Max Naumann

Max Naumann (12 January 1875 – 18 May 1939) was the founder of the League of National German Jews, which called for the elimination of Jewish ethnic identity through Jewish assimilation. The league was outlawed by the Nazi government on 18 November 1935.

Naumann was a captain in the Bavarian Army during World War I and a Berlin lawyer.

Early life Naumann was born to an assimilated Eastern European Jewish family. He attended the Friedrichs-Werdersches Gymnasium in Berlin, and received a law degree from the University of Berlin. He served as an infantry commander during World War I and was awarded the Iron Cross (First and Second Class).

Political action Standing in opposition to Jewish organizations, such as the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith), and Zionist groups, Naumann advocated total assimilation as an answer to antisemitism. During the Weimar Republic Naumann was active with the German People's Party. In 1931, Naumann advocated that patriotic German Jews should support the Nazi party even if it is anti-Semitic. He was quoted in Michael Brenner's book The Renaissance of Jewish Culture in Weimar Germany as saying "The election campaign must not be a struggle of religious conceptions, it must be a decisive struggle about our Germanness!" in reference to the 1933 election that followed Hitler's rise to power.

Along with , , Kurt Blumenfeld and , Naumann was one of the Jewish activists who were summoned to a meeting with Hermann Göring on 25 March 1933. Göring tried to enlist their help in preventing a rally against Nazi antisemitism which was planned in New York City for 27 March (see Mass meetings of the Anti-Nazi boycott of 1933). Göring claimed that Jews in Germany were spreading lies about Jews being attacked by Nazi forces. Naumann responded to Göring by producing a list of abuses, even producing a newspaper clipping showing Nazis forcing Jews to scrub streets with brushes. Naumann was among the Jewish leaders who said there was nothing that they could do to stop the protest in foreign countries.

Naumann individually or on behalf of the League accused Eastern European Jews of being war profiteers in Germany after World War I, and advocated confiscating their assets. In 1934, Naumann telegraphed Hitler his condemnation of statements made by the World Jewish Congress that were both critical of the Nazi government and called for a stronger boycott against Germany, calling them "outrooted Zionists".

As late as 1935, Naumann sent a congratulatory birthday greeting to Hitler, which was denounced by most German Jews. He dismissed his critics as Zionists. Naumann publicly sought the right to fly the Nazi flag, which Jews were not allowed to do.

Naumann's group was dissolved by the Gestapo in 1935. Naumann was incarcerated at Columbia Haus and released after a few weeks. He died of cancer on 18 May 1939.