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A Jewish Students’ Association (c. 1900)

The political anti-Semitism that was so widespread at the end of the nineteenth century did not stop at the gates of German universities. According to new regulations, Jews were barred from membership in established associations. Jewish students were thereby denied access to vital cultural and community activities that were a central part of academic life. As a result, they founded their own organizations at a number of universities. Jewish associations saw themselves as being connected to the German Fatherland, but they were also concerned with reinforcing a Jewish self-consciousness.

Shown here is the first Jewish students’ club in Breslau, founded in 1886. The Breslau club joined with other clubs in a ‘Cartel’ of Associations of German Students of the Jewish Faith [Kartell-Convent der Verbindungen deutscher Studenten jüdischen Glaubens, or KC ] in 1896. In 1892, the first national Jewish student association was formed in Berlin. Along with other associations, it established the Federation of Jewish Fraternities [Bund Jüdischer Corporationen, or BJC].

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A Jewish Students’ Association (c. 1900)

© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz