Volume XXXVI No. 5 May 1981 INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE AffOOAim W MnSH RERKOS H OSAT OUTAK which were founded, dissolved, amalgamated and Werner Rosenstock again divided into new splinter groups. Fratricide was the order of the day, last but not least due to the attitude of the Russian Communist Party to A COURAGEOUS ENTERPRISE their emigrated comrades from Germany. The wellknown experience of Margarete Buber- Biographies of Emigrants Neumann, recorded in her book "Als Gefangene bei Stalin and Hitler" is one of the tragic ex­ Throughout the past years, research workers in people, especially after their—limited—emanci­ amples. The two daughters from her first marriage Various countries have published books and mono­ pation, the demographical, economic and political to Martin Buber's son Rafael now live in Israel. graphs which, in general terms or under special situation before the Nazis came to power and the As Martin Buber's wife was a Jewess by con­ ^spects, describe the history of the emigration of various stages of emigration from 1933 onwards. version, they are in the Nazi terminology Jews and political anti-Nazis from German Altogether, the number of emigrants is estimated "quarter-Jews" and, under the Nurnberg Laws, language countries, their initial difficulties and the at 500,000, including about 30,000 active anti- Martin Buber's grandchildren would not have been Sradual adjustment to their places of resettlement, Nazis (many of whom were also of Jewish origin). permitted to marry "Jews", but only "pure fhough these works often include references to Whilst after the war quite a few political emi­ Aryans". (The reader is asked to forgive the '"dividual refugees, their main object is to give an grants returned to West and East Germany and reviewer that he cannot suppress this remark overall picture of one of the most revolutionary Austria, where some of them attained high pos­ about the absurd effects of the "racial" laws under events of our time. Others lay stress on those itions, the number of Jewish returnees is estimated the Nazis.) ^"I'grants, who have attained fame by their out- at not more than four per cent, including, accord­ The handbook also follows up the life stories of handing achievements in their particular fields, ing to the authors, very few from England. leading politicians during the Weimar era. The 'et what was missing was a kind of Who's Who Like all encyclopaedic works, the volume is not democratic politician, Erich Koch-Weser, had to °i those emigrants who did not reach the apex in free from mistakes. In some cases, lack of back­ close his lawyer's practice in 1933, because his 'he course of their activities but whose names ground knowledge has led to rather curious mother (nee Lewenstein) was of Jewish origin. He should all the same be saved from oblivion. results. Thus, in the otherwise correct biography, became the co-founder of the coffee plantation To fill this gap is the object of an enterprise a rabbi is described as having officiated in the Rolandia in Brazil. The former Berlin President ^tarted seven years ago under the auspices of the liberal Zionist (my italics) Oranienburger Strasse of Police and Prussian Minister of the Interior, Institut fuer Zeitgeschichte" (Muenchen) and the Synagogue in Berlin. In another case, a communal Grzesinski, who fled to Switzerland and ultimately Research Institute for Jewish Immigration" (New worker, whose offices also included Board mem­ to the US, where he died in 1947, had to earn his .T^fk) under the guidance of Werner Roeder bership of the AJR is stated to have died in living as a metal worker, a craft in which he had jMuenchen) and Herbert Strauss (New York). They 1915 and to have been active in Jewish affairs worked before he embarked on his political career. ^8an their work by collecting the life stories of since 1917. Mistakes of this kind are so obvious He was already deprived of his German citizen­ ^hout 25,000 emigrants. Their collection in itself that they should have been noticed by the proof ship in 1933, because he was blamed for having *'1I be of the greatest documentary value for reader. There is also at least one case, in which facilitated the admission of Eastem Jews to 'Uture historians. Out of these 25,000 documents biographies of two different personalities seem to Germany. °ey selected the names of 8,000 personalities for have been rolled into one. To an unexpectedly high degree it is possible to Publication of their data, family background, One of the more serious aspects with which detect the Jewish origin also of those Jewish ctivities and writings. The first volume, compris- the editors were faced was the decision of eligi­ politicians who had left the fold. In most cases, Y^ 4,000 names in a tome of 900 pages has now bility of persons who, at one time or another, had