The Jews Who Voted for Hitler
This historical analysis examines the League of Nationalist German Jews and their attempt to align with right-wing German nationalism in the early 1930s. It highlights the tragic irony of a minority group supporting a political movement that ultimately sought their destruction.
Why it matters
It serves as a historical cautionary tale about the dangers of political assimilation and the miscalculation of extremist ideologies.
What happened when members of a minority community cast its lot with a political leader who despised them
Illustration by Colin Hunter. Sources: Courtesy of Leo Baeck Institute; Print Collector / Getty. August 25, 2026, 7 AM ET Share Save On the evening of February 5, 1930, the art and theater critic Paul Fechter took the podium before the League of Nationalist German Jews, in Berlin, to discuss purported Jewish control of the press and the arts in the country. “When Dr. Max Naumann invited me to give a lecture in your circle, I rather impulsively said yes,” Fechter began. “When he then told me the topic he wanted me to address, my immediate reaction was: Good grief ! One could not have found a better topic for making oneself thoroughly unpopular and for antagonizing everyone in the room.”
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