Work

Nation, Religion, Gender: The Triple Challenge of Middle-Class German-Jewish Women in World War I

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: German-Jewish women are elusive figures in the current literature on World War I. Looking at the complexity of their wartime experience and its consequences for the Weimar years, this article deals with Jewish middle-class women's tripartite motivation as Germans, Jews, and females to make sacrifices for the war. To that end, it traces their efforts to help Germany to victory, to gain suffrage, and to become integrated into German society. At the same time, the article shows how these women not only transformed the war into an opportunity for greater female self-determination but also responded to wartime and postwar antisemitism. The experience of the war and the need for reorientation after 1918 motivated them to become more involved in the affairs of the German-Jewish community itself and to contribute significantly to shaping public Jewish life in Weimar Germany—but without giving up their German identity.

Source: Central European History

DOI: 10.1017/s0008938915000333

Author: Martina Steer

Institution: University of Vienna

Language: English

Topic: World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Gender equality

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550