The nation-state’s protection and Jewish self-preservation interests coincided to prevent assimilation.

Evidence

There is no doubt that the nation-state’s interest in preserving the Jews as a special group and preventing their assimilation into class society coincided with the Jewish interest in self-preservation and group survival. It is also more than probable that without this coincidence the governments’ attempts would have been in vain; the powerful trends toward equalization of all citizens from the side ot the state and incorporation of each individual into a class from the side of society, both clearly implying complete Jewish assimilation, could be frustrated only through a combination of government intervention and voluntary co-operation. Official policies for the Jews were, after all, not always so consistent and unwavering as we may believe if we consider only the final results. It is indeed surprising to see how consistently Jews neglected their chances for normal capitalist enterprise and business. But without the interests and practices of the governments, the Jews could hardly have preserved their group identity. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 91

Categorization

• XREF: The mechanism of two parties’ coinciding interests preserving group identity previews later Islamophobia readings on how state categorization and minority self-priming jointly reproduce exclusion.
• QUESTION: Claims Jews neglected capitalist enterprise — worth checking the historical evidence and what ‘neglected’ means (restricted credit, legal limits, or choice).