The Enlightenment
and Emancipation
1656-1858
31. William Prynne. A Short Demurrer to the Jewes Long
Discontinued Remitter into England.... London: Edward Thomas, 1656.
Subscribing to an ancient tradition which held that the Messiah would appear when the Jews
were spread over the entire earth, the rabbi and mystic Manasseh Ben Israel tried to further this
goal, and in England sought to have the ban on Jewish settlement lifted. His failure was due in
part to Prynne–a Puritan extremist opposing religious toleration–who responded to
Manasseh's cause with the heated anti-Jewish arguments in the Short Demurrer to the Jewes.
32. Thomas Barlow. Several Miscellaneous and Weighty
Cases of Conscience. London: Mrs. Davis, 1692.
Barlow, bishop of Lincoln, known for his amenability to the various governments of seventeenth
century England, wrote "For Toleration of the Jews" sometime around 1654, though it was not
published until much later. He looked favorably upon the issue, one of his "weighty cases of
conscience," perhaps because at the time Cromwell favored readmitting the Jews. The
arguments Barlow presented dealt mostly with the usefulness of the Jews to the state, but he also
maintained that the presence of the Jews would make possible the fulfillment of "a sacred and
heavy obligation on Christians" to convert them.
33. [John Toland ]. Reasons for Naturalizing the
Jews.... London: J. Roberts, 1714.
Toland established his reputation as an important and controversial English thinker in 1696 with
his Christianity Not Mysterious, which attempted to show that everything in the
Scriptures as well as all elements of Christian revelation could be harmonized with human
reason. In Reasons for Naturalizing the Jews, which he published anonymously in 1714,
he argued for facilitating the naturalization not of English Jews but of foreign-born Jews, thus in
fact attracting Jews to England. His concept of toleration, in advance of its day, was based on the
belief that the Jews were economically useful to the country.
34. An Act to Permit Persons Professing the Jewish Religion to
Be Naturalized by Parliament. London: Thomas Baskett, 1753.
The problem of the ill-defined status of the Jews in England was thrown into relief when they
demonstrated their loyalty by supporting the government in the Jacobite insurrection of 1745.
Perhaps out of gratitude, the Whigs passed this bill through Parliament allowing naturalization
of the Jews. "The Jew Bill" of 1753 created an uproar among the Tories, who termed it an
"abandonment of Christianity." Although George II assented to the bill, public outrage
continued, and the bill was repealed the next year.
35. [Friedrich Wilhelm 1, King of Prussia] ....Edict, dass in
seiner Königl. Majestät gesamten Landen gar keine Bettel-Juden mehr
eingelassen... werden sollen. Stettin: Johann Friedrich Spiegeln, 1738.
While encouraging the Jews' economic activities which were proving useful to the state, the
Prussian government restricted the rights and numbers of Jews residing in its domain. This royal
edict stipulated that no Jewish beggars would be admitted into Prussia since they carried goods
which might spread the plague then raging in Hungary. A year after the edict's promulgation,
Frederick II-ascended the throne, and a liberalization of official attitudes toward the Jews
began.
36. Friedrich Wilhelm II, King of Prussia. Letter signed to Oberst
von Retzow. Potsdam, July 4,1757.3 pages.
In central Europe during the early modern period, individual Jews played an important role in
helping ambitious princes to consolidate power in their territories. These "Court Jews,"
especially active in financial and administrative matters, were in a position to prepare the way
for future emancipation. This letter of Frederick the Great to one of his subordinates discusses
the details of contracts held with a member of the famous Gomperz family, a dynasty of Court
Jews in Berlin who were long active in financial affairs on behalf of the Hohenzollerns.
37. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Nathan der Weise. [Berlin:
Voss], 1779. First edition, first issue.
