Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance

Martin Arndt

doi:doi:10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14

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Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance

Martin Arndt

Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 6)

Received: 14 June 2021 Accepted: 7 July 2021 Published: 23 November 2021

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Abstract

The article is based on a research of Jewish journals in the German language written in the 30s of the last century. It deals with the response of Jewish institutions, but mainly of Jewish journals (Many newspaper are archived under DigiBaeck https://www.lbi.org/collections/digibaeck/) to the assumption of power by the Nazis in 1933. It especially focuses on the Jewish Culture League and its umbrella union, the Reichsverband der jüdischen Kulturbünde (=Reich Association of Jewish Culture Leagues, from 1937). It is written from a perspective of understanding the historical context without adopting the position of a distanced spectator; it closely follows Marion Kaplan [8] by telling the story of Jews from the bewildered and ambiguous perspective of Jews trying to navigate their daily lives in a world that was becoming more and more insane. The paradoxical partnership that emerged between the Kulturbund theatre and the Nazis is emblematic of the complexities and concessions that mark the broader phenomenon of “art-making under duress” [13] Answering the charge that Jews should have left earlier, the questions remains if the Holocaust was possible to foresee. Fundamental ethical issues are raised, and questions of utilitarian ethics emerge, e.g. choices between a greater or lesser evil [1]. Are some of the responses a hard-won victory for the Jews, making life bearable and being a moral support, or was the non-resistance a deal with the devil that lulled the Jewish population into a false sense of security (Alan Steinweis). Were the Jews led to believe that Nazi-Germany could still be a home, and were some Jews falsely pacified, being stopped from seeking emigration while slowly a ghetto was built around the majority to be transported to the gas chambers? Is the way of manoeuvring through acceptable? Or has this compromising furthered the agenda of the Nazis? Would less cooperation between the Jewish organizations and the Nazi authorities have made possible for more Jews to have been saved, as stated most prominently by Hannah Arendt? Can we judge on this evidently life-supporting institution without considering the subsequent murder of many of its functionaries (e.g. Kurt Singer) and subsequent mass-murders? Were the Jewish leaders simply, as Arendt suggested, in the grip of ideology or did they act out of pure stupidity?

Published in	Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14
Page(s)	234-244
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Antisemitism, Holocaust, Nazism, Resistance

References

[1]	Bennett, Rab (1999): Under the Shadow of the Swastika: The Moral Dilemmas of Resistance and Collaboration in Hitler’s Europe. New York: New York University Press.
[2]	Broder, Henryk M. and Eike Geisel. Premiere und Pogrom: der Jüdische Kulturbund 1933-1941. Berlin: Wolf Jobst Siedler Verlag GmbH, 1992.
[3]	Freeden, Herbert (1956) (1): “A Jewish Theatre under the Swastika,” Year Book of the Leo Baeck Institute (1956): 142-162.
[4]	Freeden, Herbert (1964): Jüdisches Theater in Nazideutschland. Tübingen: JCB Mohr.
[5]	Goldsmith, Martin (2000): The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
[6]	Hirsch, Lily E. (2006) (1): Imagining ‘Jewish Music’ in Nazi Germany: “Musical Politics in the Berlin Jüdischer Kulturbund, 1933-1941.” PhD Dissertation. Duke University, 2006.
[7]	Hirsch, Lily E. (2010) (3): A Jewish Orchestra in Nazi Germany: Musical Politics and the Berlin Jewish Culture League The University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor.
[8]	Kaplan, Marion A. (1998): Between Dignity and Despair. Oxford & New York. University Press.
[9]	Letter from Kroner to friends and family, 13 April 1992, Werner Golde Collection, Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
[10]	Lipman, Steve (1991): Laughter in Hell: The Use of Humor during the Holocaust. Northvale, JJ: Jason Aronson Inc.
[11]	Nicosia, Francis R. and David Scrase (2010)): Jewish Life in Nazi Germany Dilemmas and Responses. New York-Oxford, Berghahn Books.
[12]	Paucker, Arnold and Sylvia Gilchrist, Fred Grubel, Peter Pulzer (1986): Die Juden im Nationalsozialistichen Deutschland The Jews in Nazi Germany 1933-1943. Tübingen, J. C. B. Mohr.
[13]	Rovit, Rebecca (1) (1995), Collaboration or Survival, 1933-1938: “Reassessing the Role of the Jüdischer Kulturbund” in: Theatre in the Third Reich, the Prewar Years: Essays on Theatre in Nazi Germany, ed. Glen W. Gadberry (London: Greenwood Press, 1995).
[14]	Rovit, Rebecca (2) (1999): “An Artistic Mission in Nazi Berlin: The Jewish Kulturbund Theater as Sanctuary.” In Theatrical Performance during the Holocaust: Texts, Documents, Memoirs. Ed. Rebecca Rovit and Alvin Goldfarb. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999: 28-39.
[15]	Steinweis, Alan E. (1999): Hans Hinkel and German Jewry, 1933-1941. In: Theatrical Performance during the Holocaust: Texts, Documents, Memoirs, ed. Rebecca Rovit and Alvin Goldfarb, 15-27. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
[16]	Zortman, Bruce H. “Theatre in Isolation: The Jüdischer Kulturbund of Nazi Germany.” Educational Theatre Journal 24, no. 2 (May 1972): 161-162.
[17]	Averbach, David (2018): How the German Jews failed to combat pre-Shoah hatred-The Jewish Chroncile-https://www.thejc.com/news/features/german-jews-failed-combat-pre-holocaust-hate-centralverein-deutscher-staatsb%C3%BCrger-j%C3%BCdischen-glaubens-1.469030
[18]	Hirsch, Lily (3): The Berlin Jüdische Kulturbund http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/berlin-judischer-kulturbund/
[19]	Hirsch, Lily (2011) (4): Ein Tanz auf dem Vulkan The Legacy oft he Jewish Culture League https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mp/9460447.0005.202/--ein-tanz-aud-dem-vulkan-the-legacy-of-the-jewish-culture?rgn=main;view=fulltext
[20]	Hirsch, Lily (5): The Jüdische Kulturbünde in the Early Nazi Years http://orelfoundation.org/journal/journalArticle/the_j252dische_kulturbunde_in_the_early_nazi_years
[21]	U.S-Policy During World War II https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/1933-anti-nazi-boycott
[22]	Vom jüdischen Schickal https://forbiddenmusic.org/2017/10/08/vom-judischen-schicksal-the-jewish-cultural-league-or-der-kulturbund/
[23]	Weiss, Yf’aat, Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies 33 / 1 The Transfer Agreement and the Boycott Movement: A Jewish Dilemma on the Eve of the Holocaust.

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Martin Arndt. (2021). Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance. Humanities and Social Sciences, 9(6), 234-244. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14

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Martin Arndt. Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2021, 9(6), 234-244. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14

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Martin Arndt. Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance. Humanit Soc Sci. 2021;9(6):234-244. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14

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@article{10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14,
  author = {Martin Arndt},
  title = {Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {9},
  number = {6},
  pages = {234-244},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20210906.14},
  abstract = {The article is based on a research of Jewish journals in the German language written in the 30s of the last century. It deals with the response of Jewish institutions, but mainly of Jewish journals (Many newspaper are archived under DigiBaeck https://www.lbi.org/collections/digibaeck/) to the assumption of power by the Nazis in 1933. It especially focuses on the Jewish Culture League and its umbrella union, the Reichsverband der jüdischen Kulturbünde (=Reich Association of Jewish Culture Leagues, from 1937). It is written from a perspective of understanding the historical context without adopting the position of a distanced spectator; it closely follows Marion Kaplan [8] by telling the story of Jews from the bewildered and ambiguous perspective of Jews trying to navigate their daily lives in a world that was becoming more and more insane. The paradoxical partnership that emerged between the Kulturbund theatre and the Nazis is emblematic of the complexities and concessions that mark the broader phenomenon of “art-making under duress” [13] Answering the charge that Jews should have left earlier, the questions remains if the Holocaust was possible to foresee. Fundamental ethical issues are raised, and questions of utilitarian ethics emerge, e.g. choices between a greater or lesser evil [1]. Are some of the responses a hard-won victory for the Jews, making life bearable and being a moral support, or was the non-resistance a deal with the devil that lulled the Jewish population into a false sense of security (Alan Steinweis). Were the Jews led to believe that Nazi-Germany could still be a home, and were some Jews falsely pacified, being stopped from seeking emigration while slowly a ghetto was built around the majority to be transported to the gas chambers? Is the way of manoeuvring through acceptable? Or has this compromising furthered the agenda of the Nazis? Would less cooperation between the Jewish organizations and the Nazi authorities have made possible for more Jews to have been saved, as stated most prominently by Hannah Arendt? Can we judge on this evidently life-supporting institution without considering the subsequent murder of many of its functionaries (e.g. Kurt Singer) and subsequent mass-murders? Were the Jewish leaders simply, as Arendt suggested, in the grip of ideology or did they act out of pure stupidity?},
 year = {2021}
}

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T1  - Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance
AU  - Martin Arndt
Y1  - 2021/11/23
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14
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EP  - 244
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14
AB  - The article is based on a research of Jewish journals in the German language written in the 30s of the last century. It deals with the response of Jewish institutions, but mainly of Jewish journals (Many newspaper are archived under DigiBaeck https://www.lbi.org/collections/digibaeck/) to the assumption of power by the Nazis in 1933. It especially focuses on the Jewish Culture League and its umbrella union, the Reichsverband der jüdischen Kulturbünde (=Reich Association of Jewish Culture Leagues, from 1937). It is written from a perspective of understanding the historical context without adopting the position of a distanced spectator; it closely follows Marion Kaplan [8] by telling the story of Jews from the bewildered and ambiguous perspective of Jews trying to navigate their daily lives in a world that was becoming more and more insane. The paradoxical partnership that emerged between the Kulturbund theatre and the Nazis is emblematic of the complexities and concessions that mark the broader phenomenon of “art-making under duress” [13] Answering the charge that Jews should have left earlier, the questions remains if the Holocaust was possible to foresee. Fundamental ethical issues are raised, and questions of utilitarian ethics emerge, e.g. choices between a greater or lesser evil [1]. Are some of the responses a hard-won victory for the Jews, making life bearable and being a moral support, or was the non-resistance a deal with the devil that lulled the Jewish population into a false sense of security (Alan Steinweis). Were the Jews led to believe that Nazi-Germany could still be a home, and were some Jews falsely pacified, being stopped from seeking emigration while slowly a ghetto was built around the majority to be transported to the gas chambers? Is the way of manoeuvring through acceptable? Or has this compromising furthered the agenda of the Nazis? Would less cooperation between the Jewish organizations and the Nazi authorities have made possible for more Jews to have been saved, as stated most prominently by Hannah Arendt? Can we judge on this evidently life-supporting institution without considering the subsequent murder of many of its functionaries (e.g. Kurt Singer) and subsequent mass-murders? Were the Jewish leaders simply, as Arendt suggested, in the grip of ideology or did they act out of pure stupidity?
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Author Information

Martin Arndt

Jewish Studies, Department of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

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APA Style

Martin Arndt. (2021). Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance. Humanities and Social Sciences, 9(6), 234-244. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14

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ACS Style

Martin Arndt. Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2021, 9(6), 234-244. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14

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AMA Style

Martin Arndt. Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance. Humanit Soc Sci. 2021;9(6):234-244. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14

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@article{10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14,
  author = {Martin Arndt},
  title = {Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {9},
  number = {6},
  pages = {234-244},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20210906.14},
  abstract = {The article is based on a research of Jewish journals in the German language written in the 30s of the last century. It deals with the response of Jewish institutions, but mainly of Jewish journals (Many newspaper are archived under DigiBaeck https://www.lbi.org/collections/digibaeck/) to the assumption of power by the Nazis in 1933. It especially focuses on the Jewish Culture League and its umbrella union, the Reichsverband der jüdischen Kulturbünde (=Reich Association of Jewish Culture Leagues, from 1937). It is written from a perspective of understanding the historical context without adopting the position of a distanced spectator; it closely follows Marion Kaplan [8] by telling the story of Jews from the bewildered and ambiguous perspective of Jews trying to navigate their daily lives in a world that was becoming more and more insane. The paradoxical partnership that emerged between the Kulturbund theatre and the Nazis is emblematic of the complexities and concessions that mark the broader phenomenon of “art-making under duress” [13] Answering the charge that Jews should have left earlier, the questions remains if the Holocaust was possible to foresee. Fundamental ethical issues are raised, and questions of utilitarian ethics emerge, e.g. choices between a greater or lesser evil [1]. Are some of the responses a hard-won victory for the Jews, making life bearable and being a moral support, or was the non-resistance a deal with the devil that lulled the Jewish population into a false sense of security (Alan Steinweis). Were the Jews led to believe that Nazi-Germany could still be a home, and were some Jews falsely pacified, being stopped from seeking emigration while slowly a ghetto was built around the majority to be transported to the gas chambers? Is the way of manoeuvring through acceptable? Or has this compromising furthered the agenda of the Nazis? Would less cooperation between the Jewish organizations and the Nazi authorities have made possible for more Jews to have been saved, as stated most prominently by Hannah Arendt? Can we judge on this evidently life-supporting institution without considering the subsequent murder of many of its functionaries (e.g. Kurt Singer) and subsequent mass-murders? Were the Jewish leaders simply, as Arendt suggested, in the grip of ideology or did they act out of pure stupidity?},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Jews and the Year 1933: German Jews and the Question of Resistance
AU  - Martin Arndt
Y1  - 2021/11/23
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14
T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP  - 234
EP  - 244
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.14
AB  - The article is based on a research of Jewish journals in the German language written in the 30s of the last century. It deals with the response of Jewish institutions, but mainly of Jewish journals (Many newspaper are archived under DigiBaeck https://www.lbi.org/collections/digibaeck/) to the assumption of power by the Nazis in 1933. It especially focuses on the Jewish Culture League and its umbrella union, the Reichsverband der jüdischen Kulturbünde (=Reich Association of Jewish Culture Leagues, from 1937). It is written from a perspective of understanding the historical context without adopting the position of a distanced spectator; it closely follows Marion Kaplan [8] by telling the story of Jews from the bewildered and ambiguous perspective of Jews trying to navigate their daily lives in a world that was becoming more and more insane. The paradoxical partnership that emerged between the Kulturbund theatre and the Nazis is emblematic of the complexities and concessions that mark the broader phenomenon of “art-making under duress” [13] Answering the charge that Jews should have left earlier, the questions remains if the Holocaust was possible to foresee. Fundamental ethical issues are raised, and questions of utilitarian ethics emerge, e.g. choices between a greater or lesser evil [1]. Are some of the responses a hard-won victory for the Jews, making life bearable and being a moral support, or was the non-resistance a deal with the devil that lulled the Jewish population into a false sense of security (Alan Steinweis). Were the Jews led to believe that Nazi-Germany could still be a home, and were some Jews falsely pacified, being stopped from seeking emigration while slowly a ghetto was built around the majority to be transported to the gas chambers? Is the way of manoeuvring through acceptable? Or has this compromising furthered the agenda of the Nazis? Would less cooperation between the Jewish organizations and the Nazi authorities have made possible for more Jews to have been saved, as stated most prominently by Hannah Arendt? Can we judge on this evidently life-supporting institution without considering the subsequent murder of many of its functionaries (e.g. Kurt Singer) and subsequent mass-murders? Were the Jewish leaders simply, as Arendt suggested, in the grip of ideology or did they act out of pure stupidity?
VL  - 9
IS  - 6
ER  -

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