KARTELL JUEDISCHER VERBINDUNGEN (KJV)

KARTELL JUEDISCHER VERBINDUNGEN (KJV ), an umbrella organization of Jewish university student fraternities in Germany. It was a fusion of two groups. One of them, the Bund juedischer Corporationen (bjc), was formed in 1901 and was composed of the Jewish student fraternity, Verein Juedischer Studenten (vjst), founded in Berlin in 1895, and similar groups in Leipzig, Breslau and Munich. In the following years the bjc established new groups in Strasbourg, Freiburg, Koenigsberg. Marburg, Bonn, Heidelberg, and Frankfurt. The bjc formulated its aims as follows: "… to function as the meeting center of all Jewish students who consciously feel themselves Jews and are willing to collaborate in the development of living Judaism." The second group, Kartell Zionistischer Verbindungen (kzv), was formed in 1906 by Hasmonaea, the first explicitly Zionist students' fraternity (founded in Berlin in 1902), and Jordania (Munich, 1905). A year later the Ivria (Freiburg i. Br.) joined the association. Gradually the bjc ad-opted an increasingly Zionist program. Thus in July 1914 both groups united in the kjv, which was dedicated to educate its members to strive for "national unity of the Jewish community" and for a "renewal in Ereẓ-Israel."

After World War i the Zionist orientation dominated the organization: the German students' habits such as fencing and beer drinking were no longer compulsory but only optional, differing from university to university. Instead more emphasis was put on ḥaluẓiyyut – whose aims were settling in Palestine and studying Hebrew. One group within the kjv was dissatisfied with this development and after a central convention (Kartelltag) of the kjv in 1919 established the Bund Zionistischer Korporationen (bzk), consisting primarily of the AlteHerren ("Old Boys") and university students in Berlin, Breslau, and Frankfurt, insisting on purely Zionist work. The bzk rejoined the kjv in 1929, however, when the latter officially adopted the *Basle Program as the basis of its activities. In the 1920s the kjv had a short period of cooperation with the *Blau-Weiss; fusion between the two groups was only temporary. Already in 1924 the kjv established a branch in Palestine. The kjv was active until 1933, when Hitler assumed power. By that time the organization had some 2,000 members, of whom over 1,200 so-called Alte Herren had entered professional life after their university studies. The Alte Herren were organized into 14 district associations and conducted local Zionist activities. By 1933 the kjv had branches at 20 German universities. Its organs were Der juedische Student (Berlin, 1902–33), and Der juedische Wille (1918–20, revived in 1933, and existed till 1937 as continuation of Der juedische Student). The kjv groups in Palestine, operating in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, continued to meet for the next few decades. But the kjv itself was not reactivated after World War ii.

bibliography:

S. Kanowitz, Zionistische Jugendbewegung (1927). add. bibliography: W. Gross, "The Zionist Students' Movement," in: lbi-yb, 4 (1959), 143–164; Z. Rosenkranz, "'Der Zionismus des Dreinschlagens.' Die Rituale der nationaljuedischen und zionistischen Studenten im ausgehenden Kaiserreich," in: Me-nora. Jahrbuch fuer deutsch-juedische Geschichte (1992), 63–84; M. Ruerup, "Gefundene Heimat? Palaestinafahrten national-juedischer deutscher Studentenverbindungen 1913/1914," in: Leipziger Beitraege zur juedischen Geschichte und Kultur, 2 (2004), 167–189; M. Zimmer-mann, "Jewish Nationalism and Zionism in German-Jewish Students' Organisations," in: lbi-yb, 27 (1982), 129–153.

[Oskar K. Rabinowicz /

Miriam Ruerup (2^nd ed.)]