Lessing's arguments for toleration were grounded firmly in the rationalism of the eighteenth
century. One of Germany's outstanding dramatists and philosophers, he was inspired by the
example of his friend Moses Mendelssohn to write Nathan der Weise. The drama
embodies its plea for toleration in the famous parable of the three rings narrated by Nathan, the
wise Jew. The story of the three sons–representing Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam–who are would-be holders of a magical ring, attempts to illustrate that the absolute
truth of any religious faith cannot be proven, and that the real worth of these faiths is to be found
in the effects they have on their individual members.
38. Christian Wilhelm Dohm. Ueber die bürgerliche
Verbesserung der Juden. Berlin and Stettin . Friedrich Nicolai, 1781.
On the Improvement of the Jews as Citizens voiced the sentiments of enlightened
Christians and Jews in Berlin. An historian, diplomat, and advocate of free trade, Dohm, a
Christian, wrote this work at the request of Mendelssohn. In it, Dohm argued that "the true
reasons for [the Jews'] shortcomings" could be traced to the "oppression from which [they] still
suffer" and the restrictions placed upon them throughout their history. He proposed that better
treatment would reform them and their customs and lead ultimately to their assimilation into the
outside world.
39. Leopold 1, Emperor of Austria. [Judenverordnung]. Vienna,
1659. With autograph signature.
Possibly the greatest obstacle to arguments for toleration in modern Europe was the militant
religious spirit of the Counter-Reformation. Such sentiments were to affect Emperor Leopold I
whose wife, for example, saw in tolerance for the Jews the reason for the death of her first child.
This edict of Leopold's contained provisions for the regulation of Jewish butchers, but its
impediments were slight compared with Leopold's later actions which culminated in 1670 with
the expulsion of the Jews from Vienna. It was not until the time of Joseph II (1780-90) that a
major in Austrian policy toward the Jews took place.
40. [Joseph II, Emperor of Austria. Judenverordnung.] Vienna,
1782. Image,
Complete
Digitized Item
As part of his endeavors to modernize his empire, Joseph II of Austria attempted to make the
Jews useful citizens by reforming their economic practices and abolishing many of the measures
enforcing their isolation. The Toleranzpatent of 1782 was the first enactment of its kind
in Europe, permitting Jews access to new professions, state education, and even agriculture.
While the lot of Jews was thus improved, their religious expression was suppressed; and severe
restrictions against using the Hebrew alphabet in business matters and a ban on establishing new
congregations remained in force.
41. Honore Gabriel, Comte te Mirabeau. Sur Moses
Mendelssohn, sur la réforme politique des juifs. London [i.e. Paris], 1787.
Impressed by the enlightened Jewish communities during his visits to Holland, England, and
Prussia, and strongly influenced by Mendelssohn, Mirabeau wrote this defense of Jewish rights.
Echoing Dohm's view that the faults of the Jews were a product of their circumstances,
Mirabeau urged the welcoming of the Jews into the larger community. He defended their
religious practice and distinctiveness, but believed, as did many Jews of the time, that an
organized Jewish community would slowly disappear as the Jews became assimilated into the
economic and social life of the majority.
42. Abbé Henri Grégoire. Essai sur la
régénération physique, morale et politique des juifs. Metz: Claude
Lamort, 1789.
The campaign for the civic emancipation of the forty thousand Jews living in France at the time
of the French Revolution was led by Abbé Grégoire. More extreme than his
predecessors in pressing for the abolition of the causes of Jewish separation, he wrote this work
attacking Jewish communal autonomy, the use of Yiddish, and "superstitious beliefs" instilled by
the rabbis. He dismissed the traditional Christian claim that the Jews should suffer for having
killed Christ and was much inclined toward the integration . of the Jews into French life.
43. [Jacques Godard]. Pétition des juifs établis en
France adressée à l'Assemblée rationale, le 28 janvier 1790.... Paris:
Prault, 1790.
The granting of legal equality and citizenship to France's Jews in 1791 did not simply follow
from the liberal reforms of the new government. The Jews themselves strongly desired the
change in their status, even at the cost of sacrificing their communal autonomy. A delegation of
Parisian Jews, with the Christian lawyer Godard acting as their spokesman, brought before the
National Assembly this petition asking that the Jews be granted French citizenship and stressing
their loyalty to the French nation.
