(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
The number of marriages between Jews in Germany is decreasing, and the number of mixed marriages increasing, according to the figures drawn up by Herbert Philippstahl, published in the “Juedische Zeitung” of Breslau.
“Twelve thousand young Jews,” he says, “were killed in the war, which meant a falling off in the Jewish marriage market. Then came the economic distress of the post-war period, the unemployment and the housing shortage. Many occupations are entirely closed to Jews. Big enterprises like the Siemens concern will not accept Jews. There are even companies owned by Jews which have no Jewish employees. Twenty-five of every 100 Jewish men in Germany remain unmarried, generally because they can not afford marriage. Of those who do marry, many are marrying non-Jewish women.”
The number of mixed marriages has doubled since the war. In 1901 there were 3,878 Jewish marriages and 552 mixed marriages (16.8%); in 1905, 3,905 Jewish and 805 mixed (20.5%); in 1910, 3,880 Jewish and 973 mixed (25%); in 1915, 1,098 Jewish and 1,078 mixed (97%); in 1920, 7,497 Jewish and 2,033 mixed (27.1%); in 1921, 5,617 Jewish and 1,753 mixed (31.2%),; and in 1923, 4,833 Jewish and 1,813 mixed (37.5%). The rise in the number of mixed marriages in 1915 is accounted for by the wave of war marriages.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
