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Majority of Jewish Marriages in West Germany Are ‘mixed Marriages’

June 28, 1961
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A demographic study dealing with West German Jewry, issued here today at Mainz University, showed that 59.1 percent of all Jewish marriages in this country since 1945 have been “mixed marriages. ” The study also showed that, of 1, 166 newly born children in the Jewish communities in this country between 1951 and 1958, only 71 were of “all-Jewish” extraction.

The study, a doctoral dissertation by Dr. Harry Maor, of Tel Aviv, showed that only one-fifth of the newly born Jewish children were listed as members of the Jewish communities here and were enrolled in Jewish, religious and education programs.

Dr. Maor’s figures showed there are 23, 000 Jews registered officially in the West German Jewish communities. Most of them are concentrated in the large centers like West Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich and Frankfurt. There are 72 official Jewish communities in West Germany, but Jews also reside in smaller numbers in more than 500 other localities in this country.

The statistics also showed that only four percent of the Jews here lived in Germany before the Nazis wiped out the Jewish communities. Since 1945, about 12, 000 Jews have immigrated to Germany; 4, 500 of them from Israel, the others, from 32 other countries.

The study showed further that about 6, 000 of the Jews here now are “pensioners, ” living on one form or another of pensions or restitution funds. About 8, 000 Jews are active in the West German economy, 4, 800 of these being independent businessmen, while 3, 200 are employees.

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