More German than the Germans

The assimilated Jewish community in Germany, prior to World War II, has been described as "more German than the Germans". Originally, the comment was a "common sneer aimed at people" who had "thrown off the faith of their forefathers and adopted the garb of their Fatherland".[1] The German assimilation, following The Enlightenment, was "unprecedented".[2]

The quote is sometimes ascribed to Chaim Weizmann.[3]

Background

Following The Enlightenment, many European Jews regarded Germany as a particularly desirable place to live, "a place of refuge, in comparison to Russia and Romania" where antisemitism was extremely virulent and violent, and even France, where The Enlightenment had begun.[3] German Jews began to immerse themselves in German culture and the arts, playing a full and even leading role in society. By the twentieth century, the German Jews had reached a state of Bildung and Besitz, i.e. cultivation and wealth.[3]

Examples

Kurt Singer (born 1885, died in Theresienstadt concentration camp, 1944), a conductor, musician, musicologist, and neurologist was described by his daughter as "more German than the Germans," as he earned an Iron Cross for his gallantry in World War I, was music editor for a Berlin newspaper and published research on German folk songs, Richard Wagner and Anton Bruckner.[4]

British scholar Nikolaus Pevsner was described as "more German than the Germans" for his support of Goebbels' drive for "pure non-decadent German art" and was reported as saying, of the Nazis in 1933, "I want this movement to succeed. There is no alternative but chaos ... there are things worse than Hitlerism".[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Daniel Snowman (2010). The Hitler Emigrés: The Cultural Impact on Britain of Refugees from Nazism. Random House. ISBN 1-44-640591-5.
  2. ↑ Abraham J. Peck (1988). "The German-Jewish Legacy in America, 1938-1988: From Bildung to the Bill of Rights". Wayne State University Press. p. 235. ISBN 0-81-432263-8.
  3. 1 2 3 Marvin Perry; Frederick M. Schweitzer (2002). "Anti-Semitism: Myth and Hate from Antiquity to the Present". Palgrave Macmillan. p. 90. ISBN 0-31-216561-7.
  4. ↑ "Music and the Holocaust: Kurt Singer". holocaustmusic.ort.org.
  5. ↑ Stephen Games (2010). Pevsner: The Early Life: Germany and Art. Continuum. p. 187. ISBN 1-44-114386-6.
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