New immigration laws may end Jewish growth in Germany

berlin | Igor Chalmiev had hoped that his daughter might come to join him in Berlin in a few years.

But under Germany's new proposed Jewish immigration law, she might not be able to immigrate from St. Petersburg, Russia, where the 15-year-old currently lives with her mother.

Chalmiev, 49, who handles integration issues for the Jewish Cultural Association in Berlin, said he's not alone. He said he has received many calls in recent days from concerned members of the Jewish community.

"They are upset. People tell us, 'We have aunts and cousins who wanted to come,'" he said.

The details of Germany's new law on Jewish immigrants are not expected to be released until the end of the month, but early reaction from the country's Jewish community isn't too positive.

Expected to take effect Jan. 1, the new law will make it much more difficult to immigrate to Germany. It also will mean that 27,000 Jewish applicants who have been waiting for permission to immigrate — some for more than six years — would have to start the process again under the new rules.

That's unfair, say leading representatives of Germany's Jewish population. Writing earlier this month to Germany's Ministry of the Interior, Stephan Kramer, the general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, called the situation "completely unacceptable" and urged the ministry to "design an appropriate temporary arrangement" for those caught in the middle.

"There is no question that Germany will go on letting Jews from the former Soviet Union emigrate," Kramer said. "This is not going to be taken back."

He added, "But we made it clear that we could not accept the way they treated this issue."

The Jewish Cultural Association of Berlin, a private organization with roots in the former East Germany, also expressed dismay.

The lack of a loophole for applicants who have been waiting "sheds a fatal light on the plan," the group said in a statement.

However, the Union for Progressive Jews in Germany, as the Reform movement is known here, offered a more mixed response.

The union is waiting for details of the law to become public, but the group is pleased that it was consulted beforehand: In an unusual twist, the federal government apparently met separately with representatives of the Progressive Union and the Central Council to discuss the impending law — even though the Central Council is the official representative of the country's Jewish community.

Germany signed a historic contract with the Central Council in 2003, giving it the same legal status as the Catholic and Protestant churches. The progressive group has been angling for similar recognition.

Officials with the progressive group said they also are happy that under the proposed law applicants can approach progressive congregations to get immigration certificates and that immigrants would continue to be accepted on the basis of Jewish nationality rather than solely on the basis of halachah, or Jewish law, which recognizes only matrilineal descent.

Though the European Reform movement does not accept members of patrilineal descent, German Progressive congregations generally welcome attendance by non-Jewish family members in hopes that one day they will choose liberal conversions to Judaism.

Still, one insider said that this aspect of the law is hardly likely to result in ballooning progressive congregations. Rather, the source said, the new rules likely will bring to a close the historic, 15-year boom in Germany's Jewish community.