159-636: Fritz Bauer (16 July 1903 – 1 July 1968) was a German Jewish judge and prosecutor. He played an instrumental role in the post-war capture of former Holocaust planner Adolf Eichmann and the beginning of the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials . Bauer was born in Stuttgart , to a Jewish family. His parents were Ella (Hirsch) and Ludwig Bauer. Bauer's father was a successful businessman who ran a textile mill that provided him with an annual income of 40,000 ℛ︁ℳ︁ by 1930 (for comparison,
318-665: A German politician and resistance fighter against the Nazis. He was chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the first Leader of the Opposition in the West German Bundestag in 1949; he served in both positions until his death. Upon Adolf Hitler 's seizure of power, he was imprisoned for ten years in various Nazi concentration camps . After World War II, Schumacher
477-501: A German, belong to a society that was under French leadership. German Jews supported German colonial ambitions in Africa and Eastern Europe, out of the desire to increase German power and to rescue Eastern European Jews from Tsarist rule. The eastern advance became important for German Jews because it combined German military superiority with rescuing Eastern Jews from Russian brutality; Russian antisemitism and pogroms had only worsened as
636-557: A German-Jewish newspaper reported that all the young Jewish males in the Franconian towns of Hagenbach , Ottingen , and Warnbach had emigrated or were about to emigrate. The United States was the primary destination for emigrating German Jews. The Revolutions of 1848 swung the pendulum back towards freedom for the Jews. A noted reform rabbi of that time was Leopold Zunz , a contemporary and friend of Heinrich Heine . In 1871, with
795-556: A battle with Otto Grotewohl , the leader of the SPD in the Soviet Zone of Occupation , who argued the SPD should merge with the KPD to form a united socialist party. Grotewohl had initially opposed the idea, but was persuaded that the rise of the Nazis would have never happened had the left presented a unified front. Schumacher was as ardently anti-Communist as he was anti-Nazi, and rejected
954-713: A centre-right coalition government with the Free Democratic Party , the Christian Social Union , and the German Party . Adenauer was elected chancellor, a shock for Schumacher. He refused to co-operate in parliamentary matters and denounced the CDU as agents of the capitalists and foreign powers. Schumacher opposed the emerging new organisations of European co-operation: the Council of Europe ,
1113-767: A chairman of the Stuttgart chapter of the Reichsbanner in favor of Bauer. After the Harzburg Front was founded in October 1931, Bauer was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Iron Front , whose stated purpose was to defend democracy. On 8 March 1933, Jagow was appointed police commissioner for Württemberg. On 23 March 1933, while Bauer was at work in his office, a group of policemen arrived to arrest him without charges. In March 1933, soon after
1272-519: A consequence of the fictitious confessions extracted under torture from the Jews of Trent , the populace of many cities, especially of Regensburg, fell upon the Jews and massacred them. The end of the 15th century, which brought a new epoch for the Christian world , brought no relief to the Jews. Jews in Germany remained the victims of a religious hatred that ascribed to them all possible evils. When
1431-750: A criminal offense. In 1968, working with German journalist Gerhard Szczesny , Bauer founded the Humanist Union , a human-rights organization. After Bauer's death, the Union donated money to endow the Fritz Bauer Prize. Another organization, the Fritz Bauer Institute, founded in 1995, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to civil rights that focuses on history and the effects of the Holocaust. Fritz Bauer's work contributed to
1590-614: A dedicated socialist and in 1918 joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He led ex-servicemen in forming workers' and soldiers councils in Berlin during the revolutionary days following the fall of the German Empire but opposed attempts by revolutionary left-wing groups to seize power. In 1920, the SPD sent him to Stuttgart to edit the party's newspaper there, the Schwäbische Tagwacht . Schumacher
1749-524: A few men came forward to promote their cause, foremost among them being Gabriel Riesser (d. 1863), a Jewish lawyer from Hamburg , who demanded full civic equality for his people. He won over public opinion to such an extent that this equality was granted in Prussia on 6 April 1848, in Hanover and Nassau on 5 September and on 12 December, respectively, and also in his home state of Hamburg , then home to
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#17327931299231908-765: A former Nazi camps prisoner, Bauer relayed information about the whereabouts in Argentina of fugitive Holocaust planner Adolf Eichmann to Israeli Intelligence, the Mossad . Hermann's daughter Sylvia began dating a man named Klaus Eichmann in 1956 who boasted about his father's Nazi exploits, and Hermann alerted Fritz Bauer, at the time prosecutor-general of the Land of Hesse in West Germany . Hermann then tasked his daughter with investigating her new friend's family; she met with Eichmann himself at his house, who said that he
2067-670: A hostile Nazi account admitted he had "an accessible and very appealing style of expression". Schumacher in turn was, despite his atypical appearance owing to his war wounds, one of the most popular Social Democrats in Württemberg, as one lawyer recalled: "He was like Churchill , chain-smoking cigarettes and puffing on cigars. You could sense his resolve and unwavering belief in the absolute righteousness of his cause". Schumacher and Bauer travelled across Württemberg giving speeches as Bauer recalled: "He and I spoke every weekend, sometimes three, four or five times. We were urging people to defend
2226-474: A key role in keeping the Jewish communities in tune with the changing society that was evoked by the Jews being emancipated. Jewish women were the catalyst of modernization within the Jewish community. The years 1870–1918 marked the shift in the women's role in society. Their job in the past had been housekeeping and raising children. Now, however, they began to contribute to the home financially. Jewish mothers were
2385-718: A large and well-organized Jewish community in these regions dates from 321 CE and refers to Cologne on the Rhine . It indicates that the legal status of the Jews there was the same as elsewhere in the Roman Empire . They enjoyed some civil liberties, but were restricted regarding the dissemination of their culture, the keeping of non-Jewish slaves, and the holding of office under the government. Jews were otherwise free to follow any occupation open to indigenous Germans and were engaged in agriculture, trade, industry, and gradually money-lending. These conditions at first continued in
2544-730: A mixed record on the denazification program: "Like his CDU rival, Schumacher spoke out against the sweeping nature of the Allied denazification program and the shortcomings of the Allied war crimes trials. He realized the need to incorporate 'small Nazis' - especially former members of the Hitler Youth - into the state, going as far as to demand inclusion of members of the Waffen-SS . He also supported Adenauer's Law 131' from 1951, which granted pensions and voting rights to former NSDAP bureaucrats, policemen, and other officials. He even protested
2703-788: A new generation of Jews. He maintained a leading role in the German Haskalah , is one of the founding editors of Ha-Me/assef . Euchel was exposed to European languages and culture while living in Prussian centers: Berlin and Koenigsberg. His interests turned towards promoting the educational interests of the Enlightenment with other Jews. Moses Mendelssohn as another enlightenment thinker was the first Jew to bring secular culture to those living an Orthodox Jewish life. He valued reason and felt that anyone could arrive logically at religious truths while arguing that what makes Judaism unique
2862-523: A number of incidents have occurred in recent years. Jewish migration from Roman Italy is considered the most likely source of the first Jews on German territory. There were Jews in Rome as early as 139 BCE. While the date of the first settlement of Jews in the regions which the Romans called Germania Superior , Germania Inferior , and Magna Germania is not known, the first authentic document relating to
3021-464: A photograph of Eichmann alongside Klammer. Klammer was in contact with the German priest Giselher Pohl and bishop Hermann Kunst, to whom he sent the information with the photograph, from which Klammer's face was ripped. Kunst, in turn, passed the evidences to Bauer. Bauer's sources remained secret, and along with Klammer's recomposed picture were not revealed before 2021. Mossad's Isser Harel acknowledged
