In Germany, the assimilation began around 1800, so it was perhaps six generations (remember also that non-frum Jews tend to delay marriage and have fewer children, so their generations take long). In any event, most German Jews left in time. In Eastern Europe, where most of the deaths were, the movement towards assimilation was perhaps only three generations old, at most. Also remember that the person an “off the derekh” Jew has most in common with is another “off the derekh” Jew, which affects the rate at which such communities become safek non-Jews. It also should be noted that assimilated Jews were more likely to survive since in some cases the Germans wouldn’t know they were Jewish (especially outside of Germany), or they might have had less than the required amount of Jewish ancestry to be targetted – and of course assimilated Jews had a much easier time pretending to be goyim.
Menu