Acculturation and Reception of Soviet Jews in Germany

Acculturation and Reception of Soviet Jews in Germany after the collapse of the Soviet Union

I. Introduction

Since April of 1990, over a hundred thousand Soviet Jews and those with their origins in Soviet successor nations have immigrated to Germany, drastically changing the culture, size, and shape of Germany’s Jewish population. The immigration mentioned above was unforeseen, unplanned for and disliked by both the Israeli and German governments and the majority of German Jews (Ostow, 110). It occurred in the aftermath of the Soviet’s dissolution and that of the German Democratic Republic: once it commenced, there was no stopping it. Throughout the Cold War era, German Jews were portrayed by the print media as an anomaly or endangered species. Still, in February of 1990, following news of anti-Jewish uprisings within Soviet territory, a small East Berlin-based Jewish group linked closely to the Socialist Unity Party entreated the then-existing government of East Germany to accord permission to Soviet Jews to seek refuge in East Germany (Ostow, 110). In this paper, Soviet Jews’ reception and acculturation in Germany following the Soviet’s collapse will be discussed.

II. Brief Overview

a. The Jewish community in Germany before Soviet emigration (numbers, ethnicity, class status, etc.)

Ambiguity exists regarding the precise demographics of Germany’s Jewish population, particularly in the post-Holocaust age. Somewhat informed figures indicate that, as of 1945, roughly 3,000 Jews might have survived in all of the 4 Allied Zones combined. This very small figure grew swiftly on account of the extensive post-1945 migration from East to West: approximately five to six hundred thousand had fled the lethal anti-Semitism of the post-Holocaust era in Poland and other Eastern European nations (Wolffsohn, 19). Following the Israeli nation’s creation, these displaced persons decreased in number. A rather small number – around 30,000 – continued to reside in Germany. They perceived future dealings and interactions with the nation’s non-Jews to be a challenge. From 1946 to 1949, around 1,000 long-time intellectual Communists reverted to what was believed by them to be a ‘better Germany.’ But by the year 1953, most Jews residing in East Germany had already bid the nation adieu. The state of this “better Germany” deteriorated, and along with the remaining Soviet Stalin-governed nations, persecuted the Jewish community from late 1948 until the time of Stalin’s death (i.e., March of 1953) (Wolffsohn, 21). During the Berlin Wall’s collapse, a mere 400 Jews were still residing in Germany, with about three-quarters of them residing in East Berlin. Local Jews outside East Berlin comprised only a few dozen individuals, of whom several were aged. Jewish influx from Russia during the early part of the 90s decade helped avert a structural collapse.

Before the Berlin Wall’s fall, in the year 1989, and the point where this essay’s central narrative commences, Jews had begun leading a better life in Germany. However, the situation wasn’t particularly favorable for them. Between 20,000 and 30,000 Jews resided in West Germany or the Federal Republic, 6,000 were inhabitants of Berlin, roughly 500 were staying in East Germany or the German Democratic Republic, and 200 were East Berlin residents (Peck, 40-1). The majority of these were aged and dwindling in number. However, soon, the borders opened, the Soviet Union collapsed, and in the aftermath of these decisive events of 1989–90, Jewish migrants flooded the nation. Not many Americans appear to understand how such a shift in population saved German Jews from the extinction they were swiftly and surely headed towards, instead of making it Europe’s third-biggest community, as well as the world’s quickest growing and ninth biggest community. Also, not many understand how the abovementioned immigration and Jewish reconstitution within Germany potentially changed our views on the diaspora.

b. The Soviet Jewish community that arrived in Germany (demographic information, ethnicity, or identity)

Roughly 220,000 Jews of Soviet origins migrated into United Germany from 1991 to 2013. Of these, only 50 percent joined Jewish communities, congregations, and other formal Jewish institutions. The above statistics represent the numeric shift occurring from Germany’s reunification and the evolution of a novel, second, and currently dominant German Jewish stratum. From the (almost) ashes of German Jewry (basically destroyed by the year 1945, either fleeing or death) and the very narrow stratum of post-Holocaust Jewish influx from Poland into West Berlin and West Germany rose a (now) second and dominant stratum made up of migrants who grew up within the atheist Soviet setting and are hardly aware of their religious traditions (Wolffsohn, 20). Such ‘New-New’ Jews in Germany were Halachically-Jewish in several instances, though “Jewishly” were spiritually and culturally illiterate and far from all expressions of Jewishness.