they had become "Dissidents" like their Christian- ^en published ('"Biographisches Handbuch der held positions in the NSDAP, from which they born comrades. Yet often, the entry reads "Jewish, ^eutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933, Band I: later defected. It may nevertheless have been later Dissident", in other cases, the parents are ^olitik, Wirtschaft, Oeffentliches Leben", K. G. legitimate to accord a long and detailed entry to expressly described as Jews. There are also cases ^ur 1980, DM 298). It is to be followed by a Otto Strasser, who joined the NSDAP in 1925 but in which, under the impact of the Nazi happen­ J °nd volume covering Science, Arts and Litera- who, as the protagonist of the Socialist faction of ings, "Dissidents" became Jewish again. Yet per­ ''e. Whereas the first volume appeared in Ger- the Party, had many conflicts with Hitler and haps the most extraordinary itinerary was that of "J^n. the second volume, for reasons not ex­ founded a counter organisation. To save his life, the historian Arthur Rosenberg, who taught at plained, will be published in English. The difficult he fled to Vienna in May 1933. After an odyssey the University of Berlin. From 1924-28, he was a J"^ often arbitrary decision of eligibility for the during the subsequent years, which were full of Communist member of the Reichstag. Later, he rst or second volume could have been avoided, if political activities, he retumed to Germany in left the Party. After his emigration, he returned to . the names of personalities had been published I )55, where he died in 1974. Yet what in this Judaism and, before his re-emigration to the US, 1 alphabetical order in one single work of two reviewer's opinion definitely went too far, was the was Deputy Chairman of the Jewish Students' °'Umes. As things are now, there are quite a lot inclusion of "Putzi" Hanfstaengl, who had par­ Federation of Great Britain. His denominational . names in the first volume which might have ticipated in the Hitler Putsch, joined the Party in changes are described as follows: Jewish, Protest­ 'ed more legitimately into the second volume, 1931 and became Foreign Press Relations Officer ant, Dissident, Jewish. There are also opposite ^ the completeness of the whole work will only and personal friend of Hitler. After political dis­ developments in which Jewish refugees converted assessable when the second volume becomes agreements, he left Germany for England in 1937, to Christianity after their emigration. ailable. However, these methodical shortcomings where he was interned in 1939. Allegedly, he was Two cases of special interest are those of David e of minor importance compared with the out- Roosevelt's adviser on questions of political and Frankfurter and Herschel Grynszpan. Frankfurter, anding value which the work represents, psychological warfare from 1942 to 1944. In 1945, who in 1936 killed the leader of the Swiss group p y*® volume opens with prefaces, written by however, he was again interned, first in England of the NSDAP, was bom in Slavonia in 1909, the ofessor Martin Broszat (Director of the Institut and then in Germany. He was released in 1946 son of a rabbi. He had to break off his medical fCvf .'^^'^gsschichte) and Dr. Curt C. Silberman and lived again in Munich up to the time of his studies for reasons of health and went to Switzer­ » "Airman of the Research Foundation for Jewish death in 1975. land in 1933. Sentenced to 18 years imprisonment, ^migration), who is also Joint Chairman of the Whilst there are—rightly—quite a few refer­ he was discharged in 1946 and went to Palestine/ jOUncil of Jews from Germany. There follows a ences to conservative anti-Nazis, the majority of Israel, where he is now an official of the Ministry J, page Introduction by the two editors, Werner the political refugees consisted, apart from a of Defence. 17-year-old Grynszpan, whose family ^^oeder and Herbert Strauss, which in itself is number of Liberals, of Socialists and Communists lived in Hanover, emigrated to France in 1936. 5 ?^dy a masterpiece of historiography. It de- of various shades. Many of them passed through •bes the historical background of the Jewish the labyrinth of political groups and cliques. Continued at column 1 page 2 Page 2 AJR INFORMATION May 1981 Continued from page 1 A COURAGEOUS ENTERPRISE FROM THE GERMAN SCENE When, like all Polish Jews, his parents were deported in 1938, he took revenge by shooting the POLL SHOWS CONTRADICTORY FINDINGS FORMER BERLINERS ON RETURN VISIT German Embassy official vom Rath. This action A poll undertaken for Chancellor Helmut 150 former Jewish citizens of Berlin visited became the pretext for the November pogroms in Schmidt's advisers but not so far published is their home town for a week at the invitation reported by "Der Spiegel" to show that 18 per of the West Berlin Senate.