3180-433: A registration certificate, known as a Matrikel , proving he was in a "respectable" trade or profession. A Matrikel , which could cost up to 1,000 florins, was usually restricted to firstborn sons. As a result, most Jewish men were unable to legally marry. Throughout Germany, Jews were heavily taxed, and were sometimes discriminated against by gentile craftsmen. As a result, many German Jews began to emigrate. The emigration
3339-535: A silk factory, after beginning his publications of philosophical essays in German. Mendelssohn conceived of God as a perfect Being and had faith in "God's wisdom, righteousness, mercy, and goodness." He argued, "the world results from a creative act through which the divine will seeks to realize the highest good," and accepted the existence of miracles and revelation as long as belief in God did not depend on them. He also believed that revelation could not contradict reason. Like
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#17327931299233498-648: A time in Gothenburg before departing to Stockholm where Bauer founded, along with Willy Brandt and others, the periodical Sozialistische Tribüne ( Socialist Tribune ). Learning to speak swedish (albeit with a strong German accent) Bauer supported himself by teaching law students at Stockholm university and archival work. In his spare time he wrote books, ranging in topics from economics to Napoleon . In 1945 his father, Ludwig, died from leukemia while living in Sävedalen . Bauer returned to Germany in 1949, as
3657-562: A way that their right to observe religious laws is granted, while also recognizing the needs for respect, and multiplicity of religions. He campaigned for emancipation and instructed Jews to form bonds with the gentile governments, attempting to improve the relationship between Jews and Christians while arguing for tolerance and humanity. He became the symbol of the Jewish Enlightenment, the Haskalah. Early 19th century In
3816-531: A weak national government, as was favoured both by the Allies and the CDU. Schumacher refused to give way and eventually, the Allies, keen to get the new German state functioning in the face of the Soviet challenge, acceded to some of Schumacher's demands. The new federal government would be dominant over the states, although the president would have limited powers. Despite his speeches against Nazism, Schumacher had
3975-546: A well-organized system of Jewish charity for needy Talmud students. Mendelssohn read this book and found proof of the existence of God – his first meeting with a sample of European letters. This was only the beginning to Mendelssohn's inquiries about the knowledge of life. Mendelssohn learned many new languages, and with his whole education consisting of Talmud lessons, he thought in Hebrew and translated for himself every new piece of work he met into this language. The divide between
4134-508: Is its divine revelation of a code of law. Mendelssohn's commitment to Judaism leads to tensions even with some of those who subscribed to Enlightenment philosophy. Faithful Christians who were less opposed to his rationalistic ideas than to his adherence to Judaism found it difficult to accept this Juif de Berlin. In most of Western Europe, the Haskalah ended with large numbers of Jews assimilating. Many Jews stopped adhering to Jewish law, and
4293-623: The Black Death swept over Europe in 1348–49, some Christian communities accused Jews of poisoning wells . Compared to the south and west of the Holy Roman Empire, the persecutions appear to have brought less drastic effects in the eastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Nonetheless, in the Erfurt Massacre of 1349 , the members of the entire Jewish community were murdered or expelled from the city, due to superstitions about
4452-640: The European Coal and Steel Community and the European Defence Community . He saw them as devices to strengthen capitalism and to extend Allied control over Germany. That stand aroused the opposition of the other Western European socialist parties, and eventually, the SPD overruled him and sent delegates to the Council of Europe. During the remainder of Adenauer's first term in office, Schumacher continued to oppose his government, but
4611-944: The Free City of Frankfurt , only 12 Jewish couples were allowed to marry each year, and the 400,000 florins the city's Jewish community had paid in 1811 for its emancipation was forfeited. After the Rhineland reverted to Prussian control, Jews lost the rights Napoleon had granted them, were banned from certain professions, and the few who had been appointed to public office before the Napoleonic Wars were dismissed. Throughout numerous German states, Jews had their rights to work, settle, and marry restricted. Without special letters of protection, Jews were banned from many different professions, and often had to resort to jobs considered unrespectable, such as peddling or cattle dealing, to survive. A Jewish man who wanted to marry had to purchase
4770-572: The Hebrew prayers and the Bible in the original text. Halakhic studies began to flourish about 1000. At that time, Rav Gershom ben Judah was teaching at Metz and Mainz, gathering about him pupils from far and near. He is described in Jewish historiography as a model of wisdom, humility, and piety, and became known to succeeding generations as the "Light of the Exile ". In highlighting his role in
4929-594: The Napoleonic era and its aftermath, citizenship was established as a new franchise generally applying to all former subjects of the monarchs. Prussia conferred citizenship on the Prussian Jews in 1812, though this by no means resulted in full equality with other citizens. Jewish emancipation did not eliminate all forms of discrimination against Jews, who often remained barred from holding official state positions. The German federal edicts of 1815 merely held out
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5088-806: The Rhineland , were in the new Federal Republic of Germany. In addition, the American and the French occupying powers favoured Adenauer and did all they could to assist his campaign though the British remained neutral. Further, the onset of the Cold War , particularly the behaviour of the Soviets and the German communists in the Soviet Zone, produced an antisocialist reaction in Germany as elsewhere. The SPD could very plausibly have won an election in 1945, but
5247-609: The Universities of Heidelberg , Munich and Tübingen . German universities were traditionally strongholds of the völkisch movement , and almost all student fraternities in Germany under völkisch influence refused to accept Jews as members. Accordingly, Bauer found himself joining the liberal Jewish fraternity FWV ( Freie Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung – Free Academic Union) in Heidelberg, to which he devoted much of his time. The only other major Jewish fraternity were
5406-652: The Weimar Constitution , but also combat the extremism of the Weimar era". The rallies usually ended with people shouting Frei-Heil! (Hail Freedom!) which was intended to mock the Nazi slogan Sieg Heil! (Hail Victory!). As Schumacher was also a Social Democratic member of the Reichstag (federal parliament), he had to spend much time in Berlin attending the sessions of the Reichstag , causing him to resign as
5565-593: The Zionists , whose views Bauer opposed. In 1928, after receiving his PhD in law (at 25, Doktor der Rechte [Jur.Dr.] in Germany), Bauer became an assessor judge in the Stuttgart local district court. By 1920, he already had joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Bauer found himself feeling at home in Stuttgart, a city with a left-wing working class majority that had a reputation as a "progressive" city where Weimar culture flourished. The city council of Stuttgart
5724-420: The occupying powers opposed his ideas, he denounced them. Adenauer opposed socialism on principle and also argued that the quickest way to get the Allies to restore self-government to Germany was to co-operate with them. Schumacher wanted a new constitution with a strong national presidency, a post that he was confident he would win. The first draft of the 1949 Grundgesetz provided for a federal system with
5883-481: The 15th century was a period of religious hatred that ascribed to Jews all possible evils. With Napoleon's fall in 1815 , growing nationalism resulted in increasing repression. From August to October 1819, pogroms that came to be known as the Hep-Hep riots took place throughout Germany. During this time, many German states stripped Jews of their civil rights. As a result, many German Jews began to emigrate. From
6042-500: The 18th century, some Jews and their families (such as Daniel Itzig in Berlin) gained equal status with their Christian fellow city dwellers, but had a different status from noblemen, Huguenots, or serfs. They often did not enjoy the right to freedom of movement across territorial or even municipal boundaries, let alone the same status in any new place as in their previous location. With the abolition of differences in legal status during
