This book is the definitive demographic study of German Jewry from the age of Napoleon to the tie of Hitler. With exquisite details and vast range, Steven Lowenstein details the impact of industrialization and urbanization, medical care and birth control, immigration and emigration, social and sexual norms, on German Jews and on Germany itself.

AJL 2024 Judaica Reference & Bibliography Awards Honorable Mention

The late Steven Lowenstein was a brilliant social historian who, after retiring from his academic position at the University of Judaism, toiled for years—and up to his final days—to complete this monumental book, which is the definitive demographic history of German Jewry. Lowenstein took the research of Hebrew University demographer Professor Osiel Oscar Schmelz and brought it to life in the daily lived experiences of German Jews. 

The book is organized chronologically from Napoleon to German Unification (1815-1871), Imperial Germany and then the post- World War I era through the Nazi period. Later chapters are regional and topical studies.  

Lowenstein’s calling as a social historian required him to examines “every leaf on every tree in the forest;” but he never lost sight of the trees and the forest – larger context. 

We know the ending of the story of German Jewry. Lowenstein’s great achievement is to document the extraordinary demographic resources that bespoke a vibrant German Jewish culture—and made that ending especially tragic. 

Foreword (Prof. Sergio DellaPergola, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Preface 1. The Life and Work of Steven M. Lowenstein z”l (1945–2020): “From Washington Heights to Skid Row—a Life of Learning and Doing”  (David N. Myers, UCLA)

Preface 2. Steven Lowenstein’s Demographic History (Michael Berenbaum, American Jewish University)

Acknowledgments

Editors’ Note

Introduction

CHRONOLOGICAL SECTION

1. From the Fall of Napoleon to the Unification of Germany (1815–1871)

2. German Jewish Population Changes in Imperial Germany (1871–1918)

3. From the “Demographic Crisis” of the 1920s to the Flight to Escape after 1933

TOPICAL SECTION

4. Natural Growth and Changes in the German Jewish Family

5. Changing Age Structure

6. Conversion and Intermarriage

7. Migration—Overall Trends and Internal Migration

8. Immigration and Emigration

9. From Countryside to City: Urbanization and the Survival of Small-Town Jewish Communities

10. Jewish Residential Concentration in German Cities

REGIONAL SECTION

11. The Eastern Provinces

12. Central and Northwestern Germany—from Sparse Jewish Density to an Urban and Immigrant Center

13. Western Germany

14. Southern Germany

Conclusions

Bibliography

Geographic names in German and English (Alphabetized in German)

A Note on Discrepancies