The Role of German Jews

From The Peopling of NYC

Aid of German Jews in Germany

For some assistance, many Eastern European Jews (700,000 between 1905 and 1914), came to Germany as a halfway point. German Jewish groups like Hilfsverin der Deutschen Juden, and philanthropists like Baron Maurice de Hirsch, developed vast programs for international resettlement for these families.

German Jews: Foes to Immigrants

German Jews who witnessed the first wave of Eastern European immigration were not particularly happy to see these “new” Jews arrive. German Jews in the 1880s were against immigration, citing the “disgrace” of Eastern European Jews and “lowering the opinion to which American Israelites are held.” They were, at least at first, too insecure with the poverty, the Yiddish, and the socialism of the new arrivals.

German Jews: Friends to Immigrants

After learning about the horrors of the pogroms in the second wave of immigration from 1903 to 1906, German Jews changed their outlook on the Slavic Jews. German Jewish organizations dedicated themselves to a full-scale campaign to defeat the efforts of the immigration restrictionists. Attorney Lewis Marshall did groundbreaking work resisting a legislative curtailment on immigration and reducing anti-Semitism in America.