Husserl; political theorists Arthur Rosenberg and Gustav Meyer; and many others. Seventeen German citizens were awarded Nobel prizes during the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), five of whom were Jewish scientists. The German-Jewish literary magazine, Der Morgen, was established in 1925. It published essays and stories by prominent Jewish writers such as Franz Kafka and Leo Hirsch until its liquidation by the Nazi government in 1938.[53][54]

Jews under the Nazis (1933–45)






The boycott of April 1, 1933
The boycott of April 1, 1933

The continuing and exacerbating abuse of Jews in Germany triggered calls throughout March 1933 by Jewish leaders around world for a boycott of German products. The Nazis responded with further bans and boycotts against Jewish doctors, shops, lawyers and stores. Only six days later, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was passed, banning Jews from being employed in government. This law meant that Jews were now indirectly and directly dissuaded or banned from privileged and upper-level positions reserved for "Aryan" Germans. From then on, Jews were forced to work at more menial positions, beneath non-Jews, pushing them to more labored positions.

The Civil Service Law reached immediately into the education system because university professors, for example, were civil servants. While the majority of the German intellectual classes were not thoroughgoing National Socialists,[56] academia had been suffused with a "cultured antisemitism" since imperial times, even more so during Weimar.[57] With the majority of non-Jewish professors holding such feelings about Jews, coupled with how the Nazis' outwardly appeared in the period during and after the seizure of power, there was little motivation to oppose the anti-Jewish measures being enacted—few did, and many were actively in favor.[58] According to a German professor of the history of mathematics, "There is no doubt that most of the German mathematicians who were members of the professional organization collaborated with the Nazis, and did nothing to save or help their Jewish colleagues."[59] "German physicians were highly Nazified, compared to other professionals, in terms of party membership," observed Raul Hilberg[60] and some even carried out experiments on human beings at places like Auschwitz.[61]


In 1935 and 1936, the pace of persecution of the Jews increased. In May 1935, Jews were forbidden to join the Wehrmacht (Armed Forces), and that year, anti-Jewish propaganda appeared in Nazi German shops and restaurants. The Nuremberg Racial Purity Laws were passed around the time of the Nazi rallies at Nuremberg; on September 15, 1935, the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor was passed, preventing sexual relations and marriages between Aryans and Jews. At the same time the Reich Citizenship Law was passed and was reinforced in November by a decree, stating that all Jews, even quarter- and half-Jews, were no longer citizens (Reichsbürger) of their own country. Their official status became Reichsangehöriger, "subject of the state". This meant that they had no basic civil rights, such as that to vote, but at this time the right to vote for the non-Jewish Germans only meant the obligation to vote for the Nazi party. This removal of basic citizens' rights preceded harsher laws to be passed in the future against Jews. The drafting of the Nuremberg Laws is often attributed to Hans Globke.









Jews emigrating from Berlin to the United States, 1939
Jews emigrating from Berlin to the United States, 1939




The Holocaust in Germany

Overall, of the 522,000 Jews living in Germany in January 1933, approximately 304,000 emigrated during the first six years of Nazi rule and about 214,000 were left on the eve of World War II. Of these, 160-180,000 were killed as a part of the Holocaust. On May 19, 1943, only about 20,000 Jews remained and Germany was declared judenrein (clean of Jews; also judenfrei: free of Jews). [7]

Persistence of Antisemitism

During the medieval period antisemitism flourished in Germany. Especially during the time of the Black Death from 1348 to 1350 hatred and violence against Jews increased. Approximately 72% of towns with a Jewish settlement suffered from violent attacks against the Jewish population.

After World War I Antisemitism grew again, during the time of the Weimar Republic and later on during the Nazi reign.

