 |
|
Germany in 1833
|
Jewish emigration from Central Europe increased tremendously during the post-Napoleonic era, which began in 1815. The main problems that emerged for the Jews were the worsening economy that became restrictive to the rising professional and mercantile class, a scarcity of land, government restrictions on marriage and domicile, and an emancipation in which reality did not match promise. A resurgence of xenophobic nationalism in Germany stemmed from the religious and political spirit of reaction in France, which began in the early nineteenth century.
"As had happened often before, and not unknown since, the reactionaries fanned the hatred against Jews, making them the scapegoats in their campaign against the advancing spirit of liberalism."1 (Oscar Solomon Straus)
Many other European Jews migrated after
the revolution of 1848. The "forty-eighters," as they later
became to be known, were generally young and well-educated males. They
were also political activists, however, and after the revolution failed,
many of them were indirectly forced to leave.
"Having been active only locally in the revolutionary movement,
my father was not prosecuted. He was made aware, however, of the suspicions
of the authorities and was subjected to all those petty annoyances and
discriminations which a reactionary government never fails to lay upon
people who have revolted, and revolted in vain… The revolution left
[my father] reduced in circumstances and even to some extent in debt…
My father decided, in consequence, to emigrate."2 (Strauss)
There was a general feeling of political unrest during this time period, as attempts were made for unification in some countries and eventually an authoritarian tradition was created, dominated by the army, the nobility, and the bureaucracy. These circumstances have never been accommodating for the Jews, and thus many of them left their homes in search of a new life. Many others left for reasons such as a bad harvest, as there was in 1848, which caused food prices to rise. All in all, a large amount of Jews left Germany during the early and mid-nineteenth century, and many of them migrated to America.
German Jews came to America because it symbolized a land of opportunity,
where religion did not determine the potential of someone's fate. They
faced discriminatory laws in Germany, and in most of Europe as well, but
in America such laws were laughed at. A democratic nation was a dream
for a German Jew, as was the notion that religion would no longer represent
a burden.
"How happy I was when I reached
the promised land of freedom, where laws, at least, are the same for Jews
as for non-Jews. At that time the stigma of inequality burned in me like
a fiery coal, because I felt its sting and suffered its pangs."3
(Leopold Mayer)