Was the German Government, and Army of WW1 (note 1, not 2) particularly anti-Semetic?

Answer 1

While there was anti-Semitism in the German Empire, it was not encouraged by the government.

Jews served in the German army in World War I--in fact, Anne Frank's father, Otto, was one of them. The Theresienstadt concentration camp, which was the Nazis' showplace meant to "debunk" the accusations of human rights violations, was where Jewish World War I veterans and their families were incarcerated--at least for a while.

Answer 2

No more so than other countries, remember, theres' a long history to anti-semitism, in 1543 Martin Luther said that Jews' synagogues should be set on fire and that Jews should be "put under one roof or stable, like gypsies, so that they realize that they are not masters in our land" However, there were several Jews in government in 1914 and throughout German society they held prominent and respected positions and were generally very well-integrated at all levels. Although up to 1914 it was hard for Jews to get into the military academies and there were exclusive Jewish regiments, of the 615,000 German Jews in 1914 100,000 served in WW1 and Jewish and non-Jewish casualties were an exact ratio of their respective populations. One of those killed was a Jewish member of parliament Dr Ludwig Haas, Member for Mannheim. So although there was always a subtle undercurrent of European anti-semitism it wasn't until the rise of the National Socialist Party in the humiliating aftermath of WW1 that anti-semitism began to be a force to be exploited and stirred up. within the German people and across the rest of Europe

Answer 3

No. The German Government of WW1 was multicultural, and the army had decorated Jewish soldiers.
When Germany surrendered in November 1918, Adolf Hitler blamed the "November Criminals" (Jewish government officials and financiers), for "stabbing" Germany in the back while the war was still being fought in France. He used this propaganda to further his own political aspirations.

Answer 4

I don't think so, but Hitler blamed them for the German defeat in WW1 which is where a lot of that came from.

Given the number that were killed by the Nazis and the massive wealth taken from them, they must have been a pretty substantial and sucessful community up to that point.

Answer 5

Jews couldn't be army officers in the pre-war German army. A lot of people expressed antisemitic sentiments, from the Kaiser down, but employed Jews. I think the Nazi antisemitism was an importation from Austria.

Answer 6

there was still anti-semetism going on (not government sponsored)... but just a hatred or supracist attitude by the general populance. this was widespread in all parts of europe.

the reason that jews left germany before the rise of Hitler was due to the horrible economy of germany at that time

Answer 7

No ww1 was more about kaiser wilhelms attemps to establish an empire in europe and the catalyst was the assination of archduke ferdinand of austria in belgrade

Answer 8

Not really.

As a guest speaker at my school said, "The only thing Germany did wrong in WW1 was lose."