Jewish Emigration from the Third Reich

By: Ingrid Weckert

Historical writings to date dealing with matters related to the Third Reich paint a grim picture. This applies especially to writings that deal with the Jewish ethnic group. To this day there are still accounts of the Jewish emigration that depict it as some kind of clandestine operation – as if the Jews who wished to leave Germany had to sneak over the borders in defiance of the German authorities, and leave all their possessions and wealth behind.

The truth is that the emigration was welcomed by the German authorities, and benefited from encouragement and assistance that increased over time. Emigration was not some kind of wild flight, but rather a lawfully conducted and regulated matter. Weckert‘s booklet elucidates the emigration process in law and policy, thereby correcting the traditionally received picture of Jewish emigration from Germany significantly.

German authorities and Jewish-Zionist agencies worked closely together on this emigration. Jews interested in emigrating received detailed advice and offers of help from both sides. The accounts of Jews fleeing Germany in secret by night across some border or straits are fabulous. On the contrary, the German government wished German Jews only to live elsewhere. The myths to the contrary were contrived only to accord with the greater myth of genocidal intent and were capitalized upon by erstwhile “smugglers” seeking sainthood.

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