44. Benedictus de Spinoza. Renati des Cartes principiorum
philosophiae. Amsterdam: Johannes Riewerts, 1663. First edition.
Born into the Sephardic Jewish community during Holland's Golden Age, Baruch Spinoza so
involved himself with the secular studies of his day that he caused an irreparable rift between
himself and the faith of his fathers. Central to Spinoza's development as a philosopher was his
knowledge of the works of Descartes, who was also committed to a philosophy based on reason
rather than tradition. This work gives the Cartesian view in a geometrical form and includes an
appendix containing Spinoza's "Thoughts on Metaphysics."
45. Benedictus de Spinoza. Tractatus theologicopoliticus.
Hamburg [i.e., Amsterdam]: Henricus Kunraht, 1670.
The Tractatus presented Spinoza's rationalistic critique of revealed religion, his
justification for intellectual and religious freedom, and his political theories. Insisting that
religious tenets be justified exclusively on the basis of reason, Spinoza rejected both the Mosaic
authorship of the Pentateuch and the concept of the miraculous event. He offered a metaphysical
system in which the Bible was to be examined as a human document, subject to the same
methods of interpretation which applied to the study of nature. The book caused.a sensation and
was quickly banned, selling subsequently under false title pages.
46. David Herschel Franckel. A Thanksgiving Sermon.
London: W. Reeve, 1758.
Despite the restrictions imposed by Frederick the Great, members ot the Jewish community in
Berlin prospered through government contracts. These in turn encouraged the Jews involved to
take pride in the achievements of the Prussian state. David Franckel, noted for his commentaries
on the Jerusalem Talmud, was appointed chief rabbi of Berlin in 1743. Among the topical pieces
he published is A Thanksgiving Sermon, which commemorates Prussian victories in the
Seven Years' War.
47. [Antoine Guenée ]. Lettres de quelques juifs
portugais et allemande, à M. de Voltaire; avec des réflexions critiques. Lisbon:
Laurent Prault, 1769. First edition.
Voltaire, the symbol of eighteenthcentury rationalism and toleration, held marked anti-Semitic
views, as did some other philosophes. Focusing his attack on the Jews of the Old
Testament&$150;whose ritualism was carried on by the Church, which he
despised–Voltaire expressed his disdain in his article on toleration for his Dictionnaire
philosophique. A refutation came from Guenée, a French priest, who in the guise of a
Portugese Jew wrote Lettres de quelques juifs primarily to defend the Scriptures. But the
Jewish protagonist also called for sympathy for contemporary Jews. The book was extremely
popular, and saw many editions and translations in a short period.
48. [Isachar Falkensohn Behr]. Gedichte von einem
pohlnischen Juden. Mietau and Leipzig: Jacob Friedrich Hinz, 1772.
After arriving in Berlin in 1764, destitute and speaking only Yiddish, Behr was tutored by a
relative and eventually introduced to Mendelssohn and his circle. The verses in Behr's Poems
of a Polish Jew represent a pioneer achievement–the poetry being among the first
published in German by a Jew. Goethe reviewed the collection, noting approvingly the extent to
which Enlightenment ideals and German culture had been adopted by a foreign Jew.
49. Moses Mendelssohn. Lettres juives du célèbre
Mendels-Sohn philosophe de Berlin . . . recueil memorable concernant le judaisme,
Frankfurt and La Haye, 1771.
A philosopher and the spiritual leader of German Jewry during the Enlightenment, Moses
Mendelssohn also became the symbol of progressive Judaism to the Christian world. When in
1769 the Protestant theologian Lavater challenged Mendelssohn to consider the superiority of
Christianity and to convert, Mendelssohn demurred. The letters forming his reply, contained in
this rare French edition, neither attacked Christianity nor defended Judaism; they maintained
instead that such polemics were inconsistent with Judaism and unbecoming of Jews. The
controversy, which disturbed Mendelssohn greatly, forced him to recognize that his Judaism
created a barrier between himself and his enlightened colleagues.
