Number of Americans at German Universities Too Small to Warrant Alarmist Reports

Rabbis of the three largest. Orthodox Synagogues and of the reformed temple in Yonkers, N. Y., filed a petition with the mayor of that city protesting the closing of the night schools, as an economy measure.

In connection with recent difficulties experienced by American Jewish students at the University of Cologne, which have given rise to exaggerated reports of the increase in the number of Jewish students at German universities in recent years, the American Jewish Committee has ascertained that, while on a percentage basis the number of Americans at the German universities at the present time appears to be much greater than in preceding years, even the maximum of today is too small to give any valid ground for such alarmist statements as have appeared in some German newspapers.

Complete figures are not available, says the Committee in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, but statistics at hand indicate that for a number of years American students have constituted an almost infinitesimal proportion of the total student bodies of German universities and technical high-schools. In the scholastic year 1926-27 there were 138 Americans out of a total of 93,228 students at these institutions, a percentage of only 0.15. In the summer semester of 1927, the Americans constituted less than onetenth of one per cent, there being 101 American students out of a total of 101,436. In the summer semester of the following year there were 147 Americans out of a total of 112,315 (0.13%). The figures for 1929-30 are not available. In the winter semester of 1931-32, there were 469 American students (0.36%) in the German universities and technical high-schools, when the total enrollment was 129,247. The number of Jews among these American students could not be ascertained. According to recent reports, however, this number does not exceed 200 at the present time.

Much of the increase of the number of American students at German universities during the past two years can be traced to the efforts of steamship companies whose advertisements regarding the cheapness of living in Germany and ease of obtaining admission to the universities have attracted an increasing number of American students, the statement declares. According to press reports from Berlin, these advertisements are not entirely accurate, especially when they do not take into account the fact that many German universities are overcrowded.

Rabbis of the three largest. Orthodox Synagogues and of the reformed temple in Yonkers, N. Y., filed a petition with the mayor of that city protesting the closing of the night schools, as an economy measure.With only $15,000 of a $50,000 goal realized, the Jewish Community Center of Yonkers, N. Y., has extended its fund campaign.