6201-564: The Americans, not wanting to see socialism of any kind in Germany, were grooming for leadership. Adenauer united most of the prewar German conservatives into a new party, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). Schumacher campaigned throughout 1948 and 1949 for a united socialist Germany and particularly for the nationalisation of heavy industry, whose owners he blamed for funding the Nazis' rise to power. When
6360-640: The Black Death. Many persecutions were clearly favoured by a royal throne crisis and the Wittelsbach - Luxembourg dualism, therefore recent German research proposed the term “Thronkrisenverfolgungen” (throne crisis persecutions). Royal policy and public ambivalence towards Jews helped the persecuted Jews fleeing to the East from the German-speaking lands to form the foundations of what would become
6519-496: The German government in order to make efforts to get Eichmann extradited from Argentina, the German government immediately responded negatively. In 2021, it became known that much more instrumental to the capture of Eichmann was the geologist Gerhard Klammer , who had worked with Eichmann in the early 1950s in a construction company in the Argentine Tucumán province , who provided Bauer with Eichmann's exact address and
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6678-654: The German humanist, who was the first one in Germany to include the Hebrew language among the humanities. His opinion, though strongly opposed by the Dominicans and their followers, finally prevailed when the humanistic Pope Leo X permitted the Talmud to be printed in Italy. Though reading German books was forbidden in the 1700s by Jewish inspectors who had a measure of police power in Germany, Moses Mendelson found his first German book, an edition of Protestant theology , at
6837-512: The German or Berlin Haskalah offered many effects to the challenges of German society. As early as the 1740s, many German Jews and some individual Polish and Lithuanian Jews had a desire for secular education . The German-Jewish Enlightenment of the late 18th century, the Haskalah , marks the political, social, and intellectual transition of European Jewry to modernity. Some of the elite members of Jewish society knew European languages. Absolutist governments in Germany, Austria, and Russia deprived
6996-562: The Hamburg pamphleteer Wilhelm Marr introduced the term 'antisemitism' into the political vocabulary by founding the Antisemitic League . Antisemites of the völkisch movement were the first to describe themselves as such, because they viewed Jews as part of a Semitic race that could never be properly assimilated into German society. Such was the ferocity of the anti-Jewish feeling of the völkisch movement that by 1900, antisemitic had entered German to describe anyone who had anti-Jewish feelings. However, despite massive protests and petitions,
7155-509: The Holy Roman Empire, its inhabitants were subject to varying estate regulations. In different ways from one territory of the empire to another, these regulations classified inhabitants into different groups, such as dynasts, members of the court entourage, other aristocrats , city dwellers ( burghers ), Jews, Huguenots (in Prussia a special estate until 1810), free peasants , serfs , peddlers and Gypsies , with different privileges and burdens attached to each classification. Legal inequality
7314-410: The Hussites made peace with the Church, the Pope sent the Franciscan friar John of Capistrano to win the renegades back into the fold and inspire them with loathing for heresy and unbelief; 41 martyrs were burned in Wrocław alone, and all Jews were forever banished from Silesia. The Franciscan friar Bernardine of Feltre brought a similar fate upon the communities in southern and western Germany. As
7473-409: The Jewish community was the cultivation of Jewish literature and associations created with teachers, rabbis, and leaders of congregations. Another vital part of the reorganization of the Jewish-German community was the heavy involvement of Jewish women in the community and their new tendencies to assimilate their families into a different lifestyle. Jewish women were contradicting their view points in
7632-523: The Jewish community's leadership of its authority and many Jews became 'Court Jews' . Using their connections with Jewish businessmen to serve as military contractors, managers of mints, founders of new industries and providers to the court of precious stones and clothing, they gave economic assistance to the local rulers. Court Jews were protected by the rulers and acted as did everyone else in society in their speech, manners, and awareness of European literature and ideas. Isaac Euchel , for example, represented
7791-436: The Jewish lifestyle inside their homes. During the history of the German Empire, there were various divisions within the German Jewish community over its future; in religious terms, Orthodox Jews sought to keep to Jewish religious tradition, while liberal Jews sought to "modernise" their communities by shifting from liturgical traditions to organ music and German-language prayers. Many immigrants travelled through Germany on
7950-424: The Jewish people throughout the generation. Napoleon I emancipated the Jews across Europe, but with Napoleon's fall in 1815, growing nationalism resulted in increasing repression. From August to October 1819, pogroms that came to be known as the Hep-Hep riots took place throughout Germany. Jewish property was destroyed in large number. During this time, many German states stripped Jews of their civil rights. In
8109-488: The Jewish unbelievers. This feeling, among both princes and people, was further stimulated by the attacks on the civic equality of the Jews. Beginning with the 10th century, Holy Week became more and more a period of antisemitic activities, yet the Saxon emperors did not treat the Jews badly, exacting from them merely the taxes levied upon all other merchants. Although the Jews in Germany were as ignorant as their contemporaries in secular studies, they could read and understand
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#17327931299238268-404: The Jews and the rest of society was caused by a lack of translation between these two languages, and Mendelssohn translated the Torah into German, bridging the gap between the two; this book allowed Jews to speak and write in German, preparing them for participation in German culture and secular science. In 1750, Mendelssohn began to serve as a teacher in the house of Isaac Bernhard, the owner of
8427-399: The Jews became an official Nazi policy. In 1935 and 1936, the pace of antisemitic persecution increased. In 1936, Jews were banned from all professional jobs, effectively preventing them from participating in education, politics, higher education and industry. On 10 November 1938, the state police and Nazi paramilitary forces orchestrated the Night of Broken Glass ( Kristallnacht ), in which
8586-411: The Jews considered life without their religion not worth living; but they did not realize this clearly until the time of the Crusades, when they were often compelled to choose between life and faith. The Jewish communities of the cities of Speyer , Worms , and Mainz formed the league of cities which became the center of Jewish life during Medieval times. These are referred to as the ShUM cities, after
8745-505: The Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages ( circa 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish community . The community survived under Charlemagne , but suffered during the Crusades . Accusations of well poisoning during the Black Death (1346–53) led to mass slaughter of German Jews, while others fled in large numbers to Poland . The Jewish communities of
8904-408: The Jews in return for a certain sum paid to him. Emperor Wenceslaus declared that anyone helping Jews with the collection of their debts, in spite of this annulment, would be dealt with as a robber and peacebreaker, and be forced to make restitution. This decree, which is believed to have impaired the public availability of credit was also reported to have impoverished thousands of Jewish families near
9063-451: The Jews resulting in increased trade and prosperity." The First Crusade began an era of persecution of Jews in Germany, especially in the Rhineland . The communities of Trier , Worms, Mainz, and Cologne, were attacked. The Jewish community of Speyer was saved by the bishop, but 800 were slain in Worms . About 12,000 Jews are said to have perished in the Rhenish cities alone between May and July 1096. Alleged crimes, like desecration of
9222-459: The Jews secured the remunerative monopoly of money-lending . This decree caused a mixed reaction of people in general in the Carolingian Empire (including Germany) to the Jews: Jewish people were sought everywhere, as well as avoided. This ambivalence about Jews occurred because their capital was indispensable, while their business was viewed as disreputable. This curious combination of circumstances increased Jewish influence, and Jews went about
