Anti-Semitism in East Germany, 1952–1953

Abstract

The attitude toward Jews and Jewish issues during the postwar years must be carefully examined, especially in the country from which the destruction of European Jewry emanated. Within that context, the initial attempt to come to terms with the past was emphasized more strongly in the Soviet zone of Germany than in the Allied zones. This explains why many Jew who had survived in Germany or in exile opted for the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as their future place of residence. The political orientation in the Soviet zone was shaped by the traditions of the German working-class movement before 1933 and was dominated by its communist wing. The SED [Sozialistische Einheitspartei], which had been in the process of Stalinization since 1948, also identified itself with the position taken by the Communist International [Comintern] for solving the “Jewish Question.” They believed that in order to defeat anti-Semitism, Jews should give up their Jewish identity and participate fully in the communist movement. Within the parameters of this movement, Jews should struggle for a classless and just society. It was assumed that any form of anti-Semitism would fade away, given that the Comintern approach explained anti-Semitism via economic reductionism. In a truly socialist society, anti-Semitism would have no class basis. Zionism was rejected in all of its manifestations.²

This essay is based on my book, Die SED und die Juden—zwischen Repression und Toleranz: Politische Entwicklungen bis 1967 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1995). For the preparation and correction of this English text I am indebted to Axel Fair-Schulz, Diethelm Prowe, and Eleanor Yadin. For an earlier German version, see “Antisemitismus in der SED 1952/53. Verdrängung der Geschichte bis ans Ende,” Utopie kreativ 85–86 (November–December 1997): 158–66.