The German Vanguard
The German Vanguard: German Jewish Followers (German: Der deutsche Vortrupp. Gefolgschaft deutscher Juden) was a German association of pro-National Socialist Jewish Germans. It was founded in February 1933 by the historian of religion Hans-Joachim Schoeps and dissolved in December 1935.[1]
History[edit]
Historian Matthias Hambrock describes The German Vanguard as a "small, quasi-esoteric club" that "consisted almost entirely of 'heads'", i.e. intellectuals and students. According to a Gestapo report, it mostly consisted of "older youths with academic-intellectual interests". The group had 150 student members.[2] Hambrock categorises it as a German Youth Movement.[3]
The organization had an official newspaper called The German Vanguard: Newspaper of a Group of German Jews (German: Der Deutsche Vortrupp: Blätter einer Gefolgschaft Deutscher Juden). In it, Schoeps wrote, among other things: "National Socialism saves Germany from destruction; today Germany is experiencing its völkisch renewal" and called for an "acceleration of the absolutely necessary separation of German and non-German Jews as well as the collection of all German-conscious Jews under uniform authoritarian leadership while bypassing the old organizations as much as possible".[4]
The Biographical Manual of German-Speaking Emigration After 1933 to 1945, Volume 2: "Politics, Economics, Public Life", cites Schoeps's cousin Heinz Georg Salomon Frank, a lawyer, as another of the leaders of The German Vanguard. In 1938 Frank published a work on Jewish education. In the same year he emigrated to Canada. He did so by deceiving the local authorities by enlisting as a farmer, a job he nominally practiced from 1938 to 1943. In fact, however, he had no knowledge in the field of agriculture. He later became an active official in various Canadian-Jewish associations.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Maierhof, Gudrun (2002). Selbstbehauptung im Chaos: Frauen in der jüdischen Selbsthilfe 1933–1943 (in German). Campus Verlag. p. 57.
- ^ https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206254.pdf
- ^ Hambrock, Matthias (2003). Die Etablierung der Aussenseiter: der Verband nationaldeutscher Juden 1921–1935 (in German). Böhlau Verlag. p. 611.
- ^ Schoeps, Hans-Joachim (1970). Bereit für Deutschland: Der Patriotismus deutscher Juden und der Nationalsozialismus (in German). Haude und Spener. p. 106.