9381-565: The Jews were now invited, with the promise of full protection, to return to those districts and cities from which they had shortly before been expelled. However, as soon as Jewish people acquired some property, they were again plundered and driven away. These episodes thenceforth constituted a large portion of the medieval history of the German Jews. Emperor Wenceslaus was particularly skilled at transferring gold from wealthier Jews to his own coffers. He entered compacts with many cities, estates, and princes whereby he annulled all outstanding debts to
9540-530: The Jews were taken out to a field outside of Riga and shot by Latvian collaborationists . In October 1943, as Nazis began the deportation of Danish Jews to Theresienstadt concentration camp , he went underground. If Bauer was homosexual, that would have placed him in even further peril should he remain in Germany or Nazi-occupied Denmark . To protect himself, he formally married the Danish kindergarten teacher Anna Maria Petersen, in June 1943. Although some authors, such as biographer Ronen Steinke , argue that Bauer
9699-415: The Jews. Charles IV , via the Golden Bull of 1356 , granted this privilege to the seven electors of the empire when the empire was reorganized in 1356. From this time onward, for reasons that also apparently concerned taxes, the Jews of Germany gradually passed in increasing numbers from the authority of the emperor to that of both the lesser sovereigns and the cities. For the sake of sorely needed revenue,
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#17327931299239858-406: The Nazi regime. On 13 November 1933, a letter appeared in the Ulmer Tagblatt newspaper from eight imprisoned Social Democrats declaring their loyalty to the new regime, which led to their release; one of the signatories was Bauer, who felt so humiliated that he never allowed discussion of this chapter of his life. In accordance with the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service he
10017-412: The Nazi seizure of power, a plan to organize a general strike against the Nazis in the Stuttgart region failed, and Schumacher and Bauer were arrested with others and taken to Heuberg concentration camp . Bauer was tormented by the SA guards at Heuberg who found various ways to humiliate him and often beat him. As a "third-class" prisoner (i.e. one considered especially dangerous to the German state), Bauer
10176-427: The Nazis summarily murdered prisoners they deemed unfit for work, but Schumacher and some other disabled veterans were spared after they proved with their war medals that they had been disabled in service of Germany during World War I. The conditions in the camps continued to worsen and by 1943, nearly half of the prisoners died, in particular in Neuengamme of 106,000 inmates almost half died. In 1943, when Schumacher
10335-439: The Rhine into world-wide prominence. Their fame spread, rivaling that of other post- Diaspora cities such as Baghdad . Western European – Ashkenazic or Germanic – Judaism became centered in Mainz, breaking free of the Babylonian traditions. A Yeshiva was founded in the 10th century by Gershom ben Judah . Historian John Man describes Mainz as "the capital of European Jewry ", noting that Gershom ben Judah "was
10494-412: The Stuttgart chapter of the Reichsbanner and from 1931 onward found himself engaged in a feud with Dietrich von Jagow , the SA leader for Southwestern Germany. In late 1931, Bauer was demoted from a judge handling criminal cases to a judge handling civil cases following accusations from the Nazi journalist Adolf Gerlach in the local Stuttgart Nazi newspaper NS-Kurier that Bauer was biased because he
10653-476: The annual income of a typical doctor in Germany in 1930 was 12,500 ℛ︁ℳ︁). His sister Margot called their childhood a "liberally Jewish one". Though his family was assimilated into the German culture, his parents did not celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday (a common practice in Jewish homes in Stuttgart at the time), and insisted on celebrating Jewish holidays . He attended Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium in Stuttgart, and studied business and law at
10812-448: The cities of Mainz , Speyer and Worms became the center of Jewish life during medieval times. "This was a golden age as area bishops protected the Jews, resulting in increased trade and prosperity." The First Crusade began an era of persecution of Jews in Germany. Entire communities, like those of Trier , Worms, Mainz and Cologne , were slaughtered. The Hussite Wars became the signal for renewed persecution of Jews. The end of
10971-399: The close of the 14th century. The 15th century did not bring any amelioration. What happened in the time of the Crusades happened again. The war upon the Hussites became the signal for renewed persecution of Jews. The Jews of Austria, Bohemia , Moravia , and Silesia passed through all the terrors of death, forced baptism , or voluntary self-immolation for the sake of their faith. When
11130-423: The closet and declare their sexuality was a criminal offense. In West Germany, the 1935 version of Paragraph 175 stayed in effect until 1969, making the lives of gay people almost unbearable. Perhaps reflecting concerns about drawing attention to his own sexuality, Bauer did not demand the abolition of Paragraph 175, and instead suggest merely reverting back to the 1871 version of Paragraph 175 that made homosexual sex
11289-431: The conservative movement in modern Judaism who accepted the modern spirit of liberalism . Samson Raphael Hirsch defended traditional customs, denying the modern "spirit". Neither of these beliefs was followed by the faithful Jews. Zecharias Frankel created a moderate reform movement in assurance with German communities. Public worships were reorganized, reduction of medieval additions to the prayer, congregational singing
11448-574: The country freely, settling also in the eastern portions ( Old Saxony and Duchy of Thuringia ). Aside from Cologne , the earliest communities were established in Mainz, Worms , Speyer , Regensburg , and Aachen . The status of the German Jews remained unchanged under Charlemagne's successor, Louis the Pious . Jews were unrestricted in their commerce; however, they paid somewhat higher taxes into
11607-521: The creation of an independent, democratic justice system in West Germany, as well as to the prosecution of Nazi war criminals and the reform of the criminal law and penal systems. Within the postwar German justice system, Bauer was a controversial figure due to his political engagements. He once said, "In the justice system, I live as I were in exile." Bauer died in Frankfurt am Main , aged 64. He
11766-431: The deists, Mendelssohn claimed that reason could discover the reality of God, divine providence, and immortality of the soul . He was the first to speak out against the use of excommunication as a religious threat. At the height of his career, in 1769, Mendelssohn was publicly challenged by a Christian apologist , a Zurich pastor named John Lavater , to defend the superiority of Judaism over Christianity. From then on, he
11925-491: The deportation of his relatives managed to get in contact with the Danish minister of justice. Steincke , to plead with him to get a visa for his parents so that they could leave Germany and come to Denmark. Steincke not thinking the situation was so dire changed his mind after Bauer requested that his parents be given a visa to Greenland . Steincke realizing the severity of the station anyone would be in to want to go there as it
12084-533: The doctor and author of Ma'aseh Tuviyyah , Tobias b. Moses Cohn , appreciated the secular culture. The most important feature during this time was the German Aufklärung , which was able to boast of native figures who competed with the finest Western European writers, scholars, and intellectuals. Aside from the externalities of language and dress, the Jews internalized the cultural and intellectual norms of German society. The movement, becoming known as
12243-654: The east." War fervour was as common amongst Jewish communities as it was amongst ethnic Germans ones. The main Jewish organisation in Germany, the Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith, declared unconditional support for the war and when 5 August was declared by the Kaiser to be a day of patriotic prayer, synagogues across Germany surged with visitors and filled with patriotic prayers and nationalistic speeches. While going to war brought
12402-494: The editor of the Social Democratic newspaper Schwäbische Tagwacht , about the need to drum up an anti-Nazi movement. Schumacher told Bauer: "We don't need intellectuals. Workers don't like intellectuals". Finally, Schumacher agreed to send Bauer to speak at a SPD rally, where Bauer gave what he called "a talk which went down rather well, I must admit". Bauer had a "deep, roaring voice" that electrified audiences and even
12561-485: The emerging Nazi Party , Schumacher helped organise socialist militias to oppose them. In 1930, he was elected to the national legislature, the Reichstag . In August 1932, he was elected to the SPD party leadership group (Parteivorstand). At 38, he was youngest SPD member of the Reichstag. Schumacher was staunchly anti-Nazi . In a Reichstag speech on 23 February 1932, he excoriated Nazism as "a continuous appeal to