Regions that suffered from the Black Death pogroms were 6 times more likely to engage in anti-Semitic violence during the 1920s, the Nazi parties like the DNVP, NSDAP and DVFP gained a 1.5 times higher voting share in the 1928 election, their inhabitants wrote more letters to anti-Semitic newspapers like “Der Stürmer”, and they deported more Jews during the Nazi reign. This is due to cultural transmission.[65]

A simple model of cultural transmission and Persistence of attitudes comes from Bisin and Verdier who state, that children acquire their preference scheme through imitating their parents, who in turn attempt to socialize their children to their own preferences, without taking into consideration if these traits are useful or not.[66]

Economic factors had the potential to undermine this persistence throughout the centuries. Hatred against outsiders was more costly in trade open cities, like the members of the Hanseatic League. Faster growing cities saw less persistence in anti-Semitic attitudes, this may be due to the fact that trade-openness was associated with more economic success and therefore higher migration rates into this regions.[67]

Jews in Germany from 1945 to the reunification


Jews of West Germany


Jews of East Germany


Jews in the reunited Germany (post-1990)

Historical German Jewish population
Source: *[70]

The end of the Cold War contributed to a growth in the Jewish people of Germany. An important step for the renaissance of Jewish life in Germany occurred in 1990 when Helmut Kohl convened with Heinz Galinski, to allow Jewish people from the former Soviet Union to emigrate to Germany, which led to a large Jewish emigration.[74] Germany is home to a nominal Jewish population of more than 200,000 (although this number reflects non-Jewish spouses or children who also immigrated under the Quota Refugee Law); 104,024 are officially registered with Jewish religious communities.[75] The size of the Jewish community in Berlin is estimated at 120,000 people, or 60% of Germany's total Jewish population.[76] Today, between 80 and 90 percent of the Jews in Germany are Russian speaking immigrants from the former Soviet Union.[77][78] Many Israelis also move to Germany, particularly Berlin, for its relaxed atmosphere and low cost of living. Olim L'Berlin, a Facebook snowclone asking Israelis to emigrate to Berlin, gained notoriety in 2014.[79] Some eventually return to Israel after a period of residence in Germany.[80] There are also a handful of Jewish families from Muslim countries, including Iran, Turkey, Morocco, and Afghanistan. Germany has the third-largest Jewish population in Western Europe after France (600,000) and Britain (300,000).[81] and the fastest-growing Jewish population in Europe in recent years. The influx of immigrants, many of them seeking renewed contact with their Ashkenazi heritage, has led to a renaissance of Jewish life in Germany. In 1996, Chabad-Lubavitch of Berlin opened a center. In 2003, Chabad-Lubavitch of Berlin ordained 10 rabbis, the first rabbis to be ordained in Germany since World War II.[82] In 2002 a Reform rabbinical seminary, Abraham Geiger College, was established in Potsdam. In 2006, the college announced that it would be ordaining three new rabbis, the first Reform rabbis to be ordained in Germany since 1942.[83]

Partly owing to the deep similarities between Yiddish and German[citation needed], Jewish studies has become a popular academic study, and many German universities have departments or institutes of Jewish studies, culture, or history. Active Jewish religious communities have sprung up across Germany, including in many cities where the previous communities were no longer extant or were moribund. Several cities in Germany have Jewish day schools, kosher facilities, and other Jewish institutions beyond synagogues. Additionally, many of the Russian Jews were alienated from their Jewish heritage and unfamiliar or uncomfortable with religion. American-style Reform Judaism (which originated in Germany), has re-emerged in Germany, led by the Union of Progressive Jews in Germany, even though the Central Council of Jews in Germany and most local Jewish communities officially adhere to Orthodoxy.


The Central Council of Jews in Germany is the nationally sanctioned organization to manage the German-Jewish community.

