History of The Jews in Germany - Weimar Republic (1918-1933)

Weimar Republic (1918-1933)

Many German Jews received high political positions such as foreign minister and vice chancellor in the Weimar Republic. The chairman of the Government of the November Revolution, the Council of the People's Deputies, Hugo Haase, was a Jew, while the Weimar constitution was written by the Jew Hugo Preuss, who later became minister of the interior. Among the Prime Ministers of German States in the Weimar Republic were Paul Hirsch of Prussia, and Georg Gradnauer of Saxony, while Ludwig Landmann was the first Jewish mayor of Frankfurt. Jews dominated certain cultural fields, like publishing, law, medicine, theatre, graphic art, cinema, music, architecture and popular entertainment. Although the average Jewish income during the Weimar Republic was more than three times that of the general population, Jews were highly involved in German left-wing movements. As Istvan Deak puts it:

Jews played a decisive role in the pacifist and feminist movements, and in the campaigns for sexual enlightenment. The left-wing intellectuals did not simply 'happen to be mostly Jews,' as some pious historiography would have us believe, but Jews created the left-wing intellectual movement in Germany.