German-Jewish History in the Nineteenth Century.

The status of legal equality as citizens was an entirely new paradigm in Jewish history. In nineteenth-century German history, this so-called emancipation unfolded in a convoluted manner and went hand-in-hand with an immense modernization of Jewish life. This seminar explores this tense relationship on the basis of characteristic manifestations, individual circumstances, and key debates and concepts – either from the time itself or from recent research. It moreover combines approaches from political, cultural, and intellectual history while also adopting a comparative perspective on developments in other European countries.

The topics include the emancipation debate, the keyword assimilation, the emergence of Reform Judaism, the Wissenschaft des Judentums, and secularization. The section on the mid-nineteenth century will focus especially on liberalism while that on the late nineteenth century will focus on antisemitism. The “Jewish Renaissance” (M. Buber) movement arising around 1900 expressed a need for cultural and spiritual reinvigoration and was especially inspired by cultural Zionist thought. This offers an opportunity to conclude the seminar with reflections on the range of self-conceptions held by German Jews at the time.

All participants are expected to hold a presentation.

Literature: Thomas Brechenmacher/Michal Szulc, Neuere deutsch-jüdische Geschichte: Konzepte – Narrative – Methoden, Stuttgart 2017; Deutsch-jüdische Geschichte in der Neuzeit, ed. by Michael A. Meyer, 4 vol., München 2000, Vol. 2: Emanzipation und Akkulturation: 1780–1871, Vol. 3: Umstrittene Integration: 1871–1918; Shulamit Volkov, Die Juden in Deutschland. 1780–1918, München ²2000 (¹1994); Enzyklopädie jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur, ed. by Dan Diner, 7 vol., Stuttgart/Weimar 2011–2017.