Jewish Student Bodies in Germany Hold Conference

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service)

The Federation of Jewish Students’ Organizations in Germany held its fifth conference in Leipzig this week. Thirty delegates were present from the various universities in the country.

Dr. Rabinovitch, member of the Executive of the Federation, in his opening address, explained the reasons which had brought the students from their native countries to Germany in order to obtain their education. The cultural anti-Semitism which broke out in the new States of Eastern Europe after the war had compelled hundreds of Jewish students to seek asylum in the neighboring countries of Central and Western Europe. Dr. Rabinovitch made a formal protest against the persecution of the Jewish students in many of the Eastern European States. “The brutal methods employed by our enemies,” he said, “are not exhausted by the enforcement of an open or concealed numerus clausus. Jewish students are even being subjected to physical violence. The ringleaders of this movement which runs counter to the most elementary principles of educational freedom are to be found not only among the students but also among the university professors.

“The East European Jewish students in Germany,” he said, “are being treated with friendship and understanding by the State and especially by Jewish public opinion in Germany. We want to express our gratitude for the moral and financial assistance which the Federation has been given by the Jewish organizations such as the Joint Distribution Committee, the Ica and the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden. The Federation finds generous support not only from these organizations but from the whole of Jewish public opinion in Germany and the leaders of the Jewish community, like Professor Einstein, Dr. James Simon, Dr. Paul Nathan, Dr. Bernhard Kahn, Dr. Hildersheimer and others.”

Rabbi Goldmann who delivered an address on the problems before the Jewish students, said that Jewish life stands and falls with the Jewish students. “They are the spiritual force which safeguards the continued existence of the Jews. That is why it is the duty of all Jewry to fight against the efforts of the anti-Semites to prevent the Jewish students from obtaining their education.” Dr. Goldmann protested against the movement to identify the conception of “German” with race and origin rather than with culture and citizenship. He urged the students to endeavor always to uphold and develop the Jewish spirit. “Jewish students from Eastern Europe,” he said, “have a broader outlook upon Jewish world interests than those in Western Europe.” He urged them, after the completion of their studies and on their return to their native countries to remember the countries which, in time of need, had given them the opportunity to continue their education and had thereby become their spiritual homes. “It is the duty of all Jews,” he said, “to help the Jewish student youth to become self-supporting, professional people and to carry on the work of Jewish life.”