A group of prominent Jews here have signed a statement announcing the concentration of the leading federations of German Jews, especially of the youth, for common consideration of vital questions, and the centralization of the entire German Jewish settlement and vocational reconstruction activities.
The men who signed the statement were Dr. Alfred Hirschberg, on behalf of the Central Union of German Citizens of Jewish Faith; Dr. Lowenstein for the Federation of Jewish Ex-Soldiers; Dr. Bruno Woyda for the Revival Movement of Jewish Germans; Martin Sobotker for the league of German Jewish Youth; Walter Bendix for the Youth Oraganization of the Reform Community’ Dr. Hans Joachim Schoeps for the German Jewish Pioneer Troop; Paul Mayer for the Black Banner; Growald and Askanas for the Jewish Sports and Athletic Club, 1905; and Friedrich Lennhoff for land and Artisanship.
“Our recognition as Germans is a primary condition,” the statement saves. “The need for this organization arises for for two reasons,” it proceeds. “In the first place, the concentration of all available people and the pooling of opportunities simplifies maters, develops confidence, and makes the work of the machinery more casy. The Jew who finds himself taken up in this process of reconstruction in an internal Jewish non-political organization finds a foothold there which protects him from despair in this unavoidable crisis caused by the change in conditions, and saves him to Germanism.
“In the second place, if the German Jewish youth do not succeed in organically growing into a different kind of life than that to which they have been previously accustomed, the fate of German Jewry is sealed.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.