Czechs, Germans, Jews by Čapková Kateřina

Author:Čapková, Kateřina.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: 2012-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Attempt to Revise the Czech-Jewish National Programme

For the subsequent political and ideological orientation of the Association of Czech-Jews the year 1937 was decisive. In the Czech-Jewish movement a debate was underway about the extent to which its policy should henceforth be nationalistic and anti-German, and also about the extent to which work with the Zionists was admissible. The young Czech-Jewish students at the time managed to publish several articles in Rozvoj, in which they tried to revise the narrowly nationalist programme of the Association. A good example is the contribution by Arnošt Gerad (1916–1942), a student of philosophy. In his article ‘O syntetické asimilaci’ (Concerning Synthetic Assimilation), he clearly distinguishes between two kinds of assimilation – negative and positive (also called synthetic). Negative assimilation means denying one’s original identity either voluntarily or under pressure. Synthetic assimilation, by contrast, means an ‘endeavour to achieve the harmonization and meshing of two cultural strata, a synthesis of two views of life, two perspectives, two ethics’. Since Gerad (following the example of Kohn) did not see assimilation as the Jews’ only way out of their situation in modern society, he considered work with the Zionists to be acceptable.232

The fight between the members of the nationalistically minded older generation and young students came to a head at the congress of the Association of Czech-Jews in late January 1937. The opening address at the congress was given by the chairman of the association, Viktor Lederer, who assumed the role of defender of the nationalist programme. In his speech he emphasized that 1936 clearly demonstrated the strength of Czechoslovak democracy. Even the right-wing parties ‘flirting with Fascism were unable to do away with democracy in their own ranks’. Lederer spoke out in favour of working with these parties. It was, according to him, necessary even with right-wing parties ‘to reach agreement by conciliation’ on the Jewish Question, so that the Czech public did not think that the whole right-wing camp was antisemitic.233 Nor did he avoid the problems of Zionism. For the Jews in the Diaspora, Palestine could not be a solution, he argued, because it was ‘threatened with force and barbarity that was often more primitive than what was in Europe in 1933’. The Zionists in Czechoslovakia could not, he continued, be partners for the Czech-Jews, because ‘they did not cease to claim that assimilation was failing’. From the many reactions of the Zionists, according to Lederer, it follows that they were not responsible democrats, and it was necessary to deal with them accordingly.234 He also spoke out directly against the oppositionist point of view of the young generation, claiming that Czech nationalism, unlike the nationalisms of other nations, was not so destructive that it was essentially synthetic. ‘We are convinced that much of the recent human suffering was caused by nationalism, but Czech nationalism was always synthetic and gravitated to universalism. Czech history provides the best evidence of that,’ he said.235 Lederer told the young people criticizing the nationalist programme of the association that

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