Jews in Leipzig - The University of Texas at Austin
Jews in Leipzig - The University of Texas at Austin
Jews in Leipzig - The University of Texas at Austin
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their word. In the <strong>in</strong>terwar period, <strong>Leipzig</strong> had an extremely active and popular Zionist<br />
movement, with youth activities, sports, a vibrant women’s w<strong>in</strong>g, and an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly<br />
prom<strong>in</strong>ent and respectable role <strong>in</strong> Jewish public life <strong>in</strong> the city. Zionism, <strong>in</strong> its varied<br />
forms, provided many <strong>Jews</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Leipzig</strong> with a rhetorical home, and the numbers <strong>at</strong>tracted<br />
to it only grew over time. But <strong>of</strong> course, there was another approach to questions <strong>of</strong><br />
Jewish identity <strong>in</strong> Germany.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first local meet<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the anti-Zionist Centralvere<strong>in</strong> deutscher Sta<strong>at</strong>sbürger<br />
jüdischen Glaubens (the Central Organiz<strong>at</strong>ion <strong>of</strong> German Citizens <strong>of</strong> the Jewish Faith,<br />
the CV) was held <strong>in</strong> <strong>Leipzig</strong> 14 years earlier, <strong>at</strong> the Centralthe<strong>at</strong>er <strong>in</strong> the downtown<br />
Thomasr<strong>in</strong>g. <strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>itial Vorstand was comprised <strong>of</strong> three bus<strong>in</strong>essmen, two lawyers, and<br />
a Rabbi. By 1917, the Reform Geme<strong>in</strong>derabb<strong>in</strong>er Dr. Felix Goldmann was <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong><br />
the leadership <strong>of</strong> the local CV, writ<strong>in</strong>g letters to the police on their behalf. <strong>The</strong> CV, as <strong>in</strong><br />
other cities, pursued an assimil<strong>at</strong>ionist program, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g talks on “Die Jüdische<br />
Intern<strong>at</strong>ionale” (a debunk<strong>in</strong>g session) <strong>in</strong> 1926, and “Der Jude als deutscher Sta<strong>at</strong>sbürger<br />
und Kulturbürger” [<strong>The</strong> Jew as a citizen <strong>of</strong> the German st<strong>at</strong>e and culture] <strong>in</strong> 1928. <strong>The</strong><br />
l<strong>at</strong>ter meet<strong>in</strong>g was broken up by a cont<strong>in</strong>gent <strong>of</strong> 150 NSDAP men, who were then<br />
confronted outside by the center-left Reichsbanner paramilitary. <strong>The</strong> ensu<strong>in</strong>g disturbance<br />
was broken up by the police who filed the report on the meet<strong>in</strong>g. 61<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> divided the camps was obvious: a fundamental disagreement over the n<strong>at</strong>ure<br />
<strong>of</strong> Jewishness and n<strong>at</strong>ionality. <strong>The</strong> oppos<strong>in</strong>g groups represented a basic division, and<br />
played out th<strong>at</strong> division, <strong>in</strong> ways familiar to most students <strong>of</strong> the period. <strong>The</strong>re were<br />
public rel<strong>at</strong>ion campaigns, affili<strong>at</strong>ions with political parties, public events, and a serious<br />
61 StAL PP-V 5007 “Akten des Polizei der Stadt <strong>Leipzig</strong>, betreffend den Zentralvere<strong>in</strong> [sic] deutscher<br />
Sta<strong>at</strong>sbürger jüdischen Glaubens Orstgr. <strong>Leipzig</strong>, 1911-40”. Unpag<strong>in</strong><strong>at</strong>ed.<br />
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