How did prewar Jewish life differ between Germany and the Russian Empire?
>>1320603
Russian Jews were subject to Pogroms (violent persecution), whereas German (and most other western Jews) enjoyed equal rights in comparison to their gentile countrymen. Western Jews sometimes were subject to popular or institutionalized antisemitism (Dreyfuss affair) however they were rarely (if ever) subject to violent pogroms as those seen in Russia during the turn of the century.
>>1320983
How assimilated were German Jews in Bismarck's time? Did ghettos exist?
>>1320996
The Jews native to Germany were quite assimilated. However, as a consequence of Pogroms and famines in the east, huge numbers of Russian and Galician (Austrian) Jews (Ostjuden) migrated to the West, eventually reaching Germany, France, Denmark and the U.S. Those eastern Jews unlike their western counterparts, had their own unique culture based highly upon their local cultures. Around the time Bismarck unified Germany, Jews did not face any legal persecution and as such they were not required to live in Ghettos unlike their Russian counterparts
>>1321165
Wasn't Austria pretty tolerant at the time?
More so than nations such as France?
West Jews were educated and rich. Highly assimilated and in position of power.
East(Russian) Jews wee mostly poor or extremly poor, uneducated or illiterate, mostly speaking local russian dialects. Lived in ghettos or their own settelments wih their own laws and customs.
West Jews were terrified by East Jews influx and influenced Western goverments to stop it.
>>1320603
Germany was one of the most jew-tolerant places in Europe until 1933.
>>1321291
Even though Austria was tolerant towards Jews, they severely neglected provinces with large Jewish populations (i.e. Galicia), which in turn led to famine and poverty. This caused a huge number of Galicians (both Christian & Jewish) to migrate elsewhere in Europe or the US in search of a better life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_Austrian_Galicia
>>1321847
THIS
Russia and even France was more anti-Jewish than Germany. Jews were even ennobled in the Kaiser's court if they were in favor with Wihelm II.
Wilhelm II may have made some anti-Jewish remarks in his lifetime, but even he was horrified at Kristallnacht and the gangsterish brutality inflicted on German Jews. At his worst, the Kaiser never oppressed his people like the Nazis did.
>>1320603
Is it fair to say that German Jews were rich, while Russian Jews were poor?
