Gemeinschaft and gemeinde: the ideological and institutional transformation of the Jewish community

The trauma of World War I dashed the hopes German Jews had to be finally included in a German 'Volksgemeinschaft' They shared with their non-Jewish neighbours the need to establish a new form of community. Some satisfied this need by emphasising their Germanness; others became socialists or communists, and many found refuge in the rediscovery of a Jewish Gemeinschaft. German Jews adopted many of liberalism's principles - such as rationalisation of religion and the belief in progress. They welcomed their transformation from the ethnically distinct German Jewish society of the ghetto into the denomination of German citizens of Mosaic faith