In Germany it is a criminal act to deny the Holocaust or that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust (§ 130 StGB); violations can be punished with up to five years of prison.[10] In 2007, the Interior Minister of Germany, Wolfgang Schäuble, pointed out the official policy of Germany: "We will not tolerate any form of extremism, xenophobia or anti-Semitism."[11] Although the number of right-wing groups and organisations grew from 141 (2001)[84] to 182 (2006),[85] especially in the formerly communist East Germany,[11][86][87] Germany's measures against right-wing groups and antisemitism are effective: according to the annual reports of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution the overall number of far-right extremists in Germany has dropped in recent years from 49,700 (2001),[84] 45,000 (2002),[84] 41,500 (2003),[84] 40,700 (2004),[85] 39,000 (2005),[85] to 38,600 in 2006.[85] Germany provided several million euros to fund "nationwide programs aimed at fighting far-right extremism, including teams of traveling consultants, and victims' groups".[88] Despite these facts, Israeli Ambassador Shimon Stein warned in October 2006 that Jews in Germany feel increasingly unsafe, stating that they "are not able to live a normal Jewish life" and that heavy security surrounds most synagogues or Jewish community centers.[88] Yosef Havlin, Rabbi at the Chabad Lubavitch in Frankfurt, does not agree with the Israeli Ambassador and states in an interview with Der Spiegel in September 2007 that the German public does not support far-right groups; instead, he has personally experienced the support of Germans, and as a Jew and rabbi he "feels welcome in his (hometown) Frankfurt, he is not afraid, the city is not a no-go-area".[89]

A flagship moment for the burgeoning Jewish community in modern Germany occurred on November 9, 2006 (the 68th anniversary of Kristallnacht), when the newly constructed Ohel Jakob synagogue was dedicated in Munich, Germany.[90][91] This is particularly crucial given the fact that Munich was once at the ideological heart of Nazi Germany. Jewish life in the capital Berlin is prospering, the Jewish community is growing, the Centrum Judaicum and several synagogues—including the largest in Germany[92]—have been renovated and opened, and Berlin's annual week of Jewish culture and the Jewish Cultural Festival in Berlin, held for the 21st time, featuring concerts, exhibitions, public readings and discussions[93][94] can only partially explain why Rabbi Yitzhak Ehrenberg of the orthodox Jewish community in Berlin states: "Orthodox Jewish life is alive in Berlin again. [...] Germany is the only European country with a growing Jewish community.[8]

In spite of Germany's measures against right-wing groups and antisemites, a number of incidents have occurred in recent years. On August 29, 2012 in Berlin, a rabbi in visible Jewish garb was physically attacked by a group of Arabic youths, causing a head wound that required hospitalization. The rabbi was walking with his six-year-old daughter in downtown Berlin when the group asked if he was a Jew, and then proceeded to assault him. They also threatened to kill the rabbi's young daughter.[95] On November 9, 2012, the 74th Kristallnacht anniversary, neo-Nazis in Greifswald vandalized the city's Holocaust memorial.[96]

On June 2, 2013, a rabbi was physically assaulted by a group of six to eight Arabic looking youths in a shopping mall in Offenbach.[97][98]

Over the last few years, Germany has witnessed a sizable migration of young, educated Israeli Jews seeking academic and employment opportunities, with Berlin being their favorite destination.[99]

