Jews were prominent bankers in Weimar Germany – almost half of all private banks were owned by famous Jewish families such as: The Mendelssohn's, Bleichroders and Schlesingers. So this clearly showed that the Jews had a strong hand in the economic structure of Weimar Germany. However , on the other hand – Jews directed fewer than 1 percent of the German credit banks, which could be seen as being more numerous and far more important than the private banks.
Jews were not well know as crucial leaders of German Industry, although saying this – they were quite well represented in two fields : the mining and chemical industries of Upper Silesia. In Upper Silesia, the Jews encountered very few problems, and was actually quite prominent in this region. This shows that the Jews may not have dominated many industries (unlike the banks) however they were still linked to few.
Jews were also very well assimilated into the Journalism industry, Germany's two largest publishing houses – Uilstein and Mosse, were Jewish; they published large numbers of books, magazines and newspapers. The journalists working for these houses were Jewish and they were notable for being Liberal and left-wing views.
Jews were heavily influenced in Weimar Germany for Law and Medicine; they made up eleven percent of Germany's docters, more than 16 percent were lawyers and notaries public and around 13
percent were patent attorneys. This shows that many of the weel paid, middle class jobs were prominently Jewish.
Unfortunately not all Jews In Weimar were 'comfortable and well-off,' almost one in five of them were refugees from eastern Europe, some of them were enlisted in the Wartime German military
government in Poland – for harsh labour work and other ward duties.
Jewish employers were reluctant to Hire Jews for fear of drawing attention to themselves of looking biased to their own. Non – Jewish employers also shied away from employing Jews, occasionally out of anti – semitism, but much more commonly for fear that militant racists might boycott their firms. This emphasises the point that even though Jews were well assimilated into the economic life of Weimar Germany, anti-semetic views were slowly growing and taking hold of industries.
The typical Jewish community was divided into four groups – The wealthy old families, lawyers and bankers – They were proud of their high cultural milieu, and there contact with non – Jews of equal status. Many of them had honour titles and their children were commonly baptised at birth. A slightly lower group were the Businessmen, docters, lawyers and journalists. This group was considerably larger compared to the upper class families, however they were seen as being far less cosmopolitan. This sub group ranged from the newly appointed salesmen, to the affluent department store owner ( Hermann and Leonard ). Their sons could live an independent, wealthy lifestyle. Next were the Jews who had recently moved from small towns to the big city, they were commonly cattle or grain dealers turned urban businessmen. This group did not want much but to be accepted into the larger establishments. The lowest group were the Eastern Jews commonly referred to as 'Polacks' they made up the majority of the workman.
By the end of 1923, The Jewish community in Berlin had created nineteen soup kitchens, seven shelters for the homeless and an employment information centre for the distute Jews. Many other large communities did the same. By 1930 – 1933 this operation had to be made on a larger scale. It was so successful that communities were even employing there own distute members to provide food, coal and clothing to the wider community. It was a great help because records show in 1932 almost 50,000 Jews were un-employed, it shows that almost a percentage of adult Jews as non – Jews were jobless. This also showed that as a whole, the community of Jews were coping well together and shows that they were even well assimilated into there own communities..
The argument of the Zionists was this – There was no possible defence against anti – semitism and there was no purpose in trying to develop cultural and community institutions in Germany. Some Zionist Jews accepted this anti – semetic line that Germany belonged to the Aryan race and that for a Jew to hold an office in the land of his birth was nothing more than an intrusion into the affairs of another folk. However it was reasoned that if Jews started to consider themselves a separate national minority, and stopped interfering in Aryan affairs, it would be possible to get the anti – semites to tolerate them on a basis of a 'dignified' coexistence.
When the great depression arrived – fewer Jews could afford to send there sons and daughters to university; law and medicine was a particular favourite. Enrolment in Prussian universities declined from 10.3 percent to 5.2 percent and 12.8 to 6.9 percent respectively from 1911 to 1930. The number of Jewish students also declined from 2212 to 1675.
The expansion of the public health insurance system – operated through the labour unions and employee associations, gave special advantages to young Jewish docters who had problems setting up there practices. By having this, the Jewish medical profession was able to grow and expand through Weimar Germany.
The Hamburg system promoted the visible rituals of Jewish lifestyles such as – Circumcision, Bar Mitzvah, religious weddings, attending synagogue, the number of rented synagogue seats, the consumption of Kosher food, the Jewish youth movement and sports movement, and the support of
the numerous Jewish welfare services. The Hamburg system was for to incorporate the views of liberal and orthodox Jews, and later the Zionist movement, this resulted in a community of broad diversity of competence in its status and conventions . However there were areas of dispute amongst the council ; The census bound the right to vote, there introduction of proportional representation and passive votes for women, whose introduction was fiercely combated with Orthodox Jews.
In the Hamburg system; only around 40 percent of all community members were members of anyone of the three religious associations, however the Synagogue association claimed leadership of the community.
During the Weimar years, the Jewish community made every effort to become on par with the state school system, it offered children the possibility of acquiring state school leaving certificates, which would give them the opportunity to carry on for further education. Each Jewish community was responsible for around 2,000 children – some of the parents were of different religious views. This shows that the Jewish population cared for the education of Jews and non – Jews alike. In 1932 the right was given to award A – level certificates, giving Jews the opportunity to carry onto university. However on the down side, during this time the two Jewish community school had around 1200 children – the maintenance of these schools cost the Jewish community around one third of its annual revenue.
Jews were very important and creative in all walks of cultural life in the period 1918 – 1933. Weimar theatre was dominated by Jewish playwrights, directors and actors. Reinhardt, the Berlin director, incorporated music, dance and pantomime to the stage. German cinema too was dominated by the Jews. Ernst Toller, a leading playwright, had become a leftist and pacifist after World War I. During a prison sentence for the Bavarian Soviet Republic Revolt of 1919, he wrote several plays against capitalism and militarism.
It can be seen that Jews were very well assimilated into the social, political and cultural life of Weimar Germany. In fact in some cases – they were the backbone to many structures of Weimar Germany, in particular the economy. They dominated many different trades and were well experienced bankers.