Amanda Aussems

Blog Questions

For November 6, 2013 (Wednesday)

1. German Jews began to come to the US in large numbers from the 1830s onwards, resulting in an immigration of about 200,000. Why did they leave Germany and how did they make a living once they arrived in America?

During the 1800s, many German Jews began to come to the United States. These German Jewish immigrants were mostly single men. These men were young and impoverished from rural Germany and they migrated from Europe due to many anti-Semitic restrictions mostly regarding marriages, laws to open businesses, what professions they could engage in. They settled in Midwestern cities, such as St. Louis and Chicago, while some even went as far west as San Francisco. Most started out in America performing jobs in which they did in Europe, like itinerant peddling. This occupation earned these men about the same living that it did while in Europe. Soon, many German immigrants grew tiresome and broke out of the peddling scene and started to own their own small businesses. Some who were very fortunate turned little shops into major department stores. Many of these businesses became the backbone of American Jewish Establishment…

• Marcus Goldman created Goldman Sachs
• Henry Lehman and Siblings created Lehman Brothers
• Joseph, William, and James Seligman created J. W. Seligman & Co.
• And the Guggenheims, Schiff’s, J.S. Bache (Prudential Bache) all contributed to an affluent Jewish presence in America

Once Jews began to establish themselves in America, there was a major movement of Jews to the middle class. This improvement to higher class also provoked renewed interest in religious life.

4. What happened at the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire on March 25, 1911? What was the political impact of this fire?

I remember learning about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire when I was in high school and in middle school, and every time I learn about it I am just as, if not more, horrified by this event. In the early 1900s, working Jews faced unbelievably atrocious working conditions. There was often no separation from work and home, they worked long grueling hours, and the conditions were dirty and unsafe. At this point, Jews were working about 59-hour workweeks only getting paid $3.81 a week for men and $1.04 a week for women. It is mind-boggling to think that in today’s society, minimum wage PER HOUR is not even that rate. During the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire on March 25, 1911, a massive fire erupted in a building in which many women worked in a clothing factory. The door to the women’s work area was illegally locked- inhibiting the women from escaping the fire. As the fire department came the women watched as the saw that the ladders to receive them from the windows were just shy of reaching them. In a desperate leap to escape burning alive, many women plunged from the ninth floor windows.