Reich Deputation of German Jews: Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck

With this fascist support, the leaders of the Zionist Union for Germany were able  to obtain a  leading  position  amongst the German Jews  for the first time. ln the autumn of 1933, the “Reich Deputation of German Jews”  founded and all large Jewish organizations including the CV and  the ZVFD participated in it. The leader of the Reich Deputation was  Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck in whose person the divided attitude of the Reich Deputation towards Zionism was mirrored; Baeck was at one and the same time member of the main council of the CV as well as the president of the Zionist settlement fund “Keren Hayesod” in Germany. The newly-created Reich Deputation  offered the Zionist leaders broader  platform for their activity.

The Reich Deputation was not, as is sometimes claimed, founded at the  behest  of the  fascist  authorities.  Ball-Kaduri  writes:  “So  it  came about  that the establishment  of the  Reich  Union took place  without any interference from the State;  with the establishment process completed, this was simply reported to the Reich Ministry of the Interior—the Gestapo did not show any interest at all.”26 It was only on July 4. 1939 that the  ordinance regarding the compulsory  establishment of the Reich Union  of Jews in Germany was issued, changing  the  organization’s name from  Deputation to Union. This ordinance  made it obligatory for all Jews to become members of the Reich Union. Paragraph 2 of this ordinance also fulfilled the Zionist aims by saying: “The Reich Union has as its goal the promotion of the emigration of all Jew.” 27