Death of the Diaspora: The Withdrawal of Jewish Culture from Central EuropeDavid N. Simms, MAJ, USA (23-3059)

Central Europe is a diverse landscape of people and culture that has spanned centuries of

development and refinement. A critical component of the Central European landscape for two

millennia is the contribution and enlightenment provided by the Jewish Diaspora that was spread

onto the continent after the Roman sacking of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. Jewish culture

survived in Europe as both a distinct culture, but also an assimilated culture in the greater context

of Europe. Throughout the period of Diaspora, Jewish culture survived and prospered up until

the Second World War. The twin disasters of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union effectively

ended two-thousand years of Jewish contribution to society in span of a decade.

Jewish culture is a product of over four-thousand years of documented and oral history

and traditions which began with the patriarch Abraham. Jews survived and maintained an

identity distinct to the people through exile in Egypt, Babylon, occupation by Greeks and

Romans, through Diaspora into Europe and even the Americas. Into the 20th Century, Jewish

culture began to come under direct attack in Europe, heightened in the Nazi Final Solution

during World War II. Finally, Jewish culture in Central Europe, and specifically Poland, came

under the shroud of the Iron Curtain where Communism became the ultimate solution for

Judaism at the second millennium came to a close.

Jewish culture is defined in antiquity and codified in Jewish religious texts. Despite being codified in the Torah and other religious texts that are authoritative, Jewish culture and religion is malleable and conformed throughout history to the real conditions Jews experienced. In the earliest recorded Jewish history, Jewish religious doctrine and culture was focused on packaging Judaism for an exiled people. The earliest example of this packaging of Judaism evolved after the Egyptian exile and the return to Jerusalem led by Moses. Dwelling in the desert between the lands of Pharaoh and the Promised Land began the first codification of the Torah and of Mosaic Law.1

1

1 Dimont, 56. Ibid, 56. Ibid, 118. Ibid, 293. Ibid, 232. Ibid, 246. Ibid, 232. Ibid, 246. Steinlauf, 2. Rosenberg, xvi. Dimont, 247. Ibid, 241. Ibid, 249. Ibid, 258. Ibid, 258. Ibid, 346. Ibid, 327. Steinlauf, 3. Dimont, 327. Laqueur, 590. Dimont, 417. Ibid, 370. Ibid, 372. Rosenberg, xxiii. Steinlauf, 4. Ibid, 4. Ibid, 7. Ibid, 18. Ibid, 12. Ibid, 16. Hitler, 300. Ibid, 303. Ibid, 168. Dimont, 397. Ibid, 423. Ibid, 380. Frankenthal, 11. Wasserstein, 6. Frankenthal, 24. Steinlauf, 23. Ibid, 28. Ibid, 28. Dimont, 403. Steinlauf, 23. Dimont, 409. Ibid, 409. Ibid, 32. Gross, 4. Steinlauf, 31. Gross, 14. Frankenthal, 78. Gross, xi. Ibid, 45. Ibid, 46. Steinlauf, 46. Ibid, 43. Frankenthal, 86. Gross, xii. Wasserstein, 18.

Steinlauf, 35. Frankenthal, 82. Dimont, 410. Wasserstein, 3. Ibid, 89. Ibid, 61. Ibid, 13. Ibid, 29. Ibid, 33. Ibid, 85. Ibid, 102. Steinlauf, 93. Wasserstein, 27. Ibid, 233. Steinlauf, 82. Gross, 68. Ibid, 82. Wasserstein, 40. Ibid, 41. Gross, 50. Ibid, 45. Ibid, 53. Rosenberg, 153. Ibid, 155. Ibid, 274. Steinlauf, 73. Gross, 113. Ibid, 98. Ibid, 209. Ibid, 94. Ibid, 94. Rosenberg, xx. Gross, 256-266. Ibid, 253. Steinlauf, 68. Ibid, 127. Gross, 254. Porter, 91. Gross, 282. Ibid, 284. Ibid, 285-286.

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