12720-476: The emperor one kreutzer out of every florins of their property in addition to the taxes they were already paying to both the state and municipal authorities. The emperors of the House of Luxembourg devised other means of taxation. They turned their prerogatives in regard to the Jews to further account by selling at a high price to the princes and free towns of the empire the valuable privilege of taxing and fining
12879-451: The end of the war, an estimated 160,000 to 180,000 German Jews had been killed by the Nazi regime and their collaborators. A total of about six million European Jews were murdered under the direction of the Nazis, in the genocide that later came to be known as the Holocaust . After the war, the Jewish community in Germany started to slowly grow again. Beginning around 1990, a spurt of growth
13038-567: The enemy was Russia also gave an additional reason for German Jews to support the war; Tsarist Russia was regarded as the oppressor in the eyes of German Jews for its pogroms and for many German Jews, the war against Russia would become a sort of holy war . While there was partially a desire for vengeance, for many Jews ensuring Russia's Jewish population was saved from a life of servitude was equally important – one German-Jewish publication stated "We are fighting to protect our holy fatherland, to rescue European culture and to liberate our brothers in
13197-573: The established Church, threatened in its spiritual power in Germany and elsewhere, prepared for its conflict with the culture of the German Renaissance , one of its most convenient points of attack was rabbinic literature . At this time, as once before in France, Jewish converts spread false reports in regard to the Talmud , but an advocate of the book arose in the person of Johann Reuchlin ,
13356-537: The execution of the last major Nazi war criminals in Landsberg in 1951." The Federal Republic's first national elections were held in August 1949 . Schumacher was convinced he would win, and most observers agreed with him. But Adenauer's new CDU had several advantages over the SPD. Much of the SPD's prewar power base was now part of the Soviet Zone, and the most conservative parts of prewar Germany, such as Bavaria and
13515-405: The fighting. Many German Jews supported the war out of patriotism; like many Germans, they viewed Germany's actions as defensive in nature and even left-liberal Jews believed Germany was responding to the actions of other countries, particularly Russia. For many Jews it was never a question as to whether or not they would stand behind Germany, it was simply a given that they would. The fact that
13674-417: The first letters of the Hebrew names: Shin for Speyer ( Shpira ), Waw for Worms ( Varmaisa ) and Mem for Mainz ( Magentza ). The Takkanot Shum ( Hebrew : תקנות שו"ם "Enactments of ShUM") were a set of decrees formulated and agreed upon over a period of decades by their Jewish community leaders. The official website for the city of Mainz states: One of the most glorious epochs in Mainz's long history
13833-522: The first to bring copies of the Talmud to Western Europe" and that his directives "helped Jews adapt to European practices." Gershom's school attracted Jews from all over Europe, including the famous biblical scholar Rashi ; and "in the mid-14th century, it had the largest Jewish community in Europe: some 6,000." "In essence," states the City of Mainz web site, "this was a golden age as area bishops protected
13992-591: The host, ritual murder, poisoning of wells, and treason, brought hundreds to the stake and drove thousands into exile. Jews were alleged to have caused the inroads of the Mongols , though they suffered equally with the Christians. Jews suffered intense persecution during the Rintfleisch massacres of 1298. In 1336 Jews from Alsace were subjected to massacres by the outlaws of Arnold von Uissigheim . When
14151-523: The important role Fritz Bauer played in Eichmann's capture, and claimed that he pressed insistently the Israeli authorities to organize an operation to apprehend and deport him to Israel. Shlomo J. Shpiro, in the introduction to Harel's book The House on Garibaldi Street , stated that Bauer did not act alone but was discreetly helped by Hesse minister-president Georg-August Zinn . Bauer was active in
14310-504: The inner swine in human beings" and stated the movement had been uniquely successful in "ceaselessly mobilizing human stupidity". Schumacher was arrested in July 1933, two weeks before the SPD was banned, and was severely beaten in prison. Schumacher was given the opportunity to sign a declaration in which he renounced any political activity if released, but unlike Fritz Bauer and seven other political prisoners, he refused to sign it. He spent
14469-622: The largest Jewish community in all of Europe. The legal and civic status of the Jews underwent a transformation under the Holy Roman Empire . Jewish people found a certain degree of protection with the Holy Roman Emperor , who claimed the right of possession and protection of all the Jews of the empire. A justification for this claim was that the Holy Roman Emperor was the successor of the emperor Titus , who
14628-463: The late 18th century, a youthful enthusiasm for new ideals of religious equality began to take hold in the western world. Austrian Emperor Joseph II was foremost in espousing these new ideals. As early as 1782, he issued the Patent of Toleration for the Jews of Lower Austria , thereby establishing civic equality for his Jewish subjects. Before 1806, when general citizenship was largely nonexistent in
14787-638: The locally dominant Christian denomination ( Calvinism , Roman Catholicism , or Lutheranism ). City dwellers of other denominations or religions and those who lacked the necessary wealth to qualify as citizens were considered to be mere inhabitants who lacked political rights, and were sometimes subject to revocable residence permits. Most Jews then living in those parts of Germany that allowed them to settle were automatically defined as mere indigenous inhabitants, depending on permits that were typically less generous than those granted to gentile indigenous inhabitants ( Einwohner , as opposed to Bürger , or citizen). In
14946-474: The man for sex. After the German occupation, the Danish authorities revoked his residence permit in April 1940 and interned him in a camp for three months. On 1 December 1941, Bauer's first cousin, Erich Hirsch, and his aunt, Paula Hirsch, both of whom had remained in Stuttgart, were arrested by the Stuttgart police and were placed on a train together with 1,013 Stuttgart Jews. The train went to Riga , where all of
15105-434: The military, the diplomatic service, judiciary or senior bureaucracy was very small. Some historians believe that with emancipation the Jewish people lost their roots in their culture and began only using German culture. However, other historians including Marion A. Kaplan, argue that it was the opposite and Jewish women were the initiators of balancing both Jewish and German culture during Imperial Germany. Jewish women played
15264-893: The municipal assembly. The young man was a brilliant student, but when the First World War broke out in 1914, he immediately abandoned his studies and joined the German Army . In December, at Bielawy west of Łowicz in Poland, he was so badly wounded that his right arm had to be amputated. After contracting dysentery , he was finally discharged from the army and was decorated with the Iron Cross Second class. Schumacher returned to his law and political science in Halle , Leipzig and Berlin from which he graduated in 1919. Inspired by Eduard Bernstein , Schumacher became
15423-556: The neighborhood, sporting events, and other activities that would mold them into becoming more like their other German peers. For mothers to assimilate into German culture, they took pleasure in reading newspapers and magazines that focused on the fashion styles, as well as other trends that were up and coming for the time and that the Protestant, bourgeois Germans were exhibiting. Similar to this, German-Jewish mothers also urged their children to partake in music lessons, mainly because it
15582-407: The new state". Bauer felt the political biases of the judiciary—who had an unwritten rule under the Weimar republic that violence committed by the right was acceptable—was the "judicial overture" to their actions under the Nazi regime. In the early 1930s, Bauer was together with Kurt Schumacher , one of the leaders of the SPD's Reichsbanner defense league in Stuttgart. Bauer served as the chairman of
15741-443: The next ten years in Nazi concentration camps at Heuberg , Kuhberg , Flossenbürg , and Dachau . The camps were initially intended for exploitation of those deemed by the Nazis to be undesirable people, such as Jews, socialists, communists , and criminals. Beginning in 1940, the prison camps were overcrowded with transports from the eastern front, leading to disease outbreaks and starvation. Under Action 14f13 , beginning in 1941,