50. Moses Mendelssohn. Jerusalem oder über
religiöse Macht und Judentum. Berlin: Friedrich Maures, 1783. First edition.
Published toward the end of his life, Jerusalem summarized and completed
Mendelssohn's thoughts and beliefs of the preceding thirteen years. The book also justified his
stand against Jewish critics who had claimed that arguments for Jewish emancipation
contradicted Jewish law. Mendelssohn contended that since Judaism contained no compulsory
belief or dogma but only complex prescriptions for a way of life, it could not be at odds with the
forces of reason or with the secular laws of the state.
51. Moses Mendelssohn. Sepher Netivoth Ha-Shalom [Book of
the Paths of Peace]. Vienna: Anton Schmid, 1795.
To lead Jewish society out of its spiritual isolation, Mendelssohn chose the means that Luther
had used in his Reformation–a new translation of the Bible. Mendelssohn translated the
Pentateuch and with the help of other scholars provided a Hebrew commentary on the ancient
text. While acclaimed by friends of the Enlightenment as a powerful instrument for progress and
change, the translation was attacked as blasphemous by some conservative rabbis who tried
without much success to have it banned. This translation of Genesis presents the German in
Hebrew characters and includes the Hebrew original with commentaries.
52. Marcus Herz. Versuch über den Schwindel.
Berlin: Christian Friedrich Voss and Son, 1786.
Berlin's intellectual and social life during the 1770s and 1780s was greatly enriched by Marcus
and Henriette Herz and their circle of enlightened Berliners. A friend of the Mendelssohns and
of Immanuel Kant, Herz, one of the most skilled physicians of his time, was given the honored
title of "Professor" by the king of Prussia in 1787. This treatise on vertigo considers
psychological methods of curing human illnesses.
53. Salomon Maimon. Lebensgeschichte. Berlin: Friedrich
Vieweg, the Elder, 1792-93. 2 volumes in 1.
Another emancipated Jew who contributed much to the pre-eminence of eighteenth-century
Berlin as an intellectual center was the philosopher and rabbinical scholar Salomon Maimon. He
wrote much on Maimonides, whom he revered and from whom he took his name, as well as a
great deal of non-theological philosophy. His autobiography contains both valuable material on
Jewish life in Berlin and useful commentary on eastern European Jewry as well.
54. [David Friedlander ]. Sendschreiben an seine
Hochwürden, Herrn Oberconsistorialrath und Probst Teller. Berlin: August Mylius,
1799.
Friedlander, a member of Mendelssohn's circle, successful merchant, and promoter of
assimilation, addressed his anonymous Open Letter to Berlin pastor William Teller. Its
religious syncretism revealed an ambivalence on the part of some enlightened German Jews. "In
the name of some Jewish householders," Friedlander asked to be admitted to the Christian
Church, but at the same time not to be required to accept Christ or to perform all Christian
rituals. He held that Christianity and Judaism share a common, natural religion free of ritual. His
request was denied, but a major controversy followed the Open Letter.
55. Dorothea van Schlegel. Autograph letter signed to Frau E.
Malss. Frankfurt am Main, December 27, 1831. 1 page.
In the personality of Dorothea Schlegel the cosmopolitanism of eighteenth-century life was to
submerge Jewish identity. A daughter of Moses Mendelssohn, author, and wife of a banker, she
was also the hostess of an important Berlin salon. Later, as the wife of Friedrich van Schlegel,
she found her way from Protestantism to Catholicism. The depth of her religious sentiments is
revealed in this letter which sends a friend drops of holy water gathered at a festival celebrating
the healing powers of the Apostle John.
56. L'Assemblée des députés des
israélites de France et du royaume d'ltalie.... Paris, 1806. Autograph signatures of
Avigdor and Rodrigues.
