A Jewish Story. Sheldon Cohen
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were injured. One hundred thousand Jews served in the German military, and twelve thousand died in battle. After years of battlefield stalemate, very little territory had changed hands. Hunger had become rampant on the home front. The German people had been reduced to eating dogs and cats, or as they called them—roof rabbits. The country was war weary and clamored for peace. Revolutionary movements developed on the right and left of the political spectrum, and general strikes paralyzed the country. The troops began to mutiny deserting in droves. Soldiers under their command attacked and killed officers that attempted to maintain discipline. The situation for Germany had become desperate and the country went down in defeat.
It was Hitler’s view that the German army did not lose the World War, but rather the civilian leaders who signed the armistice on November 11, 1918 and formed the new Weimar Democracy betrayed the military. Never mind that the German army was out of reserves and armaments to continue the battle, Hitler labeled the Weimar Democrats the “November Criminals” who stabbed Germany in the back. His view was that the world was in danger from Jews and Marxists who wanted to control the world. It was his mission to prevent that threat. With this in mind, he joined a fledgling party the Nationale Socialistica Deutcher Arbeiter Partei (National Socialist German Worker’s Party) Nazis for short. By a combination of stirring oratory and ruthless, uncompromising leadership, Hitler and his party would strive to overthrow gain control of the country.
After the armistice of 1918 ending the war, Dr. Ben was mustered out of the army and built up a busy practice as an internist in Berlin in spite of the raging street battles fought by the right and left of the political spectrum. In the attempt by these factions to wrest control of the new German Weimar Democracy established after World War I, many innocent civilians died. Through this all, Ben and Leah still managed to start their family: David, their first-born and Emily, their second and last child.
Germany, devastated by the war, had to endure the harshness of the Versailles treaty. Four hundred and fourteen clauses of the treaty dealt with German punishment:
Germany had to accept blame for the war.
Germany had to pay damages caused by the war.
German military reduced to 100,000 men, no tanks, no submarines, six naval vessels, no airforce.
The Rhineland was demilitarized.
The treaty prevented German union with Austria, returned Alsace Lorraine to France, Eupen and Malmedy became Belgian property, Denmark received North Schleswig, Poland and Czechoslovakia received some German territory and the League of Nations controlled Germany’s colonies.
These harsh clauses were in sharp contrast to the more generous peace treaty proposed by the United States president Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points turned down by the other allied powers.
By 1919, multiple problems beset the Weimar Republic including the crippling reparations of the Versailles Treaty, the violent opposition of radical parties (Communists and Nazis) and ten years later a world-wide depression and crippling inflation, which paved the way for Adolph Hitler.
The Frohmans could only stand by as post World War I political intrigues and world-wide economic conditions resulted in Hitler assuming power in Germany by 1933. Life for them and all the Jews of Germany would never be the same.
CHAPTER 2
REALIZATION
1936
BERLIN, GERMANY
Dr. Ben Frohman and his wife had been discussing their plight for several years, but now their decision was irrevocable; they had no choice. Since 1933, when Hitler took over in Germany, anti-Semitic legislation was singling out Jews for ‘special treatment’ making it difficult for Jewish physicians to practice medicine. From the standpoint of medical ethics alone, it was becoming impossible to tend to patients, not to mention the financial inability to survive. Hitler’s slow and deliberate attempt to eliminate Jews from German culture created hardships for the entire Jewish community. Ben, whose past allowed him to understand through personal experience the evils of anti-Semitism, was frustrated and saddened that his children would have to experience what he went through in Russia as a youngster. Growing up in the anti-Semitic environment of the new Germany birthed by German Chancellor, Adolph Hitler, was an emotional and mental harm he did not want his children to experience.
Ben was in excellent physical condition, obvious even through his clothing by well delineated muscles, broad shoulders, flat abdomen and an athletic gait all honed by recreational gymnastics. Although it was a young man’s sport, he continued to pursue it on a tamed back basis even though he had little time to keep up. As good as it was for his body, it was also a welcome release from the pervasive and fearful thoughts that his mind had difficulty controlling. He knew that exercise was the perfect prescription and the words of Maimonides occupied a prominent place on his office examining room wall.
"As long as a person exercises and exerts himself…sickness does not befall him and his strength increases…But one who is idle and does not exercise…even if he eats healthy foods and maintains healthy habits, all his days will be of ailment and his strength will diminish."
He was fifty-one years old now in 1936, five feet and eight inches tall with brown eyes and pitch-black, wavy hair with a touch of gray on the sides.
Now would be a good time for discussion with his son, he thought. Dinner was over and he and David were in the kitchen alone.
“David, what are you doing for the next hour or so?”
“Not a thing. Why?”
“Good. Your mother and I made an important decision and you’re old enough to understand what it’s all about. Sit down. There are lots of things I want to go over with you.”
Fifteen-year-old, five-feet-six inch David, like his father, was also slim and muscular with the same brown eyes and black hair as his father and significant shoulders and upper body strength honed by ten years of gymnastic competition until the German sports club, directed by a Hitler edict, expelled him for being Jewish. David, bitter at the expulsion, found a Jewish gymnastic organization with a small gym where he could work out. The facility was not long enough for the vault, but adequate for a short tumbling matt, still rings, parallel bars, high bars and pommel horse.
His father was proud of David’s gymnastic prowess—far in excess of his own—and proud of his prompt action in finding the club where he could continue with the sport that he loved. Although he would not admit it, he glowed with pride when his son scowled and said, “They’re not going to shut me out.” For Ben it was one of his son’s first personal direct effects of Hitler’s restrictions on Germany’s Jewish citizens. David would be ready and receptive for what he was about to hear as he too was being influenced by Hitler’s anti-Semitic legislation not only for present actions, but also restrictions that would affect his future.
If it was Hitler’s plan to get Jews to leave the country, he was succeeding. As soon as he gained power in 1933, he did what he could to get Jews out of German government service:
In April of 1933, he started with the “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, which stated that all Jews and others who were “politically unreliable” were henceforth excluded from any type of government post. There were random attacks on Jewish property as well as Jews themselves. Nazis publicly burned books written by Jews and anti-Nazis. They forbid Kosher-ritual slaughter of animals. They established a Department of Racial Hygiene.
In 1934, Universities could only have one and one-half percent of Jewish students and Jewish activity in the medical and legal professions suffered to a significant degree. Jewish students, excluded from taking exams in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and law would slowly eliminate them from these professions. If you were a Jewish physician, you were restricted from treating non-Jewish patients. Jewish student’s prospects for medical school dropped, Jewish employees of the military lost their jobs, and Jewish actors found parts hard to come by.
By 1935 and 1936, the Nuremburg Laws were in place that restricted Jewish personal life