15900-526: The only tool families had to linking Judaism with German culture . They felt it was their job to raise children that would fit in with bourgeois Germany. Women had to balance enforcing German traditions while also preserving Jewish traditions. Women were in charge of keeping kosher and the Sabbath; as well as, teaching their children German speech and dressing them in German clothing. Jewish women attempted to create an exterior presence of German while maintaining
16059-482: The party. In January 1946, the British and the Americans allowed the SPD to reform itself as a national party with Schumacher as leader. As the only SPD leader who had spent the whole Nazi period in Germany without collaborating, he had enormous prestige. He was certain that he had earned the right to lead the new Germany. However, Schumacher met his match in Konrad Adenauer , the former mayor of Cologne , whom
16218-566: The patent of toleration. Some of the crown lands, such as Styria and Upper Austria , forbade any Jews to settle within their territory; in Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia many cities were closed to them. The Jews were also burdened with heavy taxes and imposts. In the German Kingdom of Prussia , the government materially modified the promises made in the disastrous year of 1813. The promised uniform regulation of Jewish affairs
16377-729: The postwar Federal Republic (West Germany) was being established, and once more entered the civil service in the justice system. At first he became director of the district courts, and later the equivalent of a U.S. district attorney , in Braunschweig . Ella Bauer ,his mother died in 1955. In 1956, he was appointed the Generalstaatsanwalt (state prosecutor) in Hessen , based in Frankfurt. Bauer held this position until his death in 1968. In 1957, thanks to Lothar Hermann ,
16536-448: The postwar efforts to obtain justice and compensation for victims of the Nazi regime. In 1958, he succeeded in getting a class action lawsuit certified, consolidating numerous individual claims in the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials , which opened in 1963. Bauer pressed for replacing the 1935 version of Paragraph 175 of the German penal code, which made the "expression of homosexuality" illegal, thus meaning that for gay people even to come out of
16695-546: The pre-existing stereotype put on their children. In addition, Jewish mothers put a large emphasis on proper education for their children in hopes that this would help them grow up to be more respected by their communities and eventually lead to prosperous careers. While Jewish mothers worked tirelessly on ensuring the assimilation of their families, they also attempted to keep the familial aspect of Jewish traditions. They began to look at Shabbat and holidays as less of culturally Jewish days, but more as family reunions of sorts. What
16854-595: The proposal. As it turned out, when the eastern SPD merged with the KPD to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , that party became, for all intents and purposes, the KPD under a new name. The few recalcitrants from the SPD half of the merger were branded "agents of Schumacher" and shunted aside. In August 1946, Schumacher called an SPD convention in Hanover, which elected him as the Western leader of
17013-402: The prospect of full equality, but it was not genuinely implemented at that time, and even the promises which had been made were modified. However, such forms of discrimination were no longer the guiding principle for ordering society, but a violation of it. In Austria , many laws restricting the trade and traffic of Jewish subjects remained in force until the middle of the 19th century in spite of
17172-403: The purpose of infusing coherence into the loosely joined parts of his extensive empire, but was not by any means a blind tool of the canonical law . He employed Jews for diplomatic purposes, sending, for instance, a Jew as interpreter and guide with his embassy to Harun al-Rashid . Yet, even then, a gradual change occurred in the lives of the Jews. The Church forbade Christians to be usurers , so
17331-593: The rapid rise in German prosperity, the intensification of the Cold War and Adenauer's success in gaining Germany's acceptance in the international community all worked to undermine Schumacher's position. The SPD began to have serious doubts about going into another election with Schumacher as leader, particularly after he had a stroke in December 1951. They were spared having to deal with this dilemma when Schumacher died suddenly in August 1952. Schumacher had formulated
17490-518: The religious development of Jews in the German lands, The Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906) draws a direct connection to the great spiritual fortitude later shown by the Jewish communities in the era of the Crusades: He first stimulated the German Jews to study the treasures of their religious literature. This continuous study of the Torah and the Talmud produced such a devotion to Judaism that
17649-435: The reserve officers' corps. Their entire outlook was conservative and authoritarian in spirit. The Kaiser had gone, but the generals, public officials and judges remained". Bauer found himself appalled by the way that the other judges in Württemberg flagrantly favored the Nazis, always imposing the most lenient sentences on Nazis who engaged in violence and the harshest possible sentences on Communists and Social Democrats who did
17808-578: The resulting political, economic, and social changes were overpowering. Many Jews felt a tension between Jewish tradition and the way they were now leading their lives – religiously – resulting in less tradition. As the insular religious society that reinforced such observance disintegrated, falling away from vigilant observance without deliberately breaking with Judaism was easy. Some tried to reconcile their religious heritage with their new social surroundings; they reformed traditional Judaism to meet their new needs and to express their spiritual desires. A movement
17967-407: The same in 1871. Historian Fritz Stern concludes that by 1900, what had emerged was a Jewish-German symbiosis, where German Jews had merged elements of German and Jewish culture into a unique new one. Marriages between Jews and non-Jews became somewhat common from the 19th century; for example, the wife of German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann was Jewish. However, opportunity for high appointments in
18126-483: The same. Bauer believed that this favoritism towards the Nazis encouraged their violence. Bauer remembered that the judges of Württemberg almost down to a man loathed the Weimar Republic, which they believed was born of the stab-in-the-back myth of 1918 committed by "godless and unpatriotic scoundrels. The judges weren't at all fond of the republic and they used the guise of judicial independence to sabotage
18285-643: The second-largest Jewish community in Germany. In Württemberg , equality was conceded on 3 December 1861; in Baden on 4 October 1862; in Holstein on 14 July 1863; and in Saxony on 3 December 1868. After the establishment of the North German Confederation by the law of 3 July 1869, all remaining statutory restrictions imposed on the followers of different religions were abolished; this decree
18444-554: The sense that they were modernizing, but they also tried to keep some traditions alive. German Jewish mothers were shifting the way they raised their children in ways such as moving their families out of Jewish neighborhoods, thus changing who Jewish children grew up around and conversed with, all in all shifting the dynamic of the then close-knit Jewish community. Additionally, Jewish mothers wished to integrate themselves and their families into German society in other ways. Because of their mothers, Jewish children participated in walks around
18603-516: The state treasury than did the non-Jews. A special officer, the Judenmeister , was appointed by the government to protect Jewish privileges. The later Carolingians , however, followed the demands of the Church more and more. The bishops continually argued at the synods for including and enforcing decrees of the canonical law , with the consequence that the majority Christian populace mistrusted
18762-540: The storefronts of Jewish shops and offices were smashed and vandalized, and many synagogues were destroyed by fire. Only roughly 214,000 Jews were left in Germany proper (1937 borders) on the eve of World War II . Beginning in late 1941, the remaining community was subjected to systematic deportations to ghettos and, ultimately, to death camps in Eastern Europe . In May 1943, Germany was declared judenrein (clean of Jews; also judenfrei : free of Jews). By
