We know today as a result of world events that Germany and the Jewish people are inextricably bound together. The horrors that the Jewish people suffered at the hands of Hitler have been well documented with the Holocaust taking up more literature than most events, and rightly so. The way in which those people were treated beggars belief but this has undoubtedly highlighted just how intertwined German/Jewish genealogy really is in terms of the culture and the history of a nation. Millions of Jewish people around the world today had a relative that lived through the Second World War and Adolf Hitler but how much do they really know about their own German/Jewish genealogy and where they came from?
The likelihood is that you will already know if you have German/Jewish genealogy from the faith you practice and the surname you carry. There are so many surnames that are rightly associated with German/Jewish genealogy today that it is difficult to escape from it! For example, Mandelbaum, Rosenbusch, Rosenbaum, Rosenstock, Rosenberg, Weinstock, Schneider, Goldschmidt and Krämer are all considered to be German but also Jewish surnames. Furthermore, all of them can be found in numerous countries around the world. This has as much to with emigration patterns as anything else but the history of persecution for Jews started in Germany way before Hitler came to power.
A key to understanding German/Jewish genealogy and just why so many German Jews are proud of where they come from can be found in the historical persecution they had to face. It continued for hundreds of years, although there is no exact date as to when it started. Although the Jewish people had made a major contribution to building the country, they were persecuted and discriminated against until a law was passed to make that illegal in 1782.
Although the 1782 Edict of Tolerance, which was passed in Austria, came into force in Germany too, they somehow got it wrong. They abolished any Jewish languages that were spoken and written and many Jews that had received citizenship rights were forced to change their names to more accepted monikers, such as Beck, Braun, Graf and Keller. As such, you may have German/Jewish genealogy and not know it. It is worth looking into carefully. Unfortunately, the German/Jewish genealogy is one of the hardest to trace if relatives lived in Germany at around this time and then around the time of World War II as a result of the persecution they received and changes they made to blend in. bear that in mind to make sure that as much of your German/Jewish genealogy is traced as possible!