French Jews were granted equal rights during the French Revolution. To clear up remaining
questions about the legal status of the Jews, Napoleon convoked the Assembly of Jewish
Notables which was to determine whether or not the traditions and laws of the Jews conflicted
with their new citizenship. The answers of the assembly pleased Napoleon, who requested it to
call together a second body to formulate propositions which would be binding on all Jews. The
assembly responded by issuing this invitation, in French and Hebrew, to the Jewish communities
of the French Empire.
57. Diogene Tama, editor. Collection des procèsverbaux
et décisions du Grand Sanhédrin. Paris: L'Editeur and Treuttel & Wurtz,
1807.
The invitation of the Assembly of Jewish Notables convoked the meeting of the Great
Sanhedrin, named after the Jewish governing body of Roman times. The Sanhedrin reported to
Napoleon that Judaism was merely a matter of relgion in the private sense and that Judaism did
not involve national or political loyalties, that the French Jews considered themselves to be
Frenchmen first and Jews second. Nine binding regulations were issued dealing with marriage,
professions, and relations with gentiles; and these, along with reports of the Sanhedrin meeting
printed in this collection, stated the basic principles which were to guide Jewish integration into
the modern national state.
58. Vollständige Verhandlungen des Ersten Vereinigten
Preussichen Landtages über die Emancipationsfrage der Juden. Berlin: A. Hoffmann,
1847.
In 1847 Frederick William IV, in response to liberal agitation, called for the meeting of a
Prussian united diet. Among the many questions it considered was the status of the Jews; its
discussion of the topic, published in Vollständige Verhandlungen, formed the first
public debate on Jewish emancipation in Germany. Here for the first time emancipation became
identified with liberalism. The Jews, who up until this time had been supporters of the princes,
thus crossed into the liberal camp, and conservatives, who were beginning to combine political
rights and religious profession into the concept of a "Christian state," emerged as the opponents
of fill Jewish emancipation.
59. David Friedländer . Ueber die Verbesserung de r
Israeliten im Königreich Pohlen. Berlin, 1819.
Friedländer forms the link between Jewish theories of emancipation and toleration and
their application. His program was one of assimilating the Jews into German society and
transforming traditional Judaism into a general code of ethics. Throughout his life he labored for
the development of a state policy favorable to the Jews. In this tract, a response to the Bishop of
Kujawia, he suggests means for improving the condition of the Jews in Poland.
60. [Rahel Varnhagen]. Rahel. Fin Buch. des Andenkens
f&$252;r ihre Freunde. Berlin: Duncker and Humblot, 1834. 3 volumes.
The conflicts and tensions in the life of a Jewess in high society are revealed in these collected
letters of Rahel Varnhagen. A woman of emotional depth and intellectual gifts, she was the
hostess of a salon where some of Berlin's most illustrious figures often met. In such an
atmosphere, she came to view her Jewish background as a personal tragedy. Socially adroit yet
disappointed in love, hesitant to convert yet captured by the Romantic revival of Christian
spirituality, she reflects the emotional and intellectual complexities of assimilation.
61. Dibere Haberith . . . oder Briefe der ausgezeichnetsten
Rabbiner und Rabbiner-Collegien. Altona: Gebrüder Bonn, 1819.
The changes in Jewish life and thought which came with emancipation extended to the worship
service. Reform Judaism wanted not only a new faith but also a form of observance more in
keeping with the times. Thus when some Hamburg Jews establishes a Reform synagogue, they
also published a new prayerbook. The Orthodox rabbinate of Hamburg responded with
Dibere Haberith, a collection of opinions of noted Jewish scholars, concluding that the
all-Hebrew service must remain unchanged and that no organ should be allowed in the
synagogue.
62. [Joshua Van Ovenl. Letters on the Present State of the
Jewish Poor in the Metropolis.... London: W. J. and J. Richardson; 1802.