18921-619: The struggle for emancipation in Germany awakened some doubts about the future of Jews in Europe and eventually led to both immigrations to America and Zionism . In Russia, antisemitism ended the Haskalah . Some Jews responded to this antisemitism by campaigning for emancipation, while others joined revolutionary movements and assimilated, and some turned to Jewish nationalism in the form of the Zionist Hibbat Zion movement. Abraham Geiger and Samuel Holdheim were two founders of
19080-589: The subsequently established Germanic kingdoms under the Burgundians and Franks , for ecclesiasticism took root slowly. The Merovingian rulers who succeeded to the Burgundian empire were devoid of fanaticism and gave scant support to the efforts of the Church to restrict the civic and social status of the Jews. Charlemagne (800–814) readily made use of the Roman Catholic Church for
19239-506: The tide had turned against it by 1949. That came even as the SPD became increasingly critical of the new East German government. Schumacher was especially critical and once called the communists "red-painted fascists". Schumacher attempted a heavy distinction in the public consciousness between his vision of "democratic socialism" and the realities in East Germany but still found his party partially damaged by association. Another factor
19398-495: The time of Moses Mendelssohn until the 20th century, the community gradually achieved emancipation , and then prospered. In January 1933, some 522,000 Jews lived in Germany. After the Nazis took power and implemented their antisemitic ideology and policies, the Jewish community was increasingly persecuted. About 60% (numbering around 304,000) emigrated during the first six years of the Nazi dictatorship . In 1933, persecution of
19557-693: The total. About 15,000 Jews converted to Christianity between 1871 and 1909. The typical attitude of German liberals towards Jews was that they were in Germany to stay and were capable of being assimilated; anthropologist and politician Rudolf Virchow summarised this position, saying "The Jews are simply here. You cannot strike them dead." This position, however, did not tolerate cultural differences between Jews and non-Jews, advocating instead eliminating this difference. A higher percentage of German Jews fought in World War I than of any other ethnic, religious or political minority in Germany; around 12,000 died in
19716-452: The unification of Germany by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck , came their emancipation, but the growing mood of despair among assimilated Jews was reinforced by the antisemitic penetrations of politics. In the 1870s, antisemitism was fueled by the financial crisis and scandals; in the 1880s by the arrival of masses of Ostjuden , fleeing from Russian territories; by the 1890s it was a parliamentary presence, threatening anti-Jewish laws. In 1879
19875-529: The unsavoury prospect of fighting fellow Jews in Russia, France and Britain, for the majority of Jews this severing of ties with Jewish communities in the Entente was accepted part of their spiritual mobilisation for war. After all, the conflict also pitted German Catholics and Protestants against their fellow believers in the east and west. Indeed, for some Jews the fact that Jews were going to war with one another
20034-406: The völkisch movement failed to persuade the government to revoke Jewish emancipation, and in the 1912 Reichstag elections, the parties with völkisch-movement sympathies suffered a temporary defeat. Jews experienced a period of legal equality after 1848. Baden and Württemberg passed the legislation that gave the Jews complete equality before the law in 1861–64. The newly formed German Empire did
20193-461: The war dragged on. However, German Jews did not always feel a personal kinship with Russian Jews. Many were repelled by Eastern Jews, who dressed and behaved differently, as well as being much more religiously devout. Victor Klemperer, a German Jew working for military censors, stated "No, I did not belong to these people, even if one proved my blood relation to them a hundred times over...I belonged to Europe, to Germany, and I thanked my creator that I
20352-408: The way to other countries. By the outbreak of World War I, five million emigrants from Russia had passed through German territory. Around two million Jews passed through the eastern border of Germany between 1880 and 1914 with around 78,000 remaining in Germany. The Jewish population grew from 512,000 in 1871 to 615,000 in 1910, including 79,000 recent immigrants from Russia, just under one percent of
20511-518: The young and largely unknown Bauer was released. In November 1933, Bauer was transferred from Heuberg to a newly founded prison, Oberer Kuhberg concentration camp , located in former Army barracks in Ulm, where the guards were professional policemen instead of the SA, and conditions were better. In 1933, it was possible for lesser political prisoners to be released if they signed a public declaration of loyalty to
20670-454: Was German." This was a common attitude amongst ethnic Germans however; during the invasion of Russia the territories the Germans overran seemed backwards and primitive, thus for many Germans their experiences in Russia simply reinforced their national self-concept. Kurt Schumacher Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher , better known as Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was
20829-509: Was Klaus's uncle. Klaus arrived not long after, however, and addressed Eichmann as "Father". In 1957, Bauer passed the information to Mossad director Isser Harel , who assigned operatives to undertake surveillance, but no concrete evidence was initially found. Bauer trusted neither Germany's police nor the country's legal system, as he feared that if he had informed them, they would likely have tipped off Eichmann. Thus he decided to turn directly to Israel authorities. Moreover, when Bauer called on
20988-417: Was Schumacher, who despite missing one of his arms and being in constant pain because of his war wounds, was unyielding in his principles, taking abuse from the guards without complaint. The more prominent and older Schumacher, who had been an outspoken opponent of the Nazis as an SPD deputy in the Reichstag , remained in concentration camps (which destroyed his health) until the end of World War II , whereas
21147-402: Was a Jew and a Social Democrat who discussed details of the trial with a journalist from the Social Democratic newspaper Tagwacht . At the hearing in response to Gerlach's complaint, Bauer argued the details of the case involving a local con-man on trial for cheating others of their money had already been discussed in court, so he had not violated any rules by speaking to a journalist and the case
21306-568: Was a cold and inhospitable place granted the Bauers visa to come to Denmark. The Bauers arrived in Denmark on 1 January 1940. Shortly after , Bauer was arrested by the Danish police on charges of having sex with a male prostitute . Homosexuality was legal in Denmark, but soliciting the services of a prostitute of the same sex was not. Bauer admitted to the police that he did have sex with the prostitute in question, but denied vehemently that he paid
21465-428: Was a popular activity among other Germans. Another effort German-Jewish mothers put into assimilating their families was enforcing the importance of manners on their children. It was noted that non-Jewish Germans saw Jews as disrespectful and unable to grasp the concept of time and place. Because of this, Jewish mothers tried to raise their kids having even better manners than the Protestant children in an effort to combat
21624-594: Was close to 225,000. By German law, denial of the Holocaust or that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust (§ 130 StGB) is a criminal act; violations can be punished with up to five years of prison. In 2006, on the occasion of the World Cup held in Germany, the then- Interior Minister of Germany Wolfgang Schäuble , urged vigilance against far-right extremism , saying: "We will not tolerate any form of extremism, xenophobia , or antisemitism." In spite of Germany's measures against these groups and antisemites,
21783-567: Was dominated by the Social Democrats while the Nazis won only 1.1% of the vote in the Stuttgart municipal election of 1928. However, Bauer was the only judge in Württemberg who was a member of the SPD and one of the only two Jewish judges in Württemberg. He was much an outsider in the Württemberg judiciary. Bauer recalled later about the other judges in Württemberg: "They came from the highly elitist student fraternities and members of
21942-631: Was elected to the state legislature, the Free People's State of Württemberg Landtag in 1924. He transferred to the local republican organisation "Schwabenland" in the newly founded organisation to defend Germany's parliamentary democracy, the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold . Schumacher became chairman of the Stuttgart Branch of Reichsbanner. In 1928, he became the SPD leader in the state of Württemberg. To oppose
