How did the Jews in Nazi Germany respond to their persecution before the war?How did the Jews in Nazi Germany respond to their persecution before the war?
German Jewry, the first victims of the Nazi regime, represented one of the oldest established Jewish communities in Europe. Until 1933, German Jews had been widely regarded as a virtual model instance of the success of emancipation, and of the creative interaction between the Jews and their non-Jewish environment. Most German Jews considered themselves no less German than any of their Christian compatriots. Some 12,000 of them had died on the battlefields of World War I, fighting for the interests and honor of their beloved country. During the first days of the Nazi regime, it was difficult for them to grasp that anyone could strip them of their German rights and identity, that they could be turned into pariahs in their own land. “Germany remains Germany,” stated a leading article in the newspaper of the organization that represented the majority, the Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith. “No one can deprive us of our homeland and fatherland.” On the other side of
