Consolidation of the National Representation (Reichsvertretung)
Consolidation of the National Representation (Reichsvertretung)
Source: The Frankfurt Jewish Community Paper. 14 (1935/1936), 12 (September 1936), p. 457.
As is well known in the Jewish public, preliminary efforts have been made for a long period of time to continuously expand the work of the National Representation (Reichsvertretung) in the interest of all of Germany's Jews. In a conference of the Organisation Committee, which took place on 12 August under the auspices of the managing chairman of the National Representation, the former ministerial councillor, Dr. Otto Hirsch, these efforts have come to a successful conclusion. The decisions made at the conference, are based on the following reasoning: By bestowing greater responsibility for the work of the National Representation (Reichsvertretung) on new people, especially people from the Zionist Movement, all of the forces of the Jewish community in Germany must unite under equal rights and duties toward the common cause. In the interest of an organic co-operation, this joining together of the National Representation with the Jewish communities and national unions should be more close-knit.
In order to carry out this line of thought in an organisational form, it has been decided: 1. The Presidential Committee of the National Representation (Reichsvertretung) will be expanded to incorporate four Zionists and one person representing Orthodoxy. 2. The present managing chairman of the Zionist Associations for Germany, Dr. Franz Meyer, will work in the administration of the National Representation, where he will take charge of a series of important subjects, in part independently and in part through regular collaboration with the chairman of the Presidential Committee, Dr. Otto Hirsch . 3. A 'council for the National Representation' will be formed, with twenty-three members. These will include 15 representatives of the local unions and communities, one representative of the Jewish Central Association, one of the Union of Jewish Front Veterans, one of the Zionist Federation of Germany, and five people who are to be appointed directly. All fundamental issues are to come before the council. Its consent must be given on issues concerning self-government of the local unions and communities [...]