22101-404: Was encouraged by German-Jewish newspapers. At first, most emigrants were young, single men from small towns and villages. A smaller number of single women also emigrated. Individual family members would emigrate alone, and then send for family members once they had earned enough money. Emigration eventually swelled, with some German Jewish communities losing up to 70% of their members. At one point,
22260-491: Was extended to all the states of the German empire after the events of 1870. During the General Enlightenment (the 1600s to late 1700s), many Jewish women began to frequently visit non-Jewish salons and to campaign for emancipation . In Western Europe and the German states, observance of Jewish law, Halacha , started to be neglected. In the 18th century, some traditional German scholars and leaders, such as
22419-495: Was formed with a set of religious beliefs, and practices that were considered expected and tradition. Reform Judaism was the first modern response to the Jew's emancipation, though reform Judaism differing in all countries caused stresses of autonomy on both the congregation and individual. Some of the reforms were in the practices: circumcisions were abandoned, rabbis wore vests after Protestant ministers, and instrumental accompaniment
22578-512: Was found having drowned in his bathtub. A post-mortem examination stated he had consumed alcohol and taken sleeping pills. After a wake by his friends on the 6th of July, his body was cremated and the ashes taken to Sweden and interred in his parents' grave in Örgryte Old Cemetery . Further reading: Bernhard Valentinitsch,Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer. In: Journal for Intelligence,Propaganda and Security Studies(=JIPSS). Vol. 10 (Graz 2016), pp. 236–237. German Jewish The history of
22737-438: Was fueled by immigration from the former Soviet Union , so that at the turn of the 21st century, Germany had the only growing Jewish community in Europe, and the majority of German Jews were Russian -speaking. By 2018, the Jewish population of Germany had leveled off at 116,000, not including non-Jewish members of households; the total estimated enlarged population of Jews living in Germany, including non-Jewish household members,
22896-402: Was introduced, and regular sermons required scientifically trained rabbis. Religious schools were enforced by the state due to a want for the addition of religious structure to secular education of Jewish children. Pulpit oratory started to thrive mainly due to German preachers, such as M. Sachs and M. Joel. Synagogal music was accepted with the help of Louis Lewandowski . Part of the evolution of
23055-474: Was involved in defending Judaism in print. In 1783, he published Jerusalem, or On Religious Power and Judaism . Speculating that no religious institution should use coercion and emphasized that Judaism does not coerce the mind through dogma, he argued that through reason, all people could discover religious philosophical truths, but what made Judaism unique was its revealed code of legal, ritual, and moral law. He said that Jews must live in civil society, but only in
23214-484: Was near death, his brother-in-law succeeded in persuading a Nazi official to have him released into his custody. Schumacher was re-arrested in late 1944 and was in Neuengamme when the British arrived in April 1945. Schumacher wanted to lead the SPD and bring Germany to socialism. By May 1945, he was already reorganising the SPD in Hanover without the permission of the occupation authorities. He soon found himself in
23373-432: Was not political. At the hearing, the judges ruled that Bauer had failed to "comply with existing regulations", thereby implying that Gerlach's accusations were partly justified and only declined to dismiss him because it could not be proved that Bauer's actions were "politically motivated".Following the demotion, Bauer contacted Kurt Schumacher , a highly decorated World War One veteran, who had lost his arm and who served as
23532-575: Was once viewed as a more religious event became more of a social gathering of relatives. The beginning of the Reform Movement in Judaism was emphasized by David Philipson , who was the rabbi at the largest Reform congregation. The increasing political centralization of the late 18th and early 19th centuries undermined the societal structure that perpetuated traditional Jewish life. Enlightenment ideas began to influence many intellectuals, and
23691-719: Was one of the founding fathers of postwar German democracy. Throughout his life, he opposed reactionary and revolutionary forces, including the Nazi Party and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). He described the KPD as "red-painted Nazis ". Schumacher was born in Kulm in West Prussia (now Chełmno in Poland ), the son of a small businessman who was a member of the liberal German Free-minded Party and deputy in
23850-421: Was probably homosexual, others consider this unproven. In October 1943, he fled to Sweden after the Danish government resigned and the Nazis declared martial law, which endangered the Jewish population in Denmark. Bauer spent 8 days in hiding in a cellar and on the night of 13 October 1943 left Denmark in a Danish fishing boat that took him his parents, sister, brother in law and two nephews to Sweden. Living for
24009-487: Was proof of the normality of German-Jewish life; they could no longer be considered a minority with transnational loyalties but loyal German citizens. German Jews often broke ties with Jews of other countries; the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a French organisation that was dedicated to protecting Jewish rights, saw a German Jewish member quit once the war started, declaring that he could not, as
24168-520: Was removed from office. Schumacher was also offered release if he signed such a declaration, which he refused, saying that he rather would stay in the concentration camps forever than betray his beliefs; much of the praise that Bauer was later to offer Schumacher as a man who was always true to himself seemed to have reflected guilt about his own actions in signing the declaration. In 1936, Bauer emigrated to Denmark . While in Denmark Bauer after
24327-399: Was said to have acquired the Jews as his private property . The German emperors apparently claimed this right of possession more for the sake of taxing the Jews than of protecting them. A variety of such taxes existed. Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor , was a prolific creator of new taxes. In 1342, he instituted the "golden sacrificial penny" and decreed that every year all the Jews should pay
24486-421: Was singled out for abuse such as being forced to stand for hours facing a wall while SA men struck him in the knees with their nightsticks and banged his head against the wall. Other than mentioning that he was forced to clean the camp's latrine on a daily basis, Bauer never mentioned his own experiences at Heuberg, which was too painful for him. The man whom Bauer consistently praised in his recollections of Heuberg
24645-520: Was the period from the beginning of the 900s and evidently much earlier. Following the barbaric Dark Ages , a relatively safe and enlightened Carolingian period brought peace and prosperity to Mainz and much of central–western Europe. For the next 400 years, Mainz attracted many Jews as trade flourished. The greatest Jewish teachers and rabbis flocked to the Rhine. Their teachings, dialogues, decisions, and influence propelled Mainz and neighboring towns along
24804-416: Was the principle. The concept of citizenship was mostly restricted to cities, especially Free Imperial Cities . No general franchise existed, which remained a privilege for the few, who had inherited the status or acquired it when they reached a certain level of taxed income or could afford the expense of the citizen's fee ( Bürgergeld ). Citizenship was often further restricted to city dwellers affiliated to
24963-459: Was the recovery of the German economy, mainly because of the currency reform of the CDU's Ludwig Erhard . Matters were further complicated by Schumacher's declining health. In September 1948, he had one of his legs amputated. Although Schumacher's SPD won the most seats of any single party in the election (though the CDU and its sister party, the CSU, together won more seats), the CDU was able to form
25122-424: Was time and again postponed. In the period between 1815 and 1847, no less than 21 territorial laws affecting Jews in the older eight provinces of the Prussian state were in effect, each having to be observed by part of the Jewish community. At that time, no official was authorized to speak in the name of all Prussian Jews, or Jewry in most of the other 41 German states , let alone for all German Jews. Nevertheless,
25281-464: Was used: pipe organs . In addition, the traditional Hebrew prayer book was replaced by German text, and reform synagogues began being called temples which were previously considered the Temple of Jerusalem. Reform communities composed of similar beliefs and Judaism changed at the same pace as the rest of society had. The Jewish people have adapted to religious beliefs and practices to the meet the needs of
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