Language:
English
Year of publication:
1992
Titel der Quelle:
Leo Baeck Institute Year Book
Angaben zur Quelle:
37 (1992) 497-513
Keywords:
Jews History
;
Jews
;
Judaism Relations
;
Christianity
;
Christianity and other religions Judaism
Abstract:
Describes the state of the eight Jewish communities of the GDR from 1945 until the German reunification. In 1946 there were ca. 3,000 members; after the exodus of 1953 (following the Slansky trial and the Doctors' Plot, when an onslaught against Jews began in the GDR and many Jews fled), ca. 1,000 members remained; in 1988 there were only about 400 Jews in the GDR. Relates actions on the part of both the Evangelical Church and the Catholic Church, mainly from the 1960s, to create a dialogue with Jews and to make amends for the Nazi past. Notes that in this respect the Churches were acting against the government's official position which held that the West Germans were the former Nazis and the East Germans were the first victims of the Nazis. Relates especially to the Begegnung mit dem Judentum groups, the Christian care for Jewish cemeteries (since there were so few Jews, they could not carry on this work themselves), and official Church statements on Christian-Jewish understanding and condemning antisemitism. Written from a personal point of view, as Eschwege was a leading member of the Jewish community in the GDR.
DOI:
10.1093/leobaeck/37.1.497
URL:
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