[Text: Historical Reflections: Jewish Life before the Holocaust.]
[Text: Dr. Lauren Faulkner Rossi, Assistant Professor of Modern Germany at Simon Fraser University]
[solemn music]
Speaking of Jewish life in Europe before World War II means to speak of its incredible diversity. We could chop Europe roughly in half between Eastern Europe and Western Europe, and in doing so, we should acknowledge that most Jews in fact lived in eastern European countries, primarily in Russia, which became the Soviet Union in 1922, in Poland, which didn't formally exist until 1919, and in Romania and Hungary.
[Text: Culture and Customs in Eastern Europe]
[solemn music]
In these countries, most Jews lived a relatively separate life from their non-Jewish neighbours. As such, they were a cultural minority living within a non-Jewish majority. For instance, they tended to speak Yiddish as their home language, which was a mixture roughly of Hebrew and German words, and many of them lived in shtetls or small towns or villages somewhat apart from the non-Jewish community around them. Yet even here, there is diversity.
[Text: Diversity of Jewish Life]
[solemn music]
If you look at age, for instance, we might observe that younger Jews tended to move outside of the shtetl to larger towns or even cities in search of employment, for instance, and sometimes they stayed. And they frequently adopted the habits and customs of the non-Jews with whom they lived. They used different languages, they dress differently. Older Jews might be more likely to stay in the shtetl or to leave the shtetl only for small periods of time and then return. And they preserved the traditional language Yiddish, as well as traditional ways of dressing, wearing hats or caps, yarmulke, kippah, the prayer shawls. Jewish men might continue to wear the forelocks, their hair in a certain way, and they would more faithfully more daily observe rituals, religious rituals and other observances that perhaps might get lost in the city.
[Text: Jewish Life in Western Europe]
[solemn music]
In Western Europe in contrast, Jews tended to more easily adopt the customs, language, and behaviour of the non-Jewish communities within which they lived, and they tended not to live in shtetls or separate communities. This is not to say that religion was not important to Jews living in Western European countries, but simply that religious observation and ritual played a smaller part in their daily lives. Explaining this diversity between Eastern and Western European Jewish communities has to do with broader trends in modern European history going back to the French Revolution. It was during the French Revolution that French Jews were, for the first time, given equal rights to non-Jews. We call this the Emancipation of Jews. Napoleon then extended these rights to other Jewish communities in Europe as his armies marched across various territories and conquered it. His army stopped short though in eastern European countries, notably in Russia, and so these rights had far less of an impact.
[Text: Occupation & Education]
[bright music]
Nonetheless, by the beginning of the 20th century, Jews were part of public life in Europe in virtually every country. They were farmers, accountants, doctors, shopkeepers business owners, factory workers. Some families were fabulously wealthy. Many other families were fabulously destitute. And they enjoyed unequal access to education with some going on to the highest levels of university and others stopping their formal schooling at the elementary level in order to stay home and help their families with the business.
[Text: Political Participation & Recreation]
[bright music]
