Post by snacky on Sept 29, 2014 5:02:56 GMT
When Jewish culture has been presented on MM, it has been presented as preserving traditional ways. However, the MM era was also the first wave of "Zionist conspiracy theory" that ultimately developed into the anti-semitism of Nazi Germany - and these theories sought to associate the Jewish "race" with modernity (and - applying the theory of eugenics - deduce that secular modernity was a form of "degeneracy").
Some context: the Dreyfus Affair - which really took off in 1894 (click here for wikipedia) - ignited public discussion of antisemitism. Some segments of the Jewish community responded with the idea of "Zionism" - the belief that the Jews could only be fully emancipated if they had their own State. The first World Zionist Conference was held in 1897.
Some important documents related to the rise of Zionism:
Degeneration (1892) - Max Nordau (while he blamed antisemitism on the "degeneracy" of modern, urban, technological society, his views were later twisted by the Nazis to associate "degeneration" with the Jewish cultural influence).
The Jewish State (1896) - Theodor Herzl
J'Accuse (1898)- Emile Zola (Famous article signifying the high point of the Dreyfus Affair. Zola died in 1902...could it be murder?)
Anti-Zionism was particularly volatile in Germany because the Germans needed to identify themselves as a nation on order to unify as a "Nation-State" in the late 1860s. Furthermore, as the old German aristocracies lost power under the new constitutional State, they saw Jews gaining power as Chancellor Bismark's bankers. Jews thus became associated with capitalism and modernity, and their rights were protected as equals under the new constitution even though they weren't part of the heavily propagandized "nation".
Here are a few documents that fueled early anti-Zionism:
On the Inequality of the Human Races (1854) - Count de Gobineau (This book was used to merge eugenics and "social darwinism" with antisemitism).
Biarritz (1868) - Hermann Goedesche - Novel with a chapter about a group of Rabbis plotting world Jewish domination. To be juxtaposed with the effort of Germans to define themselves as a "nation" and unite as a nation-state at the time.
Rembrandt as Educator (1890) - Julius Langbehn. Anti-modernist screed which played a role in defining the German "volkish" artistic/cultural identity (as opposed to "Jewish" modernity).
Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1903) - This is a hoax document outlining the Jewish conspiracy to achieve global domination, and it's at the root of many conspiracy theories that continue to flourish today (usually invoking the Rothschilds and International banks). Henry Ford funded the printing of 500,000 copies to distribute in the U.S., fueling American antisemitism in the 1920s. (click here for wikipedia). That's still a year off, but I'm mentioning it since Henry Ford is involved. He might be nursing antisemitic ideas already.
Found another article about Ford's antisemitism: www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/interview/henryford-antisemitism/
I don't know of any general anti-Zionist manifestos that responded specifically to the Dreyfus Affair or the World Zionist Conferences before the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (which was published in Russia). There had been repeated pogroms (purges) of Jews in Russia since the assassination of the Tsar in 1881 was blamed on "the Jews" (after economic problems and widespread peasant debt had been laid at the door of "Jewish capitalists). Anyway, I'm sure such literature existed.
(By the way a lot of this "attack on modernity" looks scarily like a Tea Party rant against the U.S. National Endowment of the Arts or PBS).
Anyway, since MM focuses so much on the "shock of the new" and the rapid transformation of William's world to secular modernity, it seems like the story of both Zionism and antisemitism - and the way Jews were scapegoated to defuse tensions associated with the rise of modernity - should be part of that. Also, I doubt many people are aware that Nazi Germany was foreshadowed so strongly at the end of the 19th century.
Some context: the Dreyfus Affair - which really took off in 1894 (click here for wikipedia) - ignited public discussion of antisemitism. Some segments of the Jewish community responded with the idea of "Zionism" - the belief that the Jews could only be fully emancipated if they had their own State. The first World Zionist Conference was held in 1897.
Some important documents related to the rise of Zionism:
Degeneration (1892) - Max Nordau (while he blamed antisemitism on the "degeneracy" of modern, urban, technological society, his views were later twisted by the Nazis to associate "degeneration" with the Jewish cultural influence).
The Jewish State (1896) - Theodor Herzl
J'Accuse (1898)- Emile Zola (Famous article signifying the high point of the Dreyfus Affair. Zola died in 1902...could it be murder?)
Anti-Zionism was particularly volatile in Germany because the Germans needed to identify themselves as a nation on order to unify as a "Nation-State" in the late 1860s. Furthermore, as the old German aristocracies lost power under the new constitutional State, they saw Jews gaining power as Chancellor Bismark's bankers. Jews thus became associated with capitalism and modernity, and their rights were protected as equals under the new constitution even though they weren't part of the heavily propagandized "nation".
Here are a few documents that fueled early anti-Zionism:
On the Inequality of the Human Races (1854) - Count de Gobineau (This book was used to merge eugenics and "social darwinism" with antisemitism).
Biarritz (1868) - Hermann Goedesche - Novel with a chapter about a group of Rabbis plotting world Jewish domination. To be juxtaposed with the effort of Germans to define themselves as a "nation" and unite as a nation-state at the time.
Rembrandt as Educator (1890) - Julius Langbehn. Anti-modernist screed which played a role in defining the German "volkish" artistic/cultural identity (as opposed to "Jewish" modernity).
Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1903) - This is a hoax document outlining the Jewish conspiracy to achieve global domination, and it's at the root of many conspiracy theories that continue to flourish today (usually invoking the Rothschilds and International banks). Henry Ford funded the printing of 500,000 copies to distribute in the U.S., fueling American antisemitism in the 1920s. (click here for wikipedia). That's still a year off, but I'm mentioning it since Henry Ford is involved. He might be nursing antisemitic ideas already.
Found another article about Ford's antisemitism: www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/interview/henryford-antisemitism/
I don't know of any general anti-Zionist manifestos that responded specifically to the Dreyfus