Free Jewish Life in Nazi Germany: Dilemmas and Responses by Francis R. Nicosia, David Scrase

others emigrated alone in order to establish themselves and then send for their families. Also, families believed that sons needed to establish economic futures, whereas daughters would, presumably, marry. Despite trepidations, parents sent sons into the unknown more readily than daughters. 110
Another reason why more women remained behind was the fact that before the war, men faced more immediate physical danger than women and were forced to flee promptly. 111 After the November Pogrom, in a strange twist of fortune, the men interned in concentration camps were released only upon showing proof of their ability to leave Germany immediately. Families—mostly wives and mothers—strained every resource to provide the documentation to free these men and send them on their way while some of the women remained behind. Alice Nauen recalled how difficult these emigration decisions were for all Jews:
Should we send the men out first? This had been the dilemma all along in my father’s work . . . If you have two tickets, do you take one man out of the concentration camp and his wife who is at this moment safe? or do you take your two men out of the concentration camp? They took two men out . . . because they said we cannot play God, but these are in immediate danger. Those had to come out. 112
even as women feared for their men, they believed that they would not be subjected to serious harm. The regime had, in fact, beaten, tortured, imprisoned, and shot Jewish men, but had spared women as a group 113 from the worst brutality even during the November Pogrom. 114
Further, as more and more sons left, daughters remained as the sole caretakers for elderly parents. one female commentator noted the presence of many women “who can’t think of emigration because they don’t know who might care for their elderly mothers in the interim, before they could start sending them money. In the same families, the
sons went their way.” 115 In fact, leaving one’s aging parent—as statistics indicate, usually the mother—was the most painful act imaginable. Ruth Glaser described her mother’s agony as her mother realized that she had to join Ruth’s father, who had been forbidden re-entry into Germany. Ruth’s mother “could not sleep at night thinking of leaving her [mother] behind.” 116
As early as 1936, the League of Jewish women saw cause for serious concern regarding the general “problem of the emigration of women which is often partly overlooked and not correctly understood.” 117 Not only did the League realize that far fewer women than men were leaving, but it turned toward parents, reminding them of their “responsibility to free their daughters too.” 118 As late as January 1938, the Hilfsverein, one of the main emigration organizations, announced that “up to now, Jewish emigration . . . indicates a severe surplus of men.” Blam-ing this on the “nature” of women to feel closer to family and home and on that of men toward greater adventurousness, the Hilfsverein suggested that couples marry before emigrating, encouraged women to prepare themselves as household helpers, and promised that women’s emigration would become a priority. 119 Yet, only two months later, the Hilfsverein announced it would expedite the emigration of only those young women who could prove a minimum competence in household skills and were willing to work as domestics abroad. 120 In general, fewer women than men received support from Jewish organizations in order to emigrate. 121
Young women and their families were often reluctant to consider Palestine, and the kibbutz , as an alternative for daughters. Statistics for the first half of 1937 indicate, for example, that of those taking advantage of Zionist retraining programs, only 32 percent were female. 122 There was also a gender imbalance among children who went to Palestine with Youth Aliyah, 123 which required 60 percent boys and 40 percent girls because of what it considered the division of