JewsIn

German Society

JewsIn

German Society

Chapter 4:Chapter 4:

Jews in Germany before the Holocaust

• Jews have been in Germany since at least 321 C.E.

• German discrimination of Jews

• On and off for about 2000 years

• Crusades

• Pope Martin V forbade ritual murder charges

• Court Jews

• Napoleon’s emancipation

• Volk

• 1819 Hep Hep riots

Empire and Modernity

• Prussian unification in 1871 Second Reich

• 1876 Law of Withdrawal

• Allowed Jews to remove official affiliation with Jewish religions without having to become Lutheran or Catholic

• Percentage of German Jews drops

• From 1.25% in 1871 to .95% in 1910

Eastern Jews

• Counted for most of the impoverished Jews

• German Jews discriminated against Ostjuden

Jewish Representation

• Over-represented in wealthier classes

• 11 of 40 German Nobel Prize winners were Jewish

• Economic achievement gained anti-Semitism

Post WW1

• Rathenau

• Treaty of Rapallo

• Assassinated June 24 1922

• 128 cemeteries and 50 synagogues desecrated between 1923 and 1932

• Nazis become only German party by 1933

Transition and Reconstruction

1945-1949• After war over 200,000 Jews

stayed in displaced persons camps in western Germany.

• They were given similar rations and quarters to concentration camps, policed by German, and still couldn’t leave the camp.

• In the end 90% of Jews emigrated out of Germany.

• Why would so many Jews choose to stay in displaced persons camps?

Jews in East Germany

• A very small minority of Jews decided to stay and live in east Germany.

• The denazification process was taken much more seriously by the Russian quarter than the other three.

• For what reasons would Jews decide to stay and live in east Germany as opposed to the “free” west?

Nazi Punishment• High ranking Nazi’s dealt

with during Nuremburg trials in West.

• In East over 120,000 “supporters” put in old concentration camp prisons.

• Over one third died.

• After the initial anti-Nazi surge, the denazification process calmed in both halves.

• Why do you think less was done to deal with so called “lesser Nazis” or loyalists?

Reparation• The Communist east viewed their

gift of a reformed government as enough reparation, and offered modest sums to Jews as “victims of Fascism”.

• The west started to form a reparation system, but then passed it on to the German people, whom feeling little responsibility for the Nazi’s action were slow to act.

• A large sum was eventually paid to the state of Israel.

• How must the Jews have felt about the reparation efforts?

"Our honor shall not be sold for money; Our blood shall not be atoned by goods. We Shall wipe out the disgrace!".

Reconciliation and Confrontation 1961-1967

Positive development in German-Jewish relations in Federal Republic

- Rebuilt temples and synagogues- Congregation halls- Research institutes

- Administrative buildings- Social services

- Schools- Culture centers

Group 47Günter Grass, Die Blechtrommel

Heinrich Böll, Billiard um halb zehn

Uwe Johnson, Mutmaβungen über Jakob

German Intellectuals Confront Nazi Past

“We did not go into the streets when our Jewish friends were led away; we did not scream until we too were destroyed. We preferred to stay alive, on the feeble, if logical, ground that our death could not have helped anyone. We are guilty of being

alive.” –Karl Jaspers (German philosopher)

- Decline in anti-Semitic incidents in FRG

- Drop in membership of left and right-wing extremist parties

- History of Third Reich becomes mandatory in German secondary-

school curriculum

On May 12, 1966, Germany and Israel established full and formal

diplomatic relations

Auschwitz Trials

- Sixteen members of the Waffen-SS and one camp overseer

- Six received life sentences of hard labor

- Three were aquitted - The rest faced terms of three and

a half to fourteen years in prison

The trials failed to prosecute the really influential people running

Nazi Germany

New wave of Holocaust fiction

Martin Walser, Der schwarze Schwan

Rolf Hochhuth, Der Stellvertreter

Peter Weiss, Die Ermittlung

Changing Relations

• 1968-1980

• Yet another downturn in the economy, small political parties arose

• NPD (National Democratic Party)

• Comprised of many former Nazi-youth members

• When economy began to pick up, popularity went down

• What does this mean?

Six Day War

• June 5th- June 10th 1967

• Israel (Jews) obtained Arab land

• Conservative (Right) Germans supported this, but German Leftists did not.

• Began to imitate Palestinian style in order to show support

• Claimed to be against Israel, to avoid accusations of being anti-Semitic.

Changing Opinions

• The new German Leftists committed decidedly anti-semitic acts throughout the 1970s.

• Hijacked a plane to Uganda, “selected” Jewish passengers

• Spread the notions that the crimes of the Third Reich were primarily Hitler’s fault.

• What does this mean??

American Influence• The American made documentary “Holocaust” aired

in Germany in January of 1979

• Leftists bombed two television towers before it premiered.

• 40% of the viewing public tuned in

• Germans began to rethink the past, and open debate

• “Clearly, this thoroughly mediocre Hollywood melodrama revealed the continued relevance of the Nazi past to the German present.”

• Comments?

Shifting Images• Helmut Kohl’s election marked a shift

from German Leftist control to a more conservative outlook.

• Kohl was too young to have played an active roll in Nazi decisions

• He was unmarred by a Nazi past

• Significance?

• Republikaner party–far right–became prevalent in politics.

Today

• Germans are trying to reconstruct relationship with Jews

• Politics continue to lean to the right

• Xenophobia (fear of foreigners) is beginning to arise in Europe, in particular, Germany.

• Significance?

• Why might this occur? What is this a result of?