See also


  2. ^ "World Jewish Population, 2013". Jewish Virtual Library.
  3. ^ Benedictow, Ole Jørgen (2004). The Black Death, 1346–1353: The Complete History. Boydell Press. pp. 392–3. ISBN 1-84383-214-3. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  6. ^ The Jews of Germany. The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot.
  7. ^ a b c d "German Jews During The Holocaust, 1939–1945". USHMM. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  9. ^ DellaPergola 2014, pp. 61-3 and table 11.
  11. ^ a b c "Germans warned of neo-Nazi surge". BBC News. May 22, 2006. Retrieved June 1, 2007.
  13. ^ Lieu, Judith; North, John; Rajak, Tessa (2013). The Jews Among Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire. Routledge. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-135-08188-1.
  14. ^ "Already during Roman times, Jews resided in Cologne". Archäologische Zone – Jüdisches Museum. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  15. ^ Adrian, Johanna. "A Jewish beginnings". Frankfurt/Oder: Institut für angewandte Geschichte. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  16. ^ "Cologne, City of the Arts '07". Archived from the original on January 19, 2009.
  17. ^ "Medieval Source book Legislation Affecting the Jews from 300 to 800 CE". Retrieved February 1, 2008.
  18. ^ "Jewish Cemeteries in Germany: Cologne – Cockleshell". Archived from the original on March 6, 2008.
  19. ^ "Rome". The Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906.
  20. ^ Ben-Sasson 2007, pp. 518-9.
  22. ^ "Germany / Up to the Crusades". The Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906.
  23. ^ Man, John (2010). The Gutenberg Revolution: How Printing Changed the Course of History. London: Bantam Books. pp. 27–8. ISBN 978-1-4090-4552-6, (first published in 2002 by Headline Book under the title The Gutenberg revolution: the story of a genius and an invention that changed the world).
  24. ^ Jewish Virtual Library [1] Early history to 1095
  25. ^ Man 2010, p. 22.
  28. ^ Barnouw, Dagmar (Summer 2002). "Origin and Transformation: Salomon Maimon and German-Jewish Enlightenment Culture". Shofar: an Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. 20 (4): 64.
  29. ^ a b c Kaplan, Marion. Gender and Jewish History in Imperial Germany. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  30. ^ Philipson, David (April 1903). The Beginnings of the Reform Movement in Judaism (Vol. 15, No. 3 ed.). University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 475–521. JSTOR 1450629.
  31. ^ A Page of Testimony given by Ermann's brother, at Yad Vashem website
  33. ^ a b c Sachar, Howard M.: A History of the Jews in America – Vintage Books
  34. ^ Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews, p.395
  35. ^ V. R. Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 1871–1914: Economy, Society, Culture, and Politics (1994) p 102
  36. ^ Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 1871–1914 (1994) pp 105-6
  37. ^ a b Kaplan, Marion (2004). Assimilation and Community. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 200–212.
  38. ^ Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 1871–1914 (1994) p 102-3
  41. ^ "Deutsche Jüdische Soldaten" (German Jewish soldiers) Bavarian National Exhibition
  42. ^ Bajohr, Frank: The "Folk Community" and the Persecution of the Jews: German Society under National Socialist Dictatorship, 1933–1945. Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Fall 2006; 20: 183–206.
  43. ^ "Homepage - Florida Holocaust Museum". Florida Holocaust Museum.
  44. ^ Friedländer 2007, pp. 73–112.
  45. ^ Donald L. Niewyk, The Jews in Weimar Germany (2001)
  46. ^ Emily J. Levine (2013). Dreamland of Humanists: Warburg, Cassirer, Panofsky, and the Hamburg School. U of Chicago Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-226-06171-9.
  49. ^ Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 1871–1914 (1994) pp 104-5
  53. ^ Kaplan, Edward K.; Dresner, Samuel H. (1998). Abraham Josua Heschel: Prophetic Witness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. p. 341. ISBN 0300071868.
  54. ^ Fraiman, Sarah (2000). "The Transformation of Jewish Consciousness in Nazi Germany as Reflected in the German Jewish Journal Der Morgen, 1925-1938". Modern Judaism. 20 (1): 41–59. JSTOR 1396629.
  56. ^ Friedländer 2007, p. 59.
  57. ^ Friedländer 2007, p. 56 n.65.
  58. ^ Friedländer 2007, pp. 56, 59–60.
  62. ^ "Transfer Agreement - Home Page".
  63. ^ "Teacher Resources". Archived from the original on April 2, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  64. ^ "Refugees".
  65. ^ Voigtländer, Nico, Voth, Hans-Joachim (2012). "Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of anti‐Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany". Quarterly Journal of Economics: 1339–1392.
  66. ^ Bisin, Alberto, Verdier, Thierry (2001). "The Economics of Cultural Transmission and the Dynamics of Preferences". Journal of Economic Theory. 97: 298–319.
  67. ^ Voigtländer, Nico, Voth, Hans-Joachim (2012). "Persecution Perpetuated: the Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi-Germany". Quarterly Journal of Economics: 1339–1392.
  68. ^ "– "By 1945, only 8,000 Jews remained in Berlin. Those who survived were either in hiding or were married to non-Jews."". Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  69. ^ "– "By the time the Nazi regime was brought to itslovesknees in 1945, there were but a few thousand Jews left in Berlin."". Archived from the original on March 21, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  70. ^ "Germany". Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  71. ^ "Jewish Population of Europe in 1945". Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  72. ^ DESMOND BUTLERPublished: November 15, 2002 (2002-11-15). "Germany Plans to Raise Status of Nation's Jews – New York Times". Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  73. ^ "Statistical Abstract of Israel 2012 – No. 63 Subject 2 – Table No. 27". Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  74. ^ Einwanderer So leise wie möglich Spiegel 27 May 1996
  75. ^ "Mitgliederstatistik 2010 der jüdischen Gemeinden und Landesverbände". 2013-04-04. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  76. ^ "Germany: Berlin Facing Challenge Of Assimilating Russian-Speaking Jews". Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  77. ^ "German Jews more than victims, community head says". Jewish Journal. 5 January 2011.
  78. ^ "Jewish Berlin: Myths and Fragmentation". Humanity in Action. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  79. ^ An Israeli in Berlin: The chocolate pudding exodus, Spiegel 2014
  80. ^ Axelrod, Toby (July 5, 2011). "Israeli expats flocking to Berlin for the culture and the passport | JTA – Jewish & Israel News". JTA. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  82. ^ Lubavitch, Chabad (2003-02-20). "Yeshiva Trains Rabbis In Berlin". Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  83. ^ "German Jewish community to ordain three new rabbis, first since 1942".
  84. ^ a b c d Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz. Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Verfassungsschutzbericht 2003 Archived September 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.. Annual Report. 2003, Page 29
  86. ^ German Jewish Leader Says Right-wing Violence Recalls 1930s, Deutsche Welle.
  93. ^ Die Bundesregierung (Federal government of Germany): "Germany's largest synagogue officially reopened. Archived September 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine." August 31, 2007
  95. ^ "Jugendliche schlagen Rabbiner zusammen". August 30, 2012 – via
  96. ^ "Global Anti-Semitism: Selected Incidents Around the World in 2012". Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  97. ^ "Global Anti-Semitism: Selected Incidents Around the World in 2013". Anti-Defamation League.
  98. ^ WELT (June 7, 2013). "Antisemitismus: Jugendliche attackieren Rabbi in Einkaufszentrum" – via
  99. ^ Peck 2006, p. xi.


