The History and Culture of Jewish Chicago

with Andrew Sola, Tobias Brinkmann, and Joe Kraus

This episode is part of the Amerikazentrum's ChicagoHamburg30 series, celebrating the 30-year anniversary of the Chicago-Hamburg Sister-City partnership.

Happy Jewish American Heritage Month! In this episode, we explore the rich and complex history of Jewish Chicago, from the 1850s to the present.

Topics include the following:

-the first Jewish settlers and politicians in Chicago -the influence of German high-culture and Enlightenment philosophy on German Jews in Chicago -the formation of Jewish regimental companies in the Civil War -the second wave of Jewish immigrants and the tensions between establishment Jews and the new arrivals -World War I and the Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924 -Prohibition and the rise of the Jewish gangster -the role of Word War II and the Holocaust in unifying the disparate Jewish communities -protests against the German American Bund -the transformation of the suburb of Lawndale into German Jewish "Deutschland" -further immigration trends from the post-Soviet nations as well as Israel

Throughout, you will learn about famous Jewish Chicagoans, such as Henry Greenebaum, Dankmar Adler, Edward Solomon, Hannah Shapiro, Joseph Schaffner, and Julius Rosenwald.

Our expert guests are Dr. Tobias Brinkmann (Penn State University) and Dr. Joe Kraus (University of Scranton).