Judenzählung

Designed to confirm accusations of the lack of patriotism among German Jews, the census disproved the charges, but its results were not made public.

[6] The episode marked a shocking moment for the Jewish community, which had passionately backed the war effort and displayed great patriotism;[4] many Jews saw it as an opportunity to prove their commitment to the German homeland.

[6][7][8] That their fellow countrymen could turn on them was a source of major dismay for most German Jews, and the moment marked a point of rapid decline in what some historians[9] called "Jewish-German symbiosis."

[11] German Jewish writer Arnold Zweig, who had volunteered for the army and seen action in the rank of private in France, Hungary and Serbia, was stationed at the Western Front when the Judenzählung census was undertaken.

Zweig wrote in a letter to Martin Buber, dated February 15: "The Judenzählung was a reflection of unheard sadness for Germany's sin and our agony...