How rich were 'the jews' in pre nazi germany?

Question

One of the nazi's 'problems' seems to be that they thought the jews first loyalty was to each other rather than their host conutry, and that this meant their power and influence in germany was not in the interest of the country as a whole.

Is that right and if so, just how powerful/influential were they?

Given the number and value of claims for 'confiscated/stolen' goods/property that jewish organisations keep raising, it looks like they must have had masssive power and wealth in pre-nazi germany - is that so?

wrathofkahn03 - I'll ask what I like, this isn't nazi germany you know.

Answer 1

Seems a valid enough question but at a loss to find any numbers.

Answer 2

well, first off if you need a better idea what was going on in Germany with all of that.. look up Joseph Goebbels, and you will have a better idea of the true accuracy of ANYTHING that came from most of the Nazi propaganda machine.. however, there were a good number of Jewish citizens who did have power and wealth. This is because they tended to be well educated, and in positions of influence, such as banking, politics, attorneys, doctors.. in our society, those same people still tend to be wealthy and powerful, Jewish or otherwise. Primarily they were scapegoats for Hitler and his agenda. It worked.. for anyone who thinks he is tha shiznit for jacking a Lexus, Hitler jacked Germany, and a good bit of Europe, and made a grab for Russia....

So, yes, they had a lot of power and wealth in pre-nazi Germany, but it had nothing to do with their loyalty to each other rather than their host country.. most of the Jewish citizens of Germany were very loyal to their country, and gave of themselves.. but, being an often persecuted minority, I would not blame them if in some instances they were a little clannish..

Answer 3

there were two Swiss commissions in the 1990's and early 2000's that tried to distribute money the Nazis confiscated from Jewish families and which has been kept in Swiss banks since the 1930's. If you review those records, you could get an idea of what financial assets were involved. The amount the Nazis stole was staggering and boggles the mind. What the Swiss did since the end of the war, keeping all that money and remaining silent was not much better.

The Shakespeare play referred to by Zander is THE MERCHANT OF VENICE and the money lender was called SHYLOCK. Shakespeare was a KNOWN anti-Semite.

Answer 4

What a strange question. The implication is that, had the Jews been wealthy, this would provide some kind of rationale for what the Nazis did.

It's the moral equivalent of saying that if a girl is pretty, she 'encourages' the man who rapes her.

German Jews were no richer than any other group in society. Anything they earned, they earned through hard work, because they started with nothing. As in any religious group, there were some who were more successful, and many who had little to their name.

It is well established that German Jews were the most integrated in that country than anywhere else. They married outside their faith, and were fully assimilated into society.

And yet still, the Nazis hunted them down, imprisoned them in death camps, and tortured many of them to death, while others were shot and still others were gassed.

I suggest you read up about Mengele and his 'experiments' on Jewish, and non Jewish children and pregnant women.

Answer 5

Jews were German citizens. Germany was their home. Of course a few owned factories and large businesses. This would not be a liability or a problem, and needless to say race should not figure into the equation, except to a madman such as AH. If most businesses in America were owned by people of Asian American heritage does that justify rounding them up?

Hitler had an agenda, which was to redress wrongs against himself by the Jewish critical and art establishment of his youth, which sent him packing for being a workmanlike but essentially mediocre artist. This is what started the nutball rolling that ended with over 6 Million citizens dead.

Answer 6

I've heard that the reason that they were thought of as rich was because of two things.

1. The religion allows them to loan money, while others did not. Making Jews some of the only people who would loan money.

2. There is a Shakespeare play where there is a rich angry Jew. I forget which one that is, but it's where many Jewish stereotypes come from.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Uhm, no. Many, if not all of the Jews in Pre-Nazi Germany were just regular people trying to make a decent living.Though many were able to get decent and well paying jobs. Like being a docter or engineer.

Answer 9

its like this. there were rich jews and poor jews. just like every other ethnic group in pre wwii germany. some were incredibly wealthy other were not. just like in the usa today the haves have and the have not have not. those that had a lot of money had more material possesions taken from them. the bigger question is why were there so few jobs and why was the economy stagnant until after hitler took power? they had just lost the most important war in german history, which was short since the wars of unification had only started some 50 years before wwi. germany owed much of europe reparations for their aggressions. adolf just took the easy way out and took the majority ethnic groups in germany and set them against every other minority group in the country, to unify germany under his rule. scapegoating them for all of the ill that had fallen on germany as a result of wilhelm ii, von moltke, von moltke the younger, von zeppelin, and wilhelm ii's austro hungarian allies. the jew, gays, political dissedents, non arians were all easy targets. the jewish leadership was the easiest target of all. there were more ethnic germans unemployed than there were unemployed wealthy jews. so germany sought to eliminate them and confiscate their property.
the answer is that yes some jew had power and influence but no more than any group has today in the usa. and yes there are hate factions here the key difference is that there isnt the economic turmoit here that there was there then.

Mr. Jessup, we did just what you said in wwii to the japanese putting many in intermant camps in the sw. there were german interment camps in many regions of the usa including one in rochester new york. the buildings are still there ive seent hem with my own eyes. there were also "way stations" of sorts for displaced jews in the usa as well. oswego new york was one staging area for jews in wwii. the big difference is that we did not eliminate the peoples intered in tese camps. although, there were abuses and thefts of property and money that we commited against those we interred in these camps

Answer 10

The reason they were thought of as rich was because they had ib average three times the average wealth of the average German citizen. Given that Germany was going through a brutal depression you can see how Hitler capitalized on this.

Answer 11

Most of the jews during the time of Nazi Germany where actually fully intergrated into Germany society and Culture.

The only thing that set them apart was they where a minority (relegion) albeit a long estabilished one. and usually fascists like to pick on minorities however well ingrained they are in the culture.