Jung-Juedischer Club Collection

The Jung-Juedische Club was a social club for young men between 18 and 24. It was founded on May 23rd, 1928, in Leipzig, and its bylaws were passed by the members on June 30th, 1928. While the bylaws stated that no more than 40 young men could be full members, the club never even reached that number. According to a survey from 1929, the club then had 24 members. The attendance lists in this collection indicate that the club had about 20 members on average. The club resided in rooms rented from the Zionistische Vereinigung (the Zionist Association), Leipzig.

The club's purpose was to further intellectual education of its members through exchanges of ideas and lectures with a particular focus on Jewish interests. Contrary to the contemporary mens sana in corpore sano paradigm of the German Youth Movement in the first third of the 20th century, the club put emphasis solely on intellectual – not physical – education.

Its programmatic tendency rested mainly on three pillars: literature, debating-culture and politics. The club organized its programs in workshops and the participation in at least one workshop per semester was obligatory. In the club's reader circle, interested persons discussed the works of Heinrich Heine, Erich Maria Remarque and others. The debating club was organized in the manner of English Public Schools and Oxbridge Universities and the young men discussed issues such as female empowerment, Jewish assimilation or the death penalty. In its political workshops, the club's members informed each other about the current developments in different countries, e.g. the U.S.A., Great Britain or Russia.

The Jung-Juedische Club was affiliated to the Zionistische Vereinigung Leipzig (the Zionist Association Leipzig). It was generally well connected within the Jewish community of Leipzig and held close contact to organizations such as the Kadimah and the Zionistische Studentengruppe (the Zionist Student Organization). In 1929, the club joined the Juedische Jugendring Leipzig. This organization was founded in 1928 as a subsection of the Reichsausschuss der juedischen Jugendverbaende (Association of Jewish Youth Organizations), founded in Berlin in 1924. Within the Juedische Jugendring, whose goal was balancing the various directions Jewish juveniles were headed, the Jung-Juedische Club was in charge of organizing the Jugendring's public lectures. Fritz Gruebel (Fred Grubel), one of the founding members of the club became its representative in the Jugendring. As a member of the Jugendring, Gruebel focused strongly on creating a Haus der juedischen Jugend (House of Jewish Youth). The Jung-Juedische Club thus became one of the founding organizations of a club called Das Haus der juedischen Jugend, whose purpose was the funding of the house.

Although it was affiliated to the Zionistische Vereinigung, the Jung-Juedische Club stressed its political and ideological heterogeneity and autonomy up until the 1930s. In summer 1930, the club decided to accept Zionism as its main orientation, probably to win new members. One member, i.e. Fritz Gruebel, left the club due to this change. Although it is certain that the club still existed in 1932, since it is mentioned in the Juedisches Jahrbuch fuer Sachsen 1931-1932, its further development up until the prohibition of Jewish youth organizations in 1939 is uncertain.