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Pre-Nazi Era Life

Pre-Nazi Era Life

Members of the Robinsohn family out on a walk in 1928. The Robinsohn’s were a German-Jewish family from Hamburg who fled Nazi persecution in the late 1930s.

Members of the Robinsohn family out on a walk in 1928. The Robinsohn’s were a German-Jewish family from Hamburg who fled Nazi persecution in the late 1930s.

Courtesy of The Wiener Holocaust Library Collections.

Prior to the Holocaust, there were thriving Jewish communities across the world.

The largest population of Jews before the Holocaust was in Eastern Europe, with a community of 3,000,000 in Poland, 2,525,000 in Russia, and 980,000 in Romania. The size of this Jewish population in these countries meant that they made a huge contribution to the culture. In Western Europe, in countries such as Britain and Germany, many Jews were assimilated into the culture of the country in which they lived. Most of these countries had sizeable Jewish communities, with 300,000 Jews living in Britain, and 565,000 living in Germany.

This educational resource focuses on pre-Nazi era life. It is expected that this educational resource would be used as part of a scheme of learning exploring the Holocaust.

Please use the links below to download the worksheet and primary sources.

All sources are courtesy of The Wiener Holocaust Library and can be reproduced for educational purposes only. The Wiener Holocaust Library should be acknowledged in all reproductions.

 

Downloads

To download the PDF worksheet click on the link below. To download images, click onto the
desired image and press ‘download’ at the bottom of the picture.

Pre Nazi Era Life Worksheet and Activities
Alfred Josephs and his son Wolfgang on holiday in Bavaria in 1920.
Alfred Josephs, a German Jew from Berlin, and his brother before the First World War.
Ludwig Neumann, a German Jew from Essen, in his German Army uniform during the First World War. Neumann was awarded an Iron Cross for brave service during the First World War.
Members of the Robinsohn family out on a walk in 1928. The Robinsohn’s were a German-Jewish family from Hamburg who fled Nazi persecution in the late 1930s.
An invitation to Ludwig Neumann’s father Emil and family to participate in celebrations for Kaiser Wilhelm II in Essen on 8 August 1912.
Ludwig Neumann’s father, Emil, owned a German clothing manufacturing business called Neumann and Mendel. In the mid-1920s, Ludwig took over the management and ownership of the firm, after his father’s death. This is a flyer advertising the firm’s export business in Britain.
A page from the 40th anniversary catalogue of the clothing company Neumann and Mendel.
A self-portrait of Gerty Simon. Gerty was a successful German photographer who emigrated to Britain in 1933 following the Nazis' rise to power.
An invitation for a photographic exhibition of Gerty’s Simon’s work, Berlin, 1929. The exhibition title translates as either ‘Intellectual Berlin – Intellectual Paris’ or ‘Sprit of Berlin – Spirit of Paris’.
A portrait of the artist Max Liebermann by Gerty Simon, Berlin, c.1929. Max Liebermann was a leading German-Jewish artist. He was forced from his position as President of the Prussian Academy of Arts by the Nazis in 1934.
A portrait of Judith Kerr in Berlin, c. 1929.
A portrait of the writer Alfred Kerr in Berlin c. 1929
A portrait of Eric Schulhof taken before the war.
Eric Schulhof’s CV following the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia.