Book contents
- Germany through Jewish Eyes
- Germany through Jewish Eyes
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: A Jewish Gaze – Plural and Unique
- Part I Learning to Know Germany: 1780–1840
- Part II Liberty, Unity, Equality: 1840–1870
- Part III Living in Germany: 1870–1930
- 7 Achievements and Unacknowledged Dangers
- 8 Joined and Disjoint in War
- 9 Hopes Shattered
- Part IV A Lost Homeland: 1930–2000
- Epilogue: Berlin is not Weimar
- Index
7 - Achievements and Unacknowledged Dangers
from Part III - Living in Germany: 1870–1930
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 November 2024
- Germany through Jewish Eyes
- Germany through Jewish Eyes
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: A Jewish Gaze – Plural and Unique
- Part I Learning to Know Germany: 1780–1840
- Part II Liberty, Unity, Equality: 1840–1870
- Part III Living in Germany: 1870–1930
- 7 Achievements and Unacknowledged Dangers
- 8 Joined and Disjoint in War
- 9 Hopes Shattered
- Part IV A Lost Homeland: 1930–2000
- Epilogue: Berlin is not Weimar
- Index
Summary
This chapter describes the many-sided aspects of Jewish life in Imperial Germany, in parallel to its general history up to 1914. Following an economic crisis 1873 and a decline of liberal faith, a wave of anti-Jewish sentiments spread – seemingly from Berlin – across the entire country. It brought about the establishment of new political parties with antisemitic programs, just when legal emancipation had been completed. This tension would become characteristic of Jewish life in the following era. It brought about extreme achievements in all spheres of life, but also daily confrontation with antisemitism. The latter deeply disappointed many Jews, but on the whole did not stop their integration and acculturation. Their fight against discrimination, moreover, strengthened their Jewish identity, despite further acculturation. The chapter describes Jewish cultural achievements as part of the period’s academic and artistic blooming, and the life of the Jewish bourgeoisie leading some of its members to disregard the dangers inherent in their situation.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Germany through Jewish EyesA History from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, pp. 111 - 130Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024