Council for German Jewry: correspondence (microfilm)

Scope and Content

Correspondence of the Council for German Jewry, 1934-1939, notably comprises material relating to dismissals of Jewish staff at Göttingen University (608/1) and Austrian Jewish refugees from the Burgenland, 1937-1938; various synagogue congregations in Germany, 1938-1939 (608/2); the emergency relief organisation for German scientists abroad (Notgemeinschaft deutscher Wissenschaftler im Ausland), 1936-1939 (608/3) and a report by the Jewish Agency for Palestine regarding emigration, 1933-1934 (608/4).

Administrative / Biographical History

The Council for German Jewry was established in 1936, in the aftermath of the Nuremberg race laws, with the objective of assisting German Jews to leave Germany through coordinated emigration. It succeeded the Central British Fund for the Relief of German Jewry, which was founded in 1933, shortly after the Nazis came to power.

An agreement was reached between Zionists and non-Zionists for an emigration plan and in January 1936 a delegation of leading British Jews went to the United States in order to establish a partnership with American Jewry to raise $15 million to assist in the emigration of 100,000 German Jews aged 17 to 35. Whilst they succeeded to a certain extent, a number of factors combined to impede their efforts including British immigration policy in Palestine, emigration obstacles in Germany and the growing impoverishment of German Jewry. After the war the organisation became known as the Central British Fund for Relief and Rehabilitation.

Arrangement

Chronological by subject matter.

Access Information

Open

Acquisition Information

Jewish Central Information Office

Other Finding Aids

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.

Physical Characteristics and/or Technical Requirements

Use microfilm

Archivist's Note

Gutman, Israel, Editor,Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, Macmillan, New York.Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn.

Conditions Governing Use

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Related Material

MF Doc 27:Records of the Central British Fund for the Relief of German Jewry

Geographical Names