Jewish Migration to America During World War II - Essay Example

Jewish Migration to America During World War II Prior to the 1880‘s, the American Jewish population was relatively small, accounting for less than1% of American population as a whole. After the first World War and during the early part of the twentieth century, with World War II on the horizon, Jewish immigration became more prominent as Eastern European Jews were able to find refuge in America. With them, the Jewish immigrants brought some cultural additions to American society which remain a part of the melting pot of America today. Due to heavy persecution however, the Jewish immigrants adopted much of American culture and life to avoid persecution. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Jewish migration to America during the World War II era as well as migrations prior to this time period. Also, it is important to examine the ways in which the Jewish immigrants quickly melted into American secularism. Early twentieth century Jewish Americans lived mainly in New York city. After the migration had significantly increased, the Jewish community expanded to cities all across the East Coast. Cities like Boston, Massachusetts began to see their own Jewish communities. These cities had not been home to many if any, Jews prior to the large migration of World War I. Incidentally, there was a heavier Jewish migration after the first World War, than there was during the time of World War II. After World War I, (after 1914) the Jewish community began to see a new generation of Jews that were born here in America, to Jewish immigrant parents. This second generation began to climb the socioeconomic ladder as many were escalating to middle class status, and blending into American society. This generation also was able to become a part of American culture a bit more readily than their parents before them, “Where the central focus of American Jewish life had been concentrated on problems of immigration and absorption, American Jewry now entered a period of stable consolidation” (Sarna et al, 2000). The Great Depression of 1930 as well as anti-Semitism that increased during this time period, acted in drawing the American Jewish community closer together and served to unify the community more than anything. It was not uncommon at this time, for Jews to be excluded from now establishments such as grade schools and Universities. In some areas, Jews faced the threat of violence form anti-Semitic individuals and organizations. In the early part of the twentieth century, with Nazi socialism on the rise in Europe, Jews faced great persecution and hardship in their native lands and were either victims of the second World War or were able to escape through migration to safer countries. Though America was not without anti-Semitism, it was far safer than the dangers and persecution faced by Jews in most of Europe. There was another rise in Jewish migration to America after the end of World War II in the 1940’s. Many Jews migrated the now Israel which was Palestine back in the 1940’s before the partition was enforced. The origin of Jewish migration to America was initiated in the late 1800’s after the death of the Russian Czar Alexander II. Alexander III took over the throne after his father’s death and began heavily persecuting the Jewish population. He literally enforced social exclusion and prejudice against the Jewish community forcing millions to migrate away from Russia. Many of these Russian Jews made their way to America to escape Alexander’s tyranny and hatred. During the time of World War II, not only did many Jews migrate to America at some point but in addition, approximately 55,000 Jewish Americans fought in the war. This large group of Jews which fought on the side of the allies was composed of women, children and men. Between the end of the nineteenth century and through 1924, Jews migrated primarily from Eastern Europe to America. This time period accounts for a near 2 million Jews who migrated. Once here, the Jewish migrants began to set up synagogues and temples in order to worship and practice their faith. This increased migration decreased after 1924 due to the National Origins Quota and Immigration Act of 1924. The Jews who migrated to America sought to not only blend into American society but also to aid in the World War overseas. Nearly half of the Jewish American men living in the United States during World War II, fought in the war. This number of course does not count women and children who fought as well. Even though Jewish communities were being formed, many Jews of the World War era began to intermarry with non Jews as well as become more secularized. This is part of how many Jews adapted to American life and American culture. The process of blending into American culture was spreading through just about every Jewish community. The events surrounding the Holocaust were quite devastating to American Jews as well as to Jews caught directly in the middle of the war itself. A time of fear and shock swept over the American Jewish community of the 1940’s. Like so many other immigrants before them, the Jewish people brought with them cultural aspects which have become part of the cultural melting pot of America. American life and culture also became a part of Jewish life. Certainly, Jews from all over Eastern Europe possessed a myriad of languages, but interestingly enough as pointed out one scholar, Jewish immigrants were able to not only pick up English quickly but were also able to master it as though it were a native language to them, “English Jews became indistinguishable from their Christian neighbors in mastering and appreciating sacred Scriptures through their reading of the official King James Version. Even when Jewish editions of the biblical text were published with learned footnotes indicating the proper Jewish interpretation of certain theologically-charged passages, Jewish readers were still reading Torah through the mediation of a standard Christian translation. Both the substantive and the aesthetic impact of this reading process was profound” (Ruderman, 2005). Today in America, we have and celebrate art and literature from Jewish Americans during the time of the second World War, which capably expresses the overall Jewish-American feeling of the time, “The patterns of migration and change in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are paralleled in the world of art” (Cohen-Grossman, ) In terms of Jewish literature in America, the beginning of the twentieth century is where we begin to see Jewish writings manifest. Prior to the twentieth century, most Jewish written g was in Yiddish. There are still some texts written after the beginning of the twentieth century which are written in Yiddish also but these texts were most likely written in Yiddish because the author was an immigrant and had not had the opportunity to learn English. One very well known and important Jewish writer of the early twentieth century was Abraham Cahan. He is most famous for his novel The Chosen People and the Rise of David Levinsky which details the life of an American Jew who essentially sells out his Jewish culture for Americanization and secularism. Though the Jewish migrations to America have served to add to the cultural diversity of the country, it is as though the immigrants felt more pressured to assimilate with American culture more than bringing their culture to America. As of 2001, there were roughly 5.5 million Jews in America. According to a survey, 1.4 million American Jews admitted to in fact, being of a non Jewish religion in practice. Many of the immigrants who fled the turmoil of both World Wars, witnessed such a rise in anti-Semitism, that they felt it was more wise to assimilate and secularize within American culture, as opposed to maintaining a lifestyle rich in their native culture only to face more persecution and hatred from non-Jews. In addition, there seems to be a dwindling number of Jewish Americans as there is a great deal of marrying outside the Jewish heritage taking place thus breeding out generations of more Jewish Americans. Jewish culture and history can still be viewed and enjoyed in University settings and museums, but the dwindling of an entire culture has taken place since the end of World War II. The desire to preserve the cultures and customs of the European Jewish has faded with time as an almost evolutionary process to maintain survival. Due to the horrors of the holocaust and the second World War, many Jewish immigrants abandoned the very principles and ways that they were so severely persecuted for in hopes of fitting in and avoiding anti-Semitism. Works Cited: Grubin, David., The Jewish Americans, David Grubens Productions Inc., aired on PBS, New York. Cohen-Grossman, Grace, Jewish Museums of the World, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates Inc., Arlington, Virginia, 2003. Ruderman, David B., Reflecting on American Jewish History, The American Jewish Historical Society, retrieved May 22, 2008 from website at: http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/american_jewish_history/v091/91.3ruderman.html, 2005 Sarna, Jonathan., Golden, Jonathan,. The National Humanities Center, The American Jewish Experience in the Twentieth Century: Anti-Semitism and Assimilation, retrieved May 21, 2008 from website at:http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/jewishexp.htm, 2000 Read More