Russian-Speaking Jews in Germany's Jewish Communities, 1990–2005 by Joseph Cronin (review)

Joseph Cronin's study explores the ways in which post-Soviet migration has transformed Germany's Jewish communities. Large-scale immigration of Jews from the Soviet Union to Germany began in the summer of 1990, when the East German government, concerned about rising antisemitism in the Soviet Union, allowed Soviet Jews entry. After the reunification of Germany, the Federal Republic allowed its quota refugee legislation to continue the program. From 1990 to 2005, when the quota refugee program ended, over 210,000 ex-Soviet Jews settled in Germany. Membership in Jewish communities grew from 30,000 in 1990 to over 100,000 by 2003, and ex-Soviet Jews now constitute the majority of Germany's Jews.

Cronin's book begins with an introduction and a background chapter on the postwar Jewish community and the emergence of a policy for Jewish immigration. Four thematic chapters trace different challenges that Soviet Jews posed to the established Jewish communities: the presence of nonhalakhic Jews; the media attention given to immigrants with forged documents; differences in Holocaust commemoration; and tensions concerning community governance. A conclusion speaks to debates about the future of Jewish life in Germany.

In chapter 3, Cronin shows how the arrival of Jews who were not halakhically Jewish posed challenges to established Jewish communities. Germany's Jewish communities follow the Einheitsgemeinde (unified community) model in which all local congregations are represented in one unified organization that is in turn represented nationally by the Central Council of Jews in Germany. To join a community, one needs to have a Jewish mother or have undergone an Orthodox conversion. (The latter was not possible in Germany at the time.) In the Soviet Union, by contrast, Jewishness was considered a nationality and was passed down patrilineally. German authorities, relying on Soviet personal documentation, allowed entry to those whose documents showed that they were Jewish or had a Jewish parent (regardless of gender). The expectation was that Jewish communities would provide social welfare and facilitate the integration of quota refugees as "Jews." But only half of the newcomers were able to or wanted to join Jewish communities. For Cronin, these issues help explain Jewish leaders' support for changes made in the German immigration legislation that replaced the quota refugee program in 2005. Under the new regulations, ex-Soviet Jews needed to demonstrate that they could join a Jewish community, in effect limiting immigration to halakhic Jews.

Chapter 4 explores the impact of reports in the German media that non-Jews were using forged documents to enter Germany as Jews. Cronin sees these stories, which emerged in the mid-1990s and continued until the early 2000s, as evidence of the waning of "taboos" about criticizing Jews in the German media. For Cronin, the "fake Jew" was the "perfect target," since it allowed journalists to criticize the quota refugee policy without appearing to be antisemitic. Chapter 5, on Holocaust memory, points to the different ways in which established Jews and newcomers commemorated the Holocaust. Ex-Soviet Jews followed Soviet commemorative patterns that emphasized the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. Jews as victors (evident in elderly Red Army veterans proudly wearing their medals) contrasted with the established commemoration rituals that framed Jews as victims (such as the anniversary of the November 1938 pogrom). While the Holocaust informed Soviet Jews' family histories and some migrants were survivors, Cronin argues that Soviet Jews were "unaware of the Holocaust's significance compared to Jews living in Germany" (57). In his view, the newcomers' interactions with established Jews helped them gain a deeper understanding of the Holocaust.

Scholars will find chapter 6, on community voting rights, of most interest. Already in the 1990s, ex-Soviet Jews had begun to outnumber the established Jews in some communities. Some established Jews responded by trying to prevent ex-Soviet Jews from voting in community elections. Others took the more drastic step of seceding...