BERLIN (EJP)---A new Jewish group has been set up within Germany’s centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the first such organisation within a major German party since the Nazi takeover in 1933.

The “Caucus of Jewish Social Democrats” was founded by Peter Feldmann, a Frankfurt city councilor and by Berlin law professor Sergey Lagodinsky, and others, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily newspaper said.

The newspaper quoted Feldmann saying after a meeting in Berlin with Social Democratic leaders, "the SPD welcomed us with open arms."

He predicted several hundred Jews would join the group.

The caucus is expected to seek to influence party policy on issues involving Israel and the Middle East conflict as well as the policy on Jewish immigration into Germany.

The SPD is a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government coalition.

All the main German parties have Jewish members who have spoken out on those issues.

But in the other parties, Jews have not established formal groups similar to the existing business, Christian or women’s caucuses.

Around 120,000 Jews live in Germany, many of whom arrived from the former Soviet Union.