The Federal Republic of Germany will soon decide, in the
wake of pressure from the leaders of Germany's Jews, who is
not a Jew and therefore ineligible for the status of
permanent resident.
According to special regulations, no entry restrictions --
in terms of numbers or of time -- apply to those who wish to
immigrate to Germany from the former Soviet Union if they
have Jewish relatives in Germany. Furthermore, immigrants in
this category are eligible for permanent resident status in
the Federal Republic.
In the context of these regulations, some 130,000 immigrants
from the former Soviet Union have taken up residence in
Germany.
Some of them have moved on to other countries, and some have
not registered with any of Germany's Jewish communities.
Nonetheless, since the collapse of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics, the total membership in those
communities has increased from 30,000 to 90,000.
In addition to the material burden involved in the
absorption of these immigrants -- most of which is
shouldered by the federal government -- this immigration
from the former USSR has generated many social, cultural and
internal-political problems.
At a recent convention of the Conference of European Rabbis,
which was held last March in Munich (the first time since
the Holocaust that such a convention has taken place on
German soil), Mr. Abba Dunner, the conference's secretary-
general, said, referring to Jewish immigrants from the
former Soviet Union, "Purely in terms of number, in a very
short space of time they could be taking over the community,
and it is therefore vital that we give them leadership
training and knowledge of their Jewish heritage."
Before the rise of the Nazis, German Jews regarded with
scorn the "Eastern Jews" who arrived from Poland and Russia
and who brought with them traditional Jewish values, but not
"Western" (that is, German) values.
Now German Jewry's leaders are demanding that the new
"Eastern Jews" from the former Soviet Union must be
"authentic Jews," -- in other words, that they have a
knowledge of (even if they do not observe) Jewish
traditions.
Two weeks ago, Paul Spiegel, president of the Central
Council of Jews in Germany (CCJG), warned that many non-
Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe were exploiting the
special regulations on Jewish immigration from the former
Soviet Union in order to obtain permanent resident status in
the Federal Republic.
The Bundestag's multi-party commission on immigration has
adopted this approach. While refusing to abandon the
principle that every Jew from the former USSR is entitled to
immigrate to Germany, the commission is proposing that
potential immigrants be defined as Jews only if their mother
was Jewish or if they have converted to Judaism in
accordance with the regulations of a rabbinical court.
Furthermore, the commission proposes that Germany's
immigration regulations stipulate that the Jewish identity
of potential immigrants be verified -- before they are
allowed to arrive -- by German consulates in their
respective countries of origin.
In the process of verifying the Jewish identity of potential
immigrants, the consuls will be assisted by local "advisers"
who will be appointed in coordination with the CCJG.
The proposed amendment to the special immigration
regulations would also specify that the immigrants, who in
the past were dispersed throughout the Federal Republic,
would instead be sent on to places where there is a Jewish
community that can assist in their religious and social
integration.
The political clout of Jewish immigrants from the former
Soviet Union was dramatically demonstrated in the recent
leadership elections of the Jewish community of Berlin,
which today numbers 12,000 and is Germany's largest Jewish
community.
The new president of the Berlin Jewish community is Dr.
Alexander Brenner, 57, a retired German diplomat who speaks
a fluent Russian.
Brenner, who was born in a small Polish town on the
Ukrainian border, was supported in his leadership bid by
Jewish immigrants from the former USSR who today constitute
more than half of the membership of the Berlin Jewish
community.
He defeated the incumbent president, Andreas Nechama, who
has done much to promote the status and clout of the Jewish
community within contemporary German society.
Nechama also played a prominent role in the fight against
antisemitism and neo-Nazism. However, according to many
observers, he did not devote sufficient attention to the
needs of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, and
that failure was apparently the primary reason for his
defeat at the polls.
Brenner has also pledged to continue the fight against
antisemitism but has publicly declared that, in his opinion,
"the Jews can stand on their heads for all the good it will
do them as far as putting an end to antisemitism is
concerned." He has placed particular emphasis on the need
for Jewish education for the immigrants and their
children.
In an interview with the Berliner Zeitung, Brenner
noted that the current debate in Germany about what is
happening in Israel is "serving as an outlet for the
antisemitism that is latent in this country."
Brenner, whose parents and sister moved to Israel, defines
himself as an Orthodox Jew but has promised to play an
active role in the activities of all the various religious
movements within Berlin's Jewish community
The organizational leaders of German Jewry are unanimous in
their view that the ignorance of the immigrants in Jewish
matters requires special efforts aimed at introducing them
to Jewish tradition.
