Migration To The Us From Germany

Migration from Easter Europe, 1881-1924

A shift was occurring in 1880 where a mass migration of Jews was leaving Europe for America.   High birthrates and restrictive living in Russia contributed to this exodus.   Similar hard conditions prompted Jews in Hungary and Romania to leave their lands in equal proportions.   Industrialization made it difficult for Jews with simple professions in labor to keep their jobs.   It was at this time that legal violence became incorporated into law, like the May Laws and pogroms.   Pogroms were forcing Jews to leave Europe in large numbers, with a height of 152,000 in 1906 which made up 14% of the immigrants for that year.  
Data shows that the majority of these immigrants were young; typically a skilled male worker would pave the way for his family to follow.   Only 5% of Jews returned to their land of emigration compared to 33% overall.   Most were skilled workers, besides Russians who were mostly in clothing.   Russians would sometimes go through Europe to ports for America like Amsterdam.   America had organizations set up to help new immigrants, like the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in New York.   German Jews established residence in San Francisco and Cincinnati, while Russians flocked to New York.   New York would grow to become the largest city of Jews, with 45% of Jews in America living there by 1920.   Jews were making up a growing percentage of their new cities’ populations, about 10% on average.   Jews lived in ethnic enclaves, the most famous being the Lower East Side of New York.   540,000 Jews would live in dense conditions, usually with four people sharing a room.   Blocks held the workshops of its various tenements such as basement synagogues, garment traders, and cafes.
Crime was a concern.   Different Jewish personalities extracted money from shop keepers in exchange for their “protection”.   Organizations were started to curb crime among its people.   These criminals would branch out from among their Jewish peers to the...