Van Oven, a surgeon and member of a leading Jewish family in England, became deeply
concerned with the squalid living conditions of those Jews who had emigrated to London from
central Europe. In these letters, he pointed out that the problem was partly due to various
restrictions placed upon these Jews, and he proposed legislation for a Jewish governing body to
administer aid to the poor. This early Jewish social welfare scheme, however, failed to
materialize.
63. [Leopold Zunz, editor]. Zeitschrift für die
Wissenschaft des Judenthums. Berlin: Schlesingerschen Buch- und Musik-Handlung,
1822-23.
With the ending of ghetto life, the traditional talmudic culture of the Jews began to fade. To fill
the void some Jewish intellectuals sought to develop a modern conception of Jewish history, or a
"science of Judaism." Zunz was one of the founders of this movement. His exacting scholarly
techniques were to place Jewish culture within the context of Western history, and his
Journal for the Science of Judaism was to be the vehicle for this task. Although the
journal was short-lived, others took its place, and Zunz went on to become the model for modern
scholars of Judaica.
64. Gabriel Riesser. Ueber die Stellung der Bekenner des
Mosaischen Glaubens in Deutschland. Altona: Johann Friedrich Hammerich, 1831.
Upon receiving his law degree, Riesser found that because he was a Jew he could neither
practice nor teach law. However, instead of converting, as were many other Jews in a similar
predicament, Riesser chose to devote his life to the struggle for Jewish emancipation. In this
work, Concerning the Situation of the Followers of the Mosaic Faith in Germany,
Riesser rejected apologetics and demanded instead full emancipation in the name of honor
and justice. He lived to see some of his principles established and in 1860 he became the first
Jewish judge in Germany.
65. Abraham Geiger. Ueber den Austritt aus dem Judenthume.
Leipzig: Otto Wigand, 1858.
The task of developing a theology for Reform Judaism was taken up by Abraham
Geiger–scholar, rabbi, and, along with Zunz, one of the founders of the "science of
Judaism." He set out to strip Judaism of its ethnic characteristics and to replace these with the
idea of an evolving ethical and spiritual mission. In this open letter On Withdrawal from
Judaism, Geiger argued against conversion to Christianity, pointing out the sources of
Jewish spirituality and maintaining that to reject Jewish ceremonial law was not to reject
Judaism. His ideas laid the foundation of modern Reform Judaism.
66. Heinrich Heine. Buch der Lieder. Hamburg: Hoffmann
and Campe, 1827. First edition.
The creative energies released through emancipation reached fruition in the spectacular career of
Heinrich Heine–journalist, wit, and poet. Buch der Lieder, the work which
established his reputation, is considered to contain some of the finest lyric poetry in any
language. As a young man Heine converted to Christianity, speaking of the baptismal certificate
that allowed him to get his degree as an "admission ticket to western civilization." Later in life,
he came to regret his conversion.
67. Ludwig Borne, editor. Die Wage, Eine Zeitschrift für
B࣌rgerleben Wissenschaft und Kunst. Frankfurt am Main: Hermann, 1818. Volume
1.
Börne, along with Heine, was a leader of the group of radical writers known as 'Young
Germany." Embittered by the restrictions placed upon him as a Jew, he turned to journalism.
Die Wage, which he edited from 1818 to 1821, contained lively political articles and
satiric drama reviews; but it was especially noted for the political innuendo and subversive
allusions which Borne injected into it. The paper was eventually suppressed, and Borne fled to
Paris, where he continued to propagandize in support of freedom and democracy.
68. [Isidor Busch, editor]. Kalender und Jahrbuch für
Israeliten auf das Jahr 5603. Vienna: Franz Edlen van Schmid and J. J. Busch, 1842.
A journalist and political liberal, Busch presented articles by leading Jewish scholars with
differing outlooks to the general Jewish reading public. His yearbooks, the first almanacs written
by Jewish authors for Jewish readers, included contributions from important intellectuals and
contained several items of contemporary concern. Among the selections in this volume for
1842/43 are poems, a review of the preceding year's events, and a biographical sketch of Moses
Montefiore.
