The Jews in Germany. An Almanac (1959)

Digital Volumes on German-Jewish Post-war History

The Almanac was first published in 1953 and 1959 again in this expanded new edition. It filled the function of a handbook and reader, and is superbly indexed with a register of people, places, and subjects. The overview on Jewish communities and other organizations is very detailed, right down to addresses, telephone numbers and branch associations. The extensive pictorial section illustrates stages of Jewish post-war history, and a timeline from 1954 to January 1959 spanning 90 pages lists political and cultural events to the day.

Take a look at the digital volume Die Juden in Deutschland. Ein Almanach (The Jews in Germany. An Almanac) (1959)

Alongside this directly useful information, the Almanac contains comprehensive essays such as the entry on the persecution and emigration of Jews after 1933 by Mark Wischnitzer, who was himself active in helping people flee and precisely depicts the historical processes. The same is true of Kurt R. Grossmann, who describes the activities of Jewish organizations to care for survivors and displaced persons after 1945 and discusses the controversial “German question” of whether Jewish life in Germany still has any prospect at all.

Commentary on the Jewish present, which, in addition to the development of new community structures, was above all characterized by the continuation of antisemitism and the push for reparation, are at the center of the Almanac. The German process of coming to terms with its past is reflected in the concept of “collective shame,” which the Federal President Theodor Heuss preferred to speak of rather than “collective guilt” (pg. 11). The political response to this was the restitution of Jewish property, compensation for those persecuted, and the Luxembourg Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany, to which the almanac dedicates an extensive chapter.