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Bound Upon A Wheel Of Fire: Why So Many German Jews Made The Tragic Decision To Remain In Nazi Germany
When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, some 525,000 Jews were living within the borders of Germany. Over the next six years between 250,000 and 300,000 either chose or were forced to emigrate as a result of officially sanctioned anti-Semitism, yet as the pivotal year of 1939 dawned, nearly half remained.Why so many German Jews appeared reluctant to leave their homeland and escape the Nazi terror is one of the great unsolved questions of the Holocaust. Theories the vagaries of Hitler's Jewish policy during the 1930s did not clearly foreshadow the Final Solution; Jews expected to survive this period of German anti-Semitism as they had others throughout the centuries; those who tried to escape were denied immigration visas all over the world. While there is some truth in all these responses, according to John Dippel they are more ex post facto rationalizations than explanations. In this revelatory book he examines diaries, letters, and other documents written before 1939 in an attempt to discover an answer uncolored by hindsight. Bound Upon a Wheel of Fire is the story of six prominent figures in the German Jewish community who chose to stay on under the Nazis—the chief rabbi of Berlin, the editor of the leading Zionist newspaper, a renowned international financier, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist, a society columnist, and a conservative youth movement leader. Owing to their visibility, their decisions not to emigrate changed irreversibly not only their own lives but also the lives of thousands of others.In spite of their disparate lives, Dippel argues that these six shared a single a deep and abiding love for their country. Able to trace their German heritage back hundreds of years, they were proud of their ability to assimilate successfully—to become ”more German than the Germans.” Their ties to their homeland in fact were so deep that most probably would have described their primary identification as German rather than Jewish. Ultimately, their sense of loyalty and nostalgia—their patriotism—blinded them to the hatred that swirled around them until it was too late. Bound Upon a Wheel of Fire explores the emotional and psychological conflicts as well as the patriotic, cultural, and economic ties that kept these six leaders, along with countless others, from fleeing. In addition, it provides a fascinating look at the dynamics of late nineteenth and early twentieth century German Jewish life, including the rise of the Zionist movement and the tensions between established Jews and their eastern European immigrant cousins.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published April 16, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 28, 2017
I have read a great many books as research for my recently published novel A Flood of Evil, and now for the sequel in progress. In this work, Jon Dippel offers a magnificent blending of a collective overview of the factors which influenced German Jews from the 19th century Emancipation until Kristallknacht, amplified with details from the lives of 6 of the most prominent of these Jews. The book's stated question is why did German Jews stay when many could have left, but Dippel addresses far more. Outstanding work.
UPDATE 4/28/17 ...
This book was, for me, a synthesis of much that I already knew, although it was presented in a way that suggested new insights and interpretations. There was a focus on 6 prominent German Jews, of whom four may well become characters in the sequel to A FLOOD OF EVIL: Bella Fromm, Max Warburg, Rabbi Leo Baeck, and Robert Weltsch. Each of them experienced what Dippel called the tightening noose of Nazi persecution. Their public pronouncements and private thoughts (in diaries and letters) are an exquisite testimony to the pressures Jews were under.
I was often pushed to consider how I might have reacted in their circumstances. These reflections will no doubt show up in the conversations and interior monologues of my main characters Berthold Becker and Anna Gorska.
SELECTED NOTES ...
... The Nazi movement lead many Jews to become more conscious of what made them different from other Germans … and what bound them together … more mindful of their traditions and great past
... Many more Jews now accepted the truth of the Zionist argument that emancipation was a sham, that non-Jews would never except Jews as equals
... Well-assimilated Jews thought the Nazis would eventually become more reasonable and accept a legal solution to the Jewish problem which would place only minor restrictions when the rights of German Jews
... German Jews were afraid that complaining about their plight would fan the flames of hatred and make things worse
... the realization that they were all Jews together was (for some) an intoxicating elixir … once again they resolved to prevail through solidarity … once again, they would be provn wrong
... Baeck that those German Jews who had once shamefully hidden their spiritual roots would now find a fountain of regenerating strength in those roots
... Baeck altered his message … he no longer smoke as a liberal Jew proud of the long process of acculturation in German ... Now he described his people as a race, always seen as a different people living among suspicious neighbors
UPDATE 4/28/17 ...
This book was, for me, a synthesis of much that I already knew, although it was presented in a way that suggested new insights and interpretations. There was a focus on 6 prominent German Jews, of whom four may well become characters in the sequel to A FLOOD OF EVIL: Bella Fromm, Max Warburg, Rabbi Leo Baeck, and Robert Weltsch. Each of them experienced what Dippel called the tightening noose of Nazi persecution. Their public pronouncements and private thoughts (in diaries and letters) are an exquisite testimony to the pressures Jews were under.
I was often pushed to consider how I might have reacted in their circumstances. These reflections will no doubt show up in the conversations and interior monologues of my main characters Berthold Becker and Anna Gorska.
SELECTED NOTES ...
... The Nazi movement lead many Jews to become more conscious of what made them different from other Germans … and what bound them together … more mindful of their traditions and great past
... Many more Jews now accepted the truth of the Zionist argument that emancipation was a sham, that non-Jews would never except Jews as equals
... Well-assimilated Jews thought the Nazis would eventually become more reasonable and accept a legal solution to the Jewish problem which would place only minor restrictions when the rights of German Jews
... German Jews were afraid that complaining about their plight would fan the flames of hatred and make things worse
... the realization that they were all Jews together was (for some) an intoxicating elixir … once again they resolved to prevail through solidarity … once again, they would be provn wrong
... Baeck that those German Jews who had once shamefully hidden their spiritual roots would now find a fountain of regenerating strength in those roots
... Baeck altered his message … he no longer smoke as a liberal Jew proud of the long process of acculturation in German ... Now he described his people as a race, always seen as a different people living among suspicious neighbors
maybe-read-sometime
August 16, 2013Kinda dry, and definitely depressing, but an interesting look at the interwar and World War II period as experienced by German Jewry. (There's also some earlier history as going back to the Bismarck era.) Based on the papers of six individual German Jews.
June 28, 2023
Why would any sane, sensible, intelligent Jew stay in Germany after Hitler started showing who and what he was? True, many left or tried to leave, but so many didn't. How could anyone have thought this was a good idea?
I still don't totally get it on a visceral level, but this book helped a lot. Focusing on six specific Jews who stayed too long but ultimately got out (not before one was send to a camp), the stories are as confusing and fascinating and different as they could be.
I first read this book years ago and it was well worth the second go-round. Even if you only read the introduction, you'll learn something.
I still don't totally get it on a visceral level, but this book helped a lot. Focusing on six specific Jews who stayed too long but ultimately got out (not before one was send to a camp), the stories are as confusing and fascinating and different as they could be.
I first read this book years ago and it was well worth the second go-round. Even if you only read the introduction, you'll learn something.
June 12, 2020
As you might think, this is a hard book to read.
I got this book for cheap at a local WWII museum because I was interested in the central question. The book follows six people through the choices they make, and don't make, which result in their getting out of Germany. But they were all in Germany during Kristallnacht, so I suppose the title isn't technically misleading. It's a good book that does answer the central question, which can basically be boiled down to "not all Jews are the same." Since that seems self-evident, I'm not going to mark it as a spoiler.
I'm not sure how many Gentiles, like me, will be interested in this book, and it's very frustrating, with the hindsight of history, which of course these people didn't have, to go back and read this. And the connotations during the age of Donald Trump are more than a little disturbing.
A very good read.
I got this book for cheap at a local WWII museum because I was interested in the central question. The book follows six people through the choices they make, and don't make, which result in their getting out of Germany. But they were all in Germany during Kristallnacht, so I suppose the title isn't technically misleading. It's a good book that does answer the central question, which can basically be boiled down to "not all Jews are the same." Since that seems self-evident, I'm not going to mark it as a spoiler.
I'm not sure how many Gentiles, like me, will be interested in this book, and it's very frustrating, with the hindsight of history, which of course these people didn't have, to go back and read this. And the connotations during the age of Donald Trump are more than a little disturbing.
A very good read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews