position of jewish people in weimar germany

assimilation

where a minority group adopts the cultures of the majority (locals) and becomes integrated and accepted into society

how many jewish people lived in germany in 1925?

• half a million jews

• less than 1% of the population

where did the majority of jewish people live?

80% of the jewish population lived in cities

how did jews appear to be incredibly publically visible? effects?

• made a significant proportion of german politicians, bankers, journalists and professionals

• high profile jobs created increased public visibility creating the idea that there germany was infiltrated by jews even though they were a marginal percentage of the population

why might a large proportion of jews fill high profile careers?

• jews (and ancestors) who had migrated to germany tended to be better qualified and wealthier → easier to leave country of origin and set up comfortably somewhere else

• judaism allowed for involvement in money lending unlike islam and christianity → creates a historical precedent for jews to be involved in finance

• exclusion from mainstream society leads to self sufficiency in migrant populations → provided for own communities, not relying on host nation

impact of jewish involvement in finance

• became scapegoat for germany’s economic problems

• increase anti-semitism following wall street crash october 1929

problematic anti-semitic answer for many high profile jews

• lack of acknowledgement for <1% → believed germany to be overrun with jewish people

• belief in the ‘jewish conspiracy’ → jewish people conspiring to take over all professions and assist other jews in doing so, at expense of non jewish germans

the jewish conspiracy

• conspiracy originating from an illegal document forged in russia

• the protocols of the elders of zion

• created due to incompatibility with communism from jews perceived association with capitalism due to high power jobs

• germany took to it quickly, needed someone to blame as suffering and unemployed for prolonged periods

jews fighting for germany in ww1

• 100,000 jews fought form germany in ww1

• 12,000 of them died fighting

indication of jewish assimilation

• jews were prominent in important professions

• leading mainstream and moderate political figures were jewish

• jewish companies were successful in germany’s retail/industrial sector

• highly significant in german academia

• high intermarriage rates

• success of jewish film directors

examples of jewish prominence in important professions

• 16% lawyers and 11% doctors were jewish

• percentage even higher in berlin → more dense jewish population

• high proportion considering only 1% of the population was jewish

leading jewish figures examples

• walther rathenau → liberal DDP, weimar foreign minister, signed treaty of repello with ussr, assassinated by organisation consul in june 1922

• theodor “theo” wolff → chief editor of berliner tageblatt, shut down in 1933 as anti-faschist, had to flee country in 1933

examples of jewish success in retail and industrial sector

• ½ of cloth firms in germany were jewish owned

• rathenau family (as in walther rathenau) led AEG (electrical giant)

• jewish firms dominated industry in upper silesia

significance of jews in german academia

• until 1938 → 9 out of 24 of germany’s nobel prizes were awarded to jewish people

• einstein was a german jew and renowned successful scientist → evacuated to america in 1933 to escape nazi regime

changes in jewish intermarriage rates from ww1 to weimar republic

1914 → 21.5%

1932 → 65.1%

successful jewish film directors

• fritz lang → director of metropolis (1927), most techincally advanced film of the decade

• max reinhardt

example of disproportionate power and influence of jewish banks

• rothschilds owned 50% of private banks

• jews were traditionally involved in finance

right wing fear mongering claims of jewish association to radical left wing politics

• attempting to create an association with communism - playing on fear of revolution stemming from 1917 bolshevik rev in russia

• leading figures of left wing SPD and KPD were jewish

• hugo haase → radical socialist, founder and leader of USPD, assassinated oct 1919

• rosa luxembourg → coleader of sparticists until execution in jan 1919 sparticist uprising

• kurt eisner → prime minister of bavaria, murdered in april 1919 red bavaria

impacts of few jews running businesses in the ruhr

• avoided as severe impacts of the ruhr crisis

• didn’t have to undergo passive resistance → continued to make a profit through production

• created jealousy and discontent

examples of jews targeted by antisemitic attacks and propaganda

• munich beer hall putsch nov 1923 → nazis and supporters targeted attacks on jewish property

• assassinations of jewish politicians → walther rathenau, rosa luxemburg etc

• episodic outbreaks of antisemitic violence in cities and towns in 1920s

antisemitic terms in nazis’ 25 point programme (their manifesto)

4) only members of the nation could be citizens of the state - didn’t include jews - so jews would be subject to laws for ‘aliens’ and if it became impossible to feed the entire german population, jews would be deported

23) prohibited by law from participating financially (funding) or influencing (working for) german newspapers → would be deported if found doing so