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World War I takes center stage this year as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of this war
Celebrations will include the opening of a memorial to the First World War in Washington DC. the war exists in a museum in Kansas City, Mo.
Until November 11, date of the end of the war, a special exhibition, Liberty: American Jewish Experience in WWI, will be presented at the Wylie Gallery at National Museum of the First World War. Memorial in Kansas City. We recently visited this special exhibition consisting of a collection of artifacts: letters, statements, official documents, posters and awards, such as the medals won by Jews in the army.
Between 1880 and the beginning of the First World War, more than two million Jews came from East America to America, mainly from Poland and Russia. Their move here was largely the result of persecution and economic hardship in parts of Eastern Europe. This resulted in the largest concentration of Jewish population in the world, mainly in New York and New Jersey.
When the war began in 1918, the Jewish community appreciated the opportunities here in America, and committed it wholeheartedly. . The Jewish League of American Patriots supported the war and 250,000 Jews joined the US armed forces. A soldier reports that in a barracks of 270 people, he found only six soldiers who do not speak English with a foreign accent.
Anti-Semitism exists in many countries and Jews are prohibited from owning land and working in certain professions. As a result, a movement of Zionism has arisen across nations to create a country for Jews with an eye on Palestine. At that time, the area was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, which had no interest in allowing such creation, discouraging Jews from moving in and forbidding them to buy land.
The First World War disrupted Jewish history. Anti-Semitism motivated a British alliance with the Zionist movement that led to the creation of Israel. In November 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour wrote a letter to Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild expressing Britain's support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The current letter is exposed.
Debates began during the war about finding a place where Jews could establish a separate nation. In preparation, Great Britain obtained permission from the League of Nations to take control of Israel and Jordan. The creation of the homeland, however, did not occur until after the Second World War.
Emma Goldman, an American of Jewish origin, was highlighted in several places of the exhibition. She was against the enlistment of young men in the army, and her critics led to a two-year prison sentence and her deportation in 1919. Goldman felt that the only outcome of the war was the Russian Revolution which leads to communism. Goldman was an advocate for freedom of expression, birth control, unions and women's rights, including voting.
The Jews influenced the Russian revolution of 1917. Things were not good for them in Russia. could not do. Despite this, the Jews succeeded individually.
In 1920, the Kiev pogrom killed many Jews, but the exposure was not clear as to the number, giving a range of 50,000 to 200,000. A handwritten note from 1923 asks for food for hungry people
The war worked for both and for American Jews. A large number of Jews fought in the war alongside people of other religions. Jewish organizations have worked in peace negotiations with a focus on minority rights. The war accelerated a shift in financial and cultural direction of Jewish life from Europe to America.
An example of the kind of harm we had: At the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge James McReynolds refused to speak in the Supreme Court. Brandeis, who was Jewish, or even photographed next to him for three years.
A famous American Jew at the time was the number one American singer-songwriter, Irvin Berlin. His rough map and several song sheets are on display. The government wanted him in the service so that he could write music to improve morale. During his service, he wrote a successful musical review that ended on Broadway, "Yip Yip Yaphank."
After the war there was still a lot of anti-Semitism here in America, and we started adopting immigration laws that prevented Jews and others from coming here when they were in. danger in many countries. Especially in Germany, where anti-Jewish sentiment was turning into the Holocaust.
Even in America, we limit the number of Jews who can enter certain colleges, their membership in organizations and even their stay in some hotels. the prejudice shown against them, Jewish immigration has benefited both the Jewish people and the United States. They represent about 2% of the population, but 37% of the US Nobel laureates were Jewish, to name just one example.
Join Wayne Anderson at [email protected].
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