III. Immigration of Soviet Jews to Germany around the 1990s

a. Process of immigration to Germany and issues with it

In February of 1990, following news of anti-Jewish uprisings within Soviet territory, a small East Berlin-based Jewish group linked closely to the Socialist Unity Party entreated the then-existing government of East Germany to accord permission to Soviet Jews to seek refuge in East Germany (Ostow, 110). Since April of 1990, over a hundred thousand Soviet Jews and those with their origins in Soviet successor nations have immigrated to Germany, drastically changing the culture, size, and shape of Germany’s Jewish population. The immigration mentioned above was unforeseen, unplanned for, and disliked by both the Israeli and German governments and the majority of German Jews. It occurred in the aftermath of the Soviet’s dissolution and that of the German Democratic Republic: once it commenced, there was no stopping it.

b. Why they chose Germany (perhaps mention why not the U.S. or Israel)

Russian Jews’ mass migration in 1990 was mostly to Israel and the U.S. But several thousand have made Germany their home as well. Several opted for Germany instead of America or Israel, owing to the nation is one of the key economic powerhouses of Eastern Europe and a place with ample economic opportunity. Others were drawn to Germany due to its nearness to Russia (their old home) and familiar European culture and traditions. Still, others favored settling down in Germany as it was presumably more secure and safer than the State of Israel. Harrowing tales of Russia’s Jews being murdered in cafes or Israeli buses dissuade them from immigrating to Israel; Germany can offer them the financial and personal security they found lacking in Russia (Peck, 42). Some people have ended up migrating to Germany unintentionally and not on purpose, merely owing to the immigration process-connected idiosyncrasies and complications while gaining entry into the West through Rome or Vienna. Another reason for their inclination towards Germany instead of Israel lies in the former’s liberal policy regarding accepting former-Soviet Jews and their wish to reside in a nation that is an E.U. member and a robust democracy. Still, eventually, Germany has encouraged Soviet Jews to accept responsibility and accountability for the gruesome Holocaust. Falling the 1991 Soviet collapse, Germany formulated a liberal Jewish immigration policy (Peck, 43).

c. What German government did to help get them there and why

Early June witnessed the German Democratic Republic’s Council of Ministers concurring that earlier persecuted individuals and their successors were entitled to return to the nation (Ostow, 110). The above plea of an elite population that was almost marginalized and deposed gained importance during the last few months of the Republic’s survival. De Maizière’s government, desperately reaching for straws to survive, is seeking ways to acquire legitimacy. Their determination of individuals or groups to admit utilized the debate of the Republic’s anti-Fascism for reaffirming the state’s significance as home to those victimized by and standing against Hitler. In spring through summer 1990, roughly two-score Soviet Jews were flocking to East Berlin weekly and being cared for by several East Berlin groups.

d. German policy and reversal on immigration

Autumn saw West Berlin’s Jewish community taking over. By mid-September and with the unification fast approaching, West Germany’s Soviet consulates were ordered to cease the processing of Jewish migrant applications; East Germany was also advised to act likewise. October 2 of that year witnessed the closure of West Germany’s borders to Soviet-origin Jews. However, until year-end, Soviet Jews still flowed illegally or even semi-legally (for instance, being invited to visit their relatives in the nation (Ostow, 111). In end-1990, the president of Berlin’s Jewish community of Germany’s Central Jewish Council, Heinz Galinski, put together a staff comprising of social workers and administrators for Soviet-migrant Jews, publicly insisting they be allowed non-quota into Germany and be permitted to reside within the nation. This stance was maintained despite pressures from both the Israeli and German governments and a major section of Jewish community members.

