Jewish Resistance in Germany before 1939
In the early days of Nazi Germany, many people believed that Nazism was simply a phase that would pass, in time. The Jews of Germany considered themselves to be quite well assimilated into mainstream German life. The lesson of Jewish history was that even the worst antisemitic persecutions ended, so they struggled on to maintain ‘normal’ life and waited for the worst to pass.

When things got worse instead of better, the Jewish response ranged from dismay to disbelief and despair. After Kristallnacht in 1938 there was a marked increase in Jewish emigration and a number of children were sent to Palestine, Britain or to relatives in other ‘safe’ countries. There were also suicides. Between 1933 and 1939 exactly half of Germany’s Jews left the country, reducing the Jewish population from
500 000 to about 300 000.

But among those 300 000 who stayed in Germany until Jewish emigration was banned in 1941, there remained the basic hope that the situation would improve. When Jewish schools were closed, they organised clandestine classes. When university courses were closed to Jewish students, banned Jewish professors taught them in secret. When synagogues were closed, prayer groups sprang up in private homes and basements.

In summary, when Jews were barred from the public life of Germany, they created an alternative, Jewish life of their own. While many Jews still attempted to emigrate, the community which remained united and took on a religious and intellectual vibrancy that had been lacking since their so-called ‘assimilation’. As German Rabbi Joachim Prinz explained: “To be a Jew was now a new discovery, and to emphasise one’s Jewishness in the face of danger and disgrace became the thing to do.”