Jewish Communal Activities in Germany in Serious Plight

The Jewish community organizations in Germany have been plunged into desperate need by recent events, says the Israelitisches Familienblatt, giving as an instance the important community of Cologne, which only recently was able to raise a budget of about a million marks, and now cannot raise enough to carry on its most essential activities even for the first few months of the year. The most careful calculations and farreaching economies have not helped, and the community is again seeking ways to save its institutions from collapse. The officials have had new salary cuts, so that some of them are really only recipients of charity doles. The synagogue choirs have been disbanded, the kindergartens until recently the pride of the community, have had to be closed down. The youth home, which was opened only recently, has had to be closed. The question is now what to do with the children’s homes, the apprentices’ home and the orphanage.

The only consolation is that hard as things are, the members of the community are firm in their resolve to save everything that can be saved, to sacrifice all individual advantages so that the community may be maintained, hoping that better times will come, says the newspaper.

Similar conditions exist in Duesseldorf. The Jewish community welfare centre has been compelled by the growing need to extend its work, and the community board is trying to raise the funds for urgent relief work. The Jewish Youth Organization and the Maccabee Sports Club are in a desperate plight. The use of the Municipal gymnasium, tennis courts, and sports grounds are prohibited, and the Jewish Youth Home is on the verge of being closed.