69. [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Grattenauer]. Wider die Juden.
Berlin: Johann Wilhelm Schmidt, 1803.
A widely circulated tract attempting to rouse public opinion against Jewish emancipation,
Against the Jews is one of the most important works of its kind. Grattenauer, among the
first to introduce the concepts of race into arguments against the Jews, based his opposition on
non-religious grounds, and thus opened the way for marking as Jews even those individuals who
no longer wished to remain Jewish.
70. Julius van Voss. Die Hep Heps in Franken und anderer
Orten. Teutonien, 1819.
"Hep! Hep!" a derogatory rallying cry used in driving domestic animals, was the name given to a
series of widespread anti-Jewish riots which broke out in Germany in 1819. In part a result of the
surge of Romantic nationalism which accompanied the Wars of Liberation, the riots were also
sparked by old prejudices against the Jews that were intensified by their new demands for civil
rights. Voss, a German comic poet, was the only writer to raise his voice against the riots. But
Die Hep Heps, as it turned out, damaged his reputation, raising suspicions that he was in
the pay of the Jews.
71. Sabbatja J. Wolff. Wieder Juden. Berlin: Maurer,
1819.
Although Voss's arguments were largely ignored, he did gain the gratitude of Jews–among
them his friend Sabbatja J. Wolff, a physician from Berlin. This pamphlet, an open letter to
Voss, expresses that gratitude and continues the defense of the Jews. Wolff's statement is largely
apologetic, asserting that the faults of individual Jews should not be attributed to the group as a
whole. The Jews as a group, he wrote, are loyal to the state and do not form a wealthy enclave
within society. Wolff also emphasizes the basic incompatibility of the riots with the teachings of
Christianity.
72. A. F. Thiele. Die jüdischen Gauner in Deutschland.
Berlin: Privately
printed, 1841. Volume 1.
As an official in the Prussian bureaucracy responsible for law enforcement, Thiele produced this
compendium on Jewish criminality as an aid to other police officials. Containing an analysis of
approximately four thousand Yiddish words and idioms, Die jüdischen Gauner in
Deutschland is one of the first significant dictionaries of Yiddish. Yet beneath the
philologically useful presentation lies the author's belief that the rootlessness and rapaciousness
of the Jews had always made them a dangerous element in German society.
73. "Die Generalpumpe." Berlin: A. Schepeler, circa 1845.
Since 1800 the name Rothschild has become synonymous with opulence and munificence,
representing on the one hand Jewish wealth and philanthropy and on the other the notion of
international Jewish conspiracy in finance. This infamous caricature of Meyer Amschel
Rothschild (1818-74), depicts him as an evil, slovenly figure in the form of a two-handled pump,
its side disgorging cash to those in need of it and its feet in a reservoir of money.
74. Alphonse Toussenel. Les juifs, rois de l'époque.
Paris: Librairie de l'Ecole sociétaire, 1845.
Toussenel's brand of anti-Semitism was not based on philosophic or religious precepts, about
which he knew very little, but derived from the common nineteenth- century misconception that
the Jews had complete control over the monetary affairs of Europe–the thesis of The
Jews, Kings of the Age. Here Toussenel defended past persecutions of the Jews, extending
his strident attacks to include Protestants and foreign traders as well.
75</75a>. "Wie die Juden das Ablegen mittelalterlicher Vorurtheile
verstehen." Frankfurt am Main, circa 1848.
The merging of formerly segregated populations into a system of legal equality inevitably meant
conflict. Popular resentment in Germany to Jewish emancipation is reflected in this satirical
broadside, "How the Jews Understand the Casting off of Medieval Prejudices." The caricature
illustrates a fictitious demand made by members of the Jewish community to the revolutionary
National Assembly of 1848. These Jewish parvenues, calling themselves the "chosen people,"
demand not political and civil equality but rather all of the privileges formerly possessed by the
nobility.