IV. Resettlement in Germany (arriving perspective)

a. What services were provided for support, and by who

The Federal Republic wasn’t as accommodating as its Eastern counterpart when it came to admitting Soviet Jewish migrants. At first, migrants weren’t officially recognized as refugees, meaning they were at the mercy of volunteer initiatives. Even just before reunification, West Germany’s internal minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, viewed these efforts with suspicion, going so far as calling for a cessation to migrant application processing in the nation’s Soviet-based consulates until the time that they would formulate and institute official policies (Weiss and Gorelik, 382). It closed its boundaries to Soviet-migrant Jews, also demanding that East Germany take a similar step. Consequently, until year-end, Soviet Jews were only able to enter East Germany illegally or semi-legally. Galinski, who previously expressed his dislike of the Jewish influx from Soviet countries, altered his stance following his observations in East Germany, urging West Germany to grant these migrants entry well above the usual quota. Whether he was aware or not of the actual significance, at that time, of such a decision for Jews’ future in Berlin and the overall German nation remains unclear.

As West Germany previously described itself as a ‘non-immigration nation,’ its decision to allow entry to Soviet migrant Jews was considered a political and moral action with essentially symbolic goals. The press referred to individuals or groups to be granted entry as brothers in faith or the Glaubensbrüder and offspring of individuals victimized and put to death by Hitler. To permit them to live freely in the nation would be, for Germany, an act of restitution resulting in moral purification, lending legitimacy to the freshly-unified German nation (Ostow, 112). Thus, in January of 1991, following Germany’s reunification, the Soviet Jews gained admittance under the quota refugee law or “Kontigentflüchtlingsgesetz” which accorded them rights which, ironically, only supposed ethnic Germans were entitled to, whose association with modern Germany following several generations of Soviet residency is more imaginary than real (Peck, 44). The above the law formed the defining moment for Soviet Jews’ migration, allowing Jewish migrants to flock into Germany and settle there instead of only visiting as tourists with visas, which was the previous informal practice in the country.

b. Where did they settle, and why the German government chose to settle them there

Germany’s Federal Administration Office assigned each immigration applicant to different states based on a preset formula that decided migrant allocation based on each state’s population and tax revenues. The formula was used in the case of Jews as well as all other refugees. Applicants with proof of Jewish descent would be granted a visa to enter the nation with their husband/wife and children (both juvenile and adult; however, the latter must be single and living with parents) (Weiss and Gorelik, 392).

Some migrants were assigned to areas with scant employment opportunities and other resources. In contrast, others had to live in areas without any other Jewish residents for decades, owing to the top-down allocation approach. Eventually, the above state-imposed principle of welfare added to the distrust that the Russian-speaking Jewish population experienced. That no Jew was a resident of a given town (or area) since the 1938 Kristallnacht and the succeeding expulsion or murder of every remaining Jew in the country conveys that it is a rather extreme case. Nevertheless, many migrant Jews were assigned based on the formula mentioned above to small towns without any Jewish community.

c. Expectations of Jewish observance/identity and admission to the Jewish community

Soviet Jewish migrants encounter the expectations and images linked to their’ quota refugee’ status and the ‘Jewish identity acceptance criterion. Such characteristics and identity expectations acquire biographical relevance if transferred to a bureaucratic system and codified within institutions that immigrants are dependent on during their quest for social and legal acknowledgment within Germany (Becker, 20-1). Whether it be foreigner registration and refugee reception centers, or the social service organization and Jewish communities, Soviet Jews face the debate regarding legitimacy and authenticity, coercing them to reinterpret or reassess their individual life history for justifying why they reside in Germany. The above norms increase significance when securing ‘self’ since the divide grows between self-image and individual life history within one’s native society and the new society’s identity demands.

