A sharp reproach to the world was voiced this week by German Jewry through Dr. Bruno Weill, acting president of the Central Union of German Jews. The world could have found room for the 60,000 Jewish refugees from Germany in a more worthy fashion, Dr. Weill declared at a mass meeting in Berlin.
This reproach is certainly justified. Very few of the Jewish refugees from Germany were so fortunate as to find a permanent place for settlement. The majority of the 60,000 Jewish exiles from Germany are still wanderers. Many of them are roofless. A large proportion of them are dependent upon charity. Their position today is insecure and holds out very little hope.
Dr. Weill voiced another complaint. He objected to the tendency abroad to put in the foreground the two extremes of German Jewryâ€”the Naumann group and the Zionistsâ€”and to overlook the vast central group.
It must be admitted that it is this latter element which has immense achievements to its credit in the daily task of maintaining German Jewry. The great majority of German Jews are convinced that the solution of the German Jewish question is to be sought in Germany and can be found only in Germany. They hope it will be possible to find a way of living in dignity and honor under tolerable conditions without emigrating from the country. The majority of German Jews still believe the fruits of emancipation have not been completely lost. They wish to avoid dis-assimilation. Where the law forces it upon them they accept it, but they do not want to assist it from within.
The vast majority of German Jews continue to stand on their former basic conception of a time which will yet come. They regard themselves as a link in the unbreakable chain of German Jewry. They think there is nothing to indicate that German Jewry is finished. They look forward with unquenchable hope to the time when their community will be living and working and enjoying its right to equality and justice.