NationStates Jolt Archive


Ethnic Strife In Ashkenazia Already?

Nordrreich
12-12-2004, 03:02
OOC> To a Nordrreicher, an Ashkenazic Jew refers to a specific cultural and ethnic group of Jews living in the northeastern territories of Nordrreich or to the east of the country. The majority of Jews in Nordrreich are considered simply to be Germans with a different religion. About 2% of Nordrreich's population is German-Jewish (or about 7.8 million people). Only about two-thirds of Ashkenazics live in the new state of Ashkenazia.

New Zion- Mere hours over independence, ethnic Ashkenazic militias have taken the opportunity to harass German-Jewish businesses. Already, many of the ethnic German Jews of the small nation of Ashkenazia are planning to move back to Nordrreich. Ashkenazic militias claim that the German Jews have been collaborating with the Nordrreich government to oppress them, although the charges of human rights abuses have yielded relatively little influence.

The deeper issue is said to be religiously based. Most German Jews belong to moderate or liberal religious sects and almost half are secularized. Many Nordrreich Ashkenazics belong to ultra-Orthodox sects who have increasingly embraced violence in the movement to seperate Ashkenazia from Nordrreich. About eleven percent of Ashkenazia's inhabitants are German-Jewish, or about 600,000 individuals. The average income of the German Jews is thought to be up to fifty percent higher than that of Ashkenazics.

Nordrreich authorities have not commented on this development, although many senior leaders advised them that it was a huge mistake to assume that their common religion would be sufficient to promote peace and harmony between Ashkenazics and German Jews. It is virtually certain that Nordrreich will accept any German-Jewish refugees from Ashkenazia.
Ashkenazia
12-12-2004, 03:20
OOC> To Jewish people themselves, it's a matter of self-identification mostly, although there is an ethnic difference. If you choose to live in mainstream society, speak German (at least in public) and treat Judaism mostly as a religion, you'll be considered a 'German', or 'German-Jewish'. Ashkenazics, at least in this RP, consider the requirements of the Torah to remain seperate from Gentiles quite seriously and are much stricter. Their lingua franca is Yiddish and they tend to try and stay as seperate from the general population as possible.

The Government of Ashkenazia denies any unreasonable social tensions within its borders. It is committed only to the protection of the unique Ashkenazic culture and bears no ill will towards members of the Chosen People who have chosen to live with the Gentiles.

President Sternowitz