Further reading

  • Bilski, Emily D., ed. Berlin metropolis: Jews and the new culture, 1890–1918. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999
  • Bookbinder, P. (2008), Reborn Jews: A New Jewish Community in Germany. Journal of The Historical Society, 8: 503–522. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5923.2008.00258.x
  • Gerlach, Christian (2016). The extermination of the European Jews. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-70689-0.
  • Grenville, J.A.S. The Jews and Germans of Hamburg: The Destruction of a Civilization 1790–1945, 2011
  • Lowenstein, Steven M. The Berlin Jewish community: enlightenment, family, and crisis, 1770–1830. Oxford University Press, 1994
  • Meyer, Michael A. The Origins of the Modern Jew: Jewish Identity and European Culture in Germany, 1749–1824. 1972
    • vol. 1 Tradition and Enlightenment, 1600–1780
    • vol. 2 Emancipation and Acculturation, 1780–1871
    • vol. 3 Integration in Dispute, 1871–1918
    • vol. 4 Renewal and Destruction, 1918–1945
  • Peck, Jeffrey (2006). Being Jewish in the new Germany. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-3723-8.
  • Pulzer, Peter. Jews and the German State: The Political History of a Minority, 1848–1933. Oxford, 1992
  • Ragins, Sanford. Jewish responses to anti-Semitism in Germany, 1870–1914: a study in the history of ideas. Hebrew Union College Press, 1980
  • Sorkin, David. The Transformation of German Jewry, 1780–1840. Wayne State University Press, 1999
  • Tal, Uriel. Christians and Jews in Germany: Religion, Politics and Ideology in the Second Reich, 1870–1914. 1975
  • Van Rahden, Till. Jews and other Germans: civil society, religious diversity, and urban politics in Breslau, 1860–1925. University of Wisconsin Press, 2008



In German


External links

This page was last edited on 16 January 2019, at 22:50