So long as Soviet migrant Jews abided by their expectation of reviving German- Jewish Enlightenment traditions that distinguished cities or towns in their glory days, Germans were ready to receive and welcome them. Within a short transition period, the Jewish community, its cultural and religious organizations and systems, and its traditions were viewed as an Enlightenment tradition component. However, the above expectation was grounded in the theory that a continuous, direct association existed between the pre-Nazi German Jews and the Commonwealth of Independent States’ Jewish migrants (Weiss and Gorelik, 393). With their aid, Germans may go back in time to the past of German Jews or, instead, to their concept or idea of a previous, imagined local Jewish population group.

d. In what areas did Soviet Jews struggle, or how they had to adjust – how did they feel?

Soviet Jews’ status of “special refugees” wasn’t the sole reason for their not being happily welcomed by Jews in Germany, of whom several were already Soviet migrants during a previous, 70s-era escape from their native country. The majority of these newcomers (i.e., roughly four out of five) were not Jewish from a halakhical perspective; in other words, they failed to fulfill some conditions such as not being from Jewish mothers or Orthodox conversion (Peck, 44). Consequently, they were perceived as imposters or “fake” Jews, also given the fact that within the Soviet Union, they were regarded as Jews merely because their legal documents said so. In other words, anybody could turn into a Jew anytime, thereby casting shadows on Jews’ true identity. Their prior refugee status resulted in tensions as the masses expected an association of dependency, with them being the more powerful asylum grantor and the migrant Jews being relatively powerless seekers of asylum.

This issue about Soviet Jews’ authenticity was resolved to employ traditional reinvention or revitalization as this phenomenon is widely called (Roberman, 201). But the Jews dubbed this endeavor to revitalize the lives of Jews in Germany as ludicrous or fake. They emphasized the improbability of rebuilding a once-vibrant culture and life of Jews in Germany that the Holocaust all but destroyed.

V. Reception of Soviet Jews (receiving perspective)

a. Feelings/attitudes/actions of the German Jewish community

Firstly, reunification and incorporation/merger of the Jews of East Germany resulted in intense trauma for the Jewish communities functioning in multiple ideological universes in four decades. Some of the Jews of East Germany prided in their government’s decision to welcome Soviet Jews following the Berlin Wall’s collapse in November of 1989, something that West Germany failed to do – this is a lost narrative, as are several specificities of the Jewish culture of East Germany (Shneer, 113-4). Furthermore, a few Jews of former East Germany also displayed protectiveness when it came to their unique grasp of the Jewish community and identity concerning individuals and institutions.

The observation saddened the Jews in Germany that the migrants arriving from the Soviet Union largely displayed little to no interest in Jewish life or religious practices. They only approached their German counterparts for assistance with worldly, practical needs like residence, employment, and deutschmarks. They also failed to contribute to Yiddish theatre, Klezmer music, and other elements of ‘Jewish culture,’ which gave rise to a graver cultural deficit (Ostow, 113). The Jews of Germany self-labeled themselves as survivors of the horrific Holocaust, righteously maintaining hostile relations with the surrounding German environment. However, the migrant Jews displayed gratitude to Germany for accepting them and saving them from Stalinism.

Germany’s Jewish community, particularly the one in Berlin, was forever marred by the existence of migrant Jews, their expectations, and their culture. The Russian language dominates small congregations (sometimes Russian is the only language used), as are bigger communities such as Berlin, where only Russian is commonly heard in the Fasanenstrasse library or Joachimstalerstrasse synagogue. Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Berlin’s Jewish Community operates “in Russian” (Peck, 45): the employees, right from the secretarial and service administration workers to the financial, accounting, and taxation workers and the kitchen helps all converse with one another in the Russian language. The monthly magazine of the Community – Jewish Berlin or Jüdisches Berlin – is also published in Russian and German languages. Additionally, bulletin board ads of services/products are also mostly in the Russian language. Lastly, newspapers in Jewish-Russian are quite popular.