Germans and Jews

Although in the twentieth century, the hyphenated word “German-Jewish' conjures up images of Hitler and concentration camps, the history of Jewish-Germans began over 1500 years ago. Today in fact, more Jews immigrate to Germany today than to Israel, in large part due to the rich cultural linkages between Germans and Jews. This course will examine the German-Jewish relationship by looking at a wide range of literary, historical, artistic, political, philosophical, and cinematic works. We will examine Jewish-Germans' strategies for dealing with German anti-Semitism (assimilation, Zionism, conversion, etc.) and how the problems of Jewish-German identity relate to our understanding of “dual identities” (African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, Jewish-American, Arab-American, etc.) in the United States and to our understanding of contemporary ethnic, religious, and national conflicts. All readings and lectures in English.

J. Zipes and S. Gilman (eds.), The Yale Companion to Jewish Writing and Thought in

German Culture (YC)
R. Robertson (ed.) The German-Jewish Dialogue (GJD)

P. Mendes-Flohr German Jews
S. Freud Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality

(and many selected articles, websites, and images)

Course Reader (CR)

Week 1- Introduction - A German Jewish Dialogue?
- P. Mendes-Flohr, German Jews

- G. Scholem, “Against the Myth of the German-Jewish Dialogue” (CR)

Week 2- Introduction - What is German, What is Jewish?

Arminius, Zollverein, “der Sonderweg”, Bismarck, Goethe, Hebrew Testament, Mosaic Covenant, Diaspora, the Pale of Settlement

- Biblical texts from Exodus (CR)

- Fichte, Addresses to the German Nation (CR)

- Images: http://www.usm.maine.edu/maps/exhibit10/10-04.html (Ashkenazi settlements)

Week 3 - Middle Ages
Glikl von Hameln, Court Jews, Ghettos and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, “The Jewish Sow” Jewish Names, blood libel

- YC, 1-60

- Images of Cathedrals, manuscripts (CR)

Week 4 - Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment
”What is Enlightenment?”, “Haskahlah”, Moses Mendelsohn, G.E. Lessing

- I. Kant, “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?” (CR)

- I. Kant, “On the Question: What is Enlightenment?” (CR)

- YC, 61-116

Week 5- Jewish Women and Salon Culture
Rahel Varnhagen, Henriette Herz, Pauline Wiesel, Baptism

- YC, 116-128, 136-152

- GJD, 54-62

Week 6 - Wissenschaft des Judentums
Eduard Gans, J.G. Fichte, the University of Berlin, nationalism, Heinrich Heine

- Eduard Gans, Letter to Hardenberg

- H. Heine, “Jehuda ben Halevy” GJD

Week 7 - Judaism and Marxism
Karl Marx, Bruno Bauer, Rosa Luxemburg, “Jewish Self-Hatred”

- Karl Marx, “On the Jewish Question”

- YC, 368-376

Week 8 - Zionism and The Rise of modern anti-Semitism
Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Heinrich von Treitschke, Thedor Herzl

- GJD, 63-67, 147-152

- Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Introduction, Preface, Protocols 1-10

- Binjamin W. Segel, A Lie and a Libel: The History of the Protocols of the Elders of

Zion (CR).

Week 9 - Jews and the New Science
Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis, Kraft-Ebbing, “Sexualwissenschaft”

Readings: YC, 273-279

- S. Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality

- YC, 591-598

- O. Weininger, Sex and Character (CR)

Week 10 - World War I and the Aftermath
Arnold Zweig/Hermann Struck, “Stabbed in the Back Legend”, Walther Rathenau, “The German-Jewish Parnassus”

- YC, 336-367, GJC 195-200, 224-232

- Film: The Golem

Week 11 - The Weimar Renaissance

Bar Kochba, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig

- Selections by Buber, Frisch, Zweig, Steinberg, Rosenzweig, et al from The Weimar Republic Sourcebook, 248-280 (CR)

Week 12 - National Socialism and the Holocaust
Mein Kampf, Nuremburg Laws, Kristallnacht, Juedischer Kulturbund, Viktor Klemperer

- A. Hitler, Letter to Gemlich

- R. Weltsch, “Wear the Yellow Mark wit Pride” (CR)

- Film: The Eternal Jew

Week 13 - German-Jewish Exiles

Lion Feuchtwanger, Aufbau (newspaper), the Frankfurt School

- YC, 434-447, 544-577

- T. Adorno and M. Horkheimer, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception” (CR)

Week 14 -After the War

Displaced Persons camps, Eichmann in Jerusalem, The Inability to Mourn

- YC, 736-741

- A. and M. Mitschlerisch, The Inability to Mourn (CR)

- GJD, 294-318

- Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem (CR)

- Films: The Murderers are Among Us, The Specialist

Week 15 - Postscript - Germans and Jews Today
”Holocaust” (television series), Historikerstreit, “Poetry after Auschwitz”

- D. Libeskind, “Between the Lines” (CR)

- K. Berghahn, The German Jewish Dialogue Reconsidered (CR)

- GJD, 319-364

- Film: Holocaust (first episode)

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/jewishsbook.html - Internet Jewish History Sourcebook

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/przion1.htm - Protocols of the Elders of Zion