Digest of Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

[The purpose of the Digest is information Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does not indicate approval.–Editor.]

That birth control constitutes a new menace to the Jewish race, is the fear voiced by the Jewish press which comments on the report that the Jewish population in Germany has decreased by 30 per cent, according to the 1925 census, which has just been published.

The decrease of German Jewry is not so alarming as appears at first glance, in the opinion of Jacob Fishman, who writes in the “Jewish Morning Journai” of yesterday. But it is an indication of a real danger to Jewry everywhere and Mr. Fishman says we need “a Roosevelt to lift up his voice against race suicide among the Jews.”

“Figures which we have at hand,” he writes, “show that in the census of 1922 there were only 615,000 Jews in Germany. Perhaps there was another census taken between 1922 and 1925. But if the later census showed 800,000 Jews it could not have been due to natural increase by birth, but resulted from the influx of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who were attracted by the then prevailing low currency in Germany.

“This it seems to us, is the true explanation of the decrease, although we do not mean to deny the importance of the two other factors; intermarriage and decrease in births among the Jews. It is well known that just as Germany witnessed in the first years an unnatural influx of Jews, there was also an exodus of thousands when the currency was stabilized. As regards intermarriage that is an old trouble in Germany and it is to be regretted of course, that it is becoming more and more aggravated.

“The new phenomenon here is the intrusion of birth control among the Jewish masses. In this respect Germany is not alone. Statistics which have been published recently regarding the Jews in Soviet Russia indicate the same development. The number of births among the Russian Jews is now smaller relatively than the number of births among the non-Jews. In this way an old Jewish tradition of centuries has been broken.

“That this really constitutes a danger for Jews as a race is unquestionable. We now need a Roosevelt to raise his voice against the spread of race suicide among the Jews.”

The “Jewish Daily News”, in a lengthy editorial, has this to say:

“The case of the Jews in Germany is particularly important because what is happening in that country may sooner or later take place in other large civilized countries where Jews are under the influence of great cultures. The question of birth control is becoming increasingly important along with the intermarriage question in the countries of Western Europe and even in America. The more Jews enter into the better planes of economic progress on the one hand, and the more they attend educational institutions on the other, the smaller Jewish families become, parallel with a similar decrease among the non-Jews.”

The London “Jewish World” of May 19, commenting on the same subject before the full report of the census figures had been published, observed:

“The return shows a notable decrease, either actually or relatively, of Jews among the population. Thus in Hamburg, while there had been a slight increase over the previous census of 2.2 per cent among Jews, non-Jews increased 13.59 per cent. In Luebeck there was an increase of 6 per cent Jews, while the general population increased by 9.75 per cent. In Bavaria, while there was a marked decrease of Jews, the non-Jewish inhabitants increased by 7.1 per cent. And the same story runs throughout. Of course, as it stands, the return is partial only and Berlin and Prussia, while they may confirm and even accentuate the general trend, may, on the other hand redress the balance. For ascertaining which the figures will do, we must wait and see. When we do, and there appears to be an actual or relative decrease in the Jewish population in general, it will be interesting to enquire what has caused it.”