"God and War". The Jewish Population of Stettin in the Face of World War I
"God and War". The Jewish Population of Stettin in the Face of World War I

Summary/Abstract: The article looks at the problem of the involvement of German Jews in World War I and their perception of those times, using as an example one of medium-sized industrial centres of Germany at the time. Stettin, then belonging to Pomerania province of the Kingdom of Prussia, while not a major centre of Jewish life nationwide, still had at that time a well organized Mosaic community and was an important local centre of the thinking and culture of German Jews. In her research the author reached for source materials which have escaped historians’ attention so far but which make it possible to look at the problem from several different angles. A review of a selection of articles printed during the war in the local periodical Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt für die Mitglieder der Synagogengemeinde Stettin sheds light on the position of leasing members of the community on problems related to the ongoing conflict, examined both from the theological as well as political or financial angle. Copies of Stettiner Werner Cohn’s letters from the front show how involvement in the hostilities and related developments impacted the daily reflections of a rank-and-file Jewish soldier. Meanwhile, the documents of the Stettin Jewish community produced post-World War I, dealing with questions of commemorating the dead and the growing threat of anti-Semitism, which are currently stored in Moscow archives, provide access to a reply to the question about the community members’ ex-post perception of their participation and involvement in the conflict and about some long-term consequences of such involvement for them. An analysis of these sources makes it possible to identify the specific ways in which these developments, unquestionably important for the German Jews, impacted this specific community.

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