From: Peter Erspamer Subject: German Civilization In the last session of my German Civilization course, we had an interesting discussion, details of which are worth sharing with interested members of the profession. Assigned texts were Theodor Herzl's "Der Judenstaat" (1896) and Martin Buber's "Ju"dische Renaissance." (1900) Our "Ausgangspunkt" was a quote from Jakob Wassermann: "Wer eine Geschichte des Antisemitismus schriebe, wu"rde ein wichtiges Stu"ck deutscher Kulturgeschichte geben." We briefly reviewed the history of the debate surrounding the so-called "Jewish Question" in the 18th and 19th century. We discussed the importance of Lessing's "Nathan der Weise" (1779) and Dohm's "Ueber die bu"rgerliche Verbesserung der Juden" (1782) and of the Enlightenment in general. We then discussed the Jewish counterpoint to the Enlightenment, the Haskalah and reviewed Elcan Isaac Wolf's text, "Von den Krankheiten der Juden" (1777). We discussed how Wolf, a Mannheim physician, expressed his gratitude for Enlightenment reforms improving the lot of the Jews. At the same time, he campaigned for an extension of these rights, because he believed the inhumane conditions under which Jews lived jeopardized their health as well as their happiness. We next reviewed the importance of Rahel Varnhagen's writings about her Jewishness and followed her transition from Jewish self-hatred toward a reclamation of her Jewish identity on her deathbed. In her youth, Rahel viewed her Judaism as a curse--conferred upon her not by a loving God but by an extraterrestrial lacking divine sanction. At the end of her life, however, Rahel felt that being Jewish was an experience she would not have missed. The persistence of anti-Semitism after her baptism led Rahel to reassess her Jewish identity. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, we have the Napoleonic incursions into Germany. One of Napoleon's reforms was the emancipation of the Jews. Anti-French Resentiment was accompanied by anti-Semitism. The idealistic philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte wrote that the Jews constituted a state within a state could not be accepted a citizens within a German nation. Fichte believed, the state was founded on the basis of a social contract between the state and its individual citizens and that adherence to the Christian religion was a part of this social contract. Similar ideas were expressed by Ernst Moritz Arndt in 1814. He wrote that when two peoples coexist in the same land, a race of "Mischlinge" develops and that is "ein treuloses Geschlecht." Arndt argued that a healthy state can only exist on the basis of religious and ethnic homogeneity. In 1815, we have the Congress of Vienna and the Napoleonic granting of Jewish emancipation was reversed in most German states. In the meantime, the thoughts of such racists as Fichte and Arndt did not go unrefuted. In 1831, Gabriel Riesser wrote his "Vertheidigung der bu"rgerlichen Gleichstellung der Juden." Riesser argued that the Jews are not a separate "Volk," but are Germans who differentiate themselves only through religion. But the racists remained unconvinced. In 1880, the Berlin historian Heinrich von Treitschke wrote a pamphlet called "Ein Wort u"ber unser Judenthum." Similarly to Fichte and Arndt, Treitschke argued that a healthy society can only be built on the basis of cultural unity and that the Jews jeopardize this cultural unity because they putatively constitute a separate nation. Zionism developed at the end of the 19th century as a reaction to anti-Semitism It is associated with such names as Moses Hess, Theodor Herzl, and Martin Buber. In "Der Judenstaat" (1896), Herzl stated "Der Judenstaat ist ein Weltbedu"rfnis." He viewed it as a solution to the problem of the oppression of the Jews in all countries. For him, the "Jewish Question" is neither a social question nor a religious question, but a national question. The Jews have attempted to adapt to living in different countries, but the host countries have not accepted them, merely because they want to practice their own religion. Since generations the Jews have lived in their countries of birth, but they are regarded as strangers. Most of them live among anti- Semites. The common people have no historical understanding and are incapable of subjecting their anti-Semitism to critical scrutiny. In all countries, Jews are oppressed. Herzl points out that anti-Semitism is the result of Jewish emancipation and is "grassierender" than the Jew-hatred of earlier generations. Jews are "eine historische Gruppe von erkennbarer Zusammengeho"rigkeit". Herzl argues, "Wir sind ein Volk. Der Feind macht uns dazu." Martin Buber, in his "Juedische Renaissance" (1900) argues that assimilation into the countries of Western Europe is not a viable solution for the "Jewish Question." It has not resolved the problem of oppression. The Jews need "Einwurzelung" (rootedness.) Peter Erspamer e-mail: flpe@fhsuvm.fhsu.edu Dept of Modern Languages - RH390 Phones: (913) 628-5382 Fort Hays State University (913) 625-9476 Hays, KS 67601