(not OC)

  • Maeve
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    511 months ago

    Afaict, it’s because Herzl was an antisemetic Jew. He considered himself one of the good ones and Balfour made relocation more expedient. This isn’t blaming the Jews suffering under the Reich for flight rather than flight. They found themselves in an impossible situation, otherwise, afaict.

    • @DMCMNFIBFFF@lemmy.world
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      111 months ago

      Apparently Herzl died 10 years before WWI.

      FWIW:

      wp:History of the Jews in Germany#World War I

      A higher percentage of German Jews fought in World War I than of any other ethnic, religious or political minority in Germany; around 12,000 died in the fighting.[41][42]

      Many German Jews supported the war out of patriotism; like many Germans, they viewed Germany’s actions as defensive in nature and even left-liberal Jews believed Germany was responding to the actions of other countries, particularly Russia. For many Jews it was never a question as to whether or not they would stand behind Germany, it was simply a given that they would. The fact that the enemy was Russia also gave an additional reason for German Jews to support the war; Tsarist Russia was regarded as the oppressor in the eyes of German Jews for its pogroms and for many German Jews, the war against Russia would become a sort of holy war. While there was partially a desire for vengeance, for many Jews ensuring Russia’s Jewish population was saved from a life of servitude was equally important – one German-Jewish publication stated “We are fighting to protect our holy fatherland, to rescue European culture and to liberate our brothers in the east.”[43][44] War fervour was as common amongst Jewish communities as it was amongst ethnic Germans ones. The main Jewish organisation in Germany, the Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith, declared unconditional support for the war and when 5 August was declared by the Kaiser to be a day of patriotic prayer, synagogues across Germany surged with visitors and filled with patriotic prayers and nationalistic speeches.[45]