Plausibility Check: The Germanization of Eastern European Jews en masse after a Central Powers WWI victory?

[Futurist]

Would it have been plausible to Germanize Eastern European Jews (specifically the Jews in Germany's new Eastern European puppet states) en masse after a Central Powers World War I victory?

The idea came to me by reading about how the French were able to turn Algerian Jews into Frenchmen after they conquered Algeria (to the point that almost all Algerian Jews emigrated after Algeria acquired independence--probably mostly to France). Also, another inspiration for this idea is that Yiddish is essentially German with Hebrew letters--which in turn suggests that it would be easier to transform Eastern European Jews into Germans (even if they will still have a different religion than the overwhelming majority of Germans) than it would be to turn other Eastern Europeans (such as Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Balts, Finns, and Caucasians) into Germans.

Anyway, does this idea sound plausible? If so, how exactly should a victorious Germany have aimed to successfully accomplish the Germanization of Eastern European Jews en masse after a Central Powers victory in World War I?

 

[Rodger]

From my readings, I believe that most Germans in the Prussian sector of Poland tended to relate to the Germans more then the Polish. The majority of the Jews lived in the cities with the majority of the Germans. Yiddish is really influenced by German. So, given time, I believe the Jewish population in the rest of eastern Europe could have eventually become relatively Germanised, if the anti Semitism of Hitler had not given rise. And with a German victory in WW1, that was unlikely.

 

[Futurist]

From my readings, I believe that most Germans in the Prussian sector of Poland tended to relate to the Germans more then the Polish.

You mean "most Jews in the Prussian sector of Poland", no?

The majority of the Jews lived in the cities with the majority of the Germans. Yiddish is really influenced by German. So, given time, I believe the Jewish population in the rest of eastern Europe could have eventually become relatively Germanised, if the anti Semitism of Hitler had not given rise. And with a German victory in WW1, that was unlikely.

Yeah, that makes sense. IMHO, German anti-Semitism was really, really irrational considering that Ashkenazi Jews were arguably the most Germanized population in Eastern Europe other than the Germans themselves.

 

[Rodger]

You mean "most Jews in the Prussian sector of Poland", no?

Yes.Thank you.

 

[Futurist]

Yes.Thank you.

OK.

Also, was this true for Jews elsewhere in Eastern Europe as well? Did they also identify more with the Germans than with the Slavs or the Balts?

 

[Rodger]

OK.

Also, was this true for Jews elsewhere in Eastern Europe as well? Did they also identify more with the Germans than with the Slavs or the Balts?

I would imagine it is like any other enclave situation. Exposure to another culture, especially one that has something to add, leads o an acceptance or enculturation. In these other places, I would surmise there was more of a ghetto mentality. I would say that was the case in the area called beyond the Pale of Settlement. Remember, at a certain point, all Jews within the Russian Empire had to be beyond the Pale. The Jews there did not seem to adapt to the ways of their Polish, Belaurussian or Baltic neighbors.

 

[Futurist]

I would imagine it is like any other enclave situation. Exposure to another culture, especially one that has something to add, leads o an acceptance or enculturation. In these other places, I would surmise there was more of a ghetto mentality. I would say that was the case in the area called beyond the Pale of Settlement. Remember, at a certain point, all Jews within the Russian Empire had to be beyond the Pale. The Jews there did not seem to adapt to the ways of their Polish, Belaurussian or Baltic neighbors.

Did this change after the Bolshevik Revolution? I know that there was a lot of Jewish-Gentile intermarriage in the later years of the Soviet Union.

 

[Rodger]

Did this change after the Bolshevik Revolution? I know that there was a lot of Jewish-Gentile intermarriage in the later years of the Soviet Union.

That I don't know.

 

[Futurist]

That I don't know.

I know that a significant number of Jews moved out of the Pale of Settlement after 1917. That's why Moscow and St. Petersburg acquired large Jewish population after 1917.

 

[Rodger]

I know that a significant number of Jews moved out of the Pale of Settlement after 1917. That's why Moscow and St. Petersburg acquired large Jewish population after 1917.

That would make sense, once the Revolution took hold. The old guard had passed a new worldview was present.