Life before the Holocaust

A new dawn: jewish life in the enlightement era

The position of the Jews started changing during the Age of Enlightenment (1680-1780). Enlightenment was an intellectual movement to establish human and civil rights. Whilst the Enlightenment was not free of Antisemitism, the movement led to Jewish Communities receiving their civil rights in Western Europe.

Antisemitism now changed. It became a kind of socio-economic envy and an accusation of dual loyalty. Jews were accused of having caused the societal changes some citizens disliked. Many antisemitic accusations and conspiracy theories that still exist originated in that period.

Dreyfus’s mistrial and ordeal convinced a Hungarian Jewish journalist Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) that there was a need for a Jewish state. Herzl consequently created the organized Zionist movement.

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Breaking Barriers:
Jews Entering Society

From the Enlightenment on, Jews became a strong cultural and even political element in the European society. Even in Eastern Europe, where Jewish communities were typically more Orthodox, spoke Yiddish and lived more secluded in Jewish villages known as shtetels, there was more openness.

In Germany, many Jews were part of an open-minded Reform movement. Art, literature, music, and science all became fields where Jewish individuals could excel in the society at large. At the same time, Jewish identity was maintained as a religious or cultural identity by for instance communal celebrations of religious holidays.

Synagogues in Europe often had symbols, such as vultures integrated into their decorations. Vultures were symbols of many royal houses, and this was a way to honor them as loyal citizens. This was done in accordance with Jeremiah’s instruction for the Babylonian Exile; later to be modelled in all exiled Jewish communities: “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the Lord for it…” (Jeremiah 29:7)

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A Nation's Shame: The Dreyfus Affair

One well-known post-Enlightenment case was that of a Jewish army officer in the French army. Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) was accused of treason. Despite his innocence, he was condemned with clearly antisemitic undertones. His innocence was acknowledged only years later. Dreyfus’s mistrial and ordeal convinced a Hungarian Jewish journalist Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) that there was a need for a Jewish state. Herzl consequently created the organized Zionist movement.

Cultural Tapestry: Jews Shaping the Arts

From the Enlightenment on, Jews became a strong cultural and even political element in European society. Even in Eastern Europe, where Jewish communities were typically more Orthodox, spoke Yiddish and lived more secluded in Jewish villages known as shtetls, there was more openness.

Synagogues in Europe often had symbols, such as vultures integrated into their decorations. Vultures were symbols of many royal houses, and this was a way to honor them as loyal citizens. This was done in accordance with Jeremiah’s instruction for the Babylonian Exile; later to be modeled in all exiled Jewish communities: “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the Lord for it…”

(Jeremiah 29:7)

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Icons of Influence: Prominent Jewish Figures

There were notable cases of conversions as well as attempts to show that Judaism could coexist with the Enlightenment and the interwar period.

Courage and Sacrifice: Jewish Soldiers in WWI

By WWI, the nine million Jews of Europe were mostly well-integrated into their societies. During WWI, Jews fought in their national armies in an exemplary way. In Germany itself, approximately 100,000 Jews fought in the German army; many returned as decorated WWI veterans.

Breaking Barriers: Jews Entering Society

It was in 1917 that the Balfour Declaration was given by the British Government opening the way for the establishment of a Jewish State in the British Mandate of Palestine. Arthur Balfour (1848-1930), a respected British statesman wrote a letter to Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868-1937) leader of the Anglo-Jewish Community stating that His Majesty’s Government supported the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.

Struggles and Scapegoats:
The Weimar Republic and Antisemitism

Several Jews were part of the new Weimar Republic (1918-1933), a democratic government. This led to a situation where terrible post-war problems, such as inflation and political instability were very much connected with the Jews. The Weimar Republic increasingly failed to create economic stability.

At the same time, many Germans felt that the conditions of demilitarization, territorial compromises and war reparations imposed on them by the Versailles Peace Treaty, were too harsh. This gave prominence to the Dolchstoss Legende, Stab-in-the-Back Myth, whereby Germany had been defeated due to internal betrayal – especially by the Jews.

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Between Wars:
Jewish Resilience Amidst Rising Antisemitism

We can only guess at the uncertainty felt by German Jews before right before 1933. The strong German-Jewish identity they were so proud of needed to be re-examined, as the society changed. Whether living in Eastern or Western Europe; whether religious or secular; whether well-educated or poorer, they all were soon going to face destruction.

The interesting thing to note is that during the interwar period two seemingly opposing trends existed in the society. First, Jews became integrated in the society in an unprecedented manner occupying positions of influence.

Second, Antisemitism rose in parallel meaning that in the inter-war period, there were many antisemitic parties and movements in German society. There was also the fact that during this period, poor Jews from Eastern Europe, Ostjuden, wearing traditional garments, started arriving in Germany. Their presence was now used in intensifying antisemitic propaganda. In some ways, this all culminated when a Jewish Government Minister Walther Rathenau was assassinated in 1922.

For Jewish children born during this period, violent hateful antisemitism was unknown. Their lives were soon going to change. As long as she can remember, Anna Steinberger had wanted to be a scientist when she grew up.

On September 1, 1939, she was excited to start 7th grade and see school friends she had missed over the summer. Instead, her mother insisted that she and her brother hide in the basement, as a German bomb had struck the roof of the building where they lived in Radom, Poland.

The air raids continued over the next few days. As the German army got closer, Anna and her family escaped with nothing but the clothes on their back in a horse-drawn buggy driven by her uncle. They traveled over bumpy roads while German fighter planes shot at everyone trying to escape. Finally, they stumbled upon an abandoned house, where they found temporary shelter. Their lives were forever changed, as more challenges awaited them.

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More about Dr. Anna Steinberger.

The Diary That Lived: Anne Frank's Legacy

In 1929 a baby called Anne was born to Edith and Otto Frank in Frankfurt am Main in Germany. She had an older sister by the name of Margot. In 1933 Otto decided that life in Germany was no longer feasible as a Jew. This was due to Hitler’s rise in power and the worrying anti-Jewish atmosphere in Germany.

He moved his family to Amsterdam, Holland. There he met and hired Miep Gies, originally Hermine from Austria. Miep had been sent to Holland as child to escape WWI shortages. She, like Anne Frank, fell in love with Holland and decided to stay – even taking on the Dutch name Miep. Her fate now became connected with that of Anne Frank.

He moved his family to Amsterdam, Holland. There he met and hired Miep Gies, originally Hermine from Austria. Miep had been sent to Holland as child to escape WWI shortages. She, like Anne Frank, fell in love with Holland and decided to stay – even taking on the Dutch name Miep. Her fate now became connected with that of Anne Frank.

Anne was only a little girl when she came to Amsterdam. No wonder her identity was formed in Holland. She felt she was a Dutch girl.

Anne Frank (1929-1945) is the most famous person we associate with the Holocaust.

Anne Frank’s diary of her experiences before and during World War II profoundly impacted the heart of 12-year-old Doris (click here for video) in Germany. Her parents were not happy with Doris’s responses to Anne’s experiences and insisted the book was all lies.

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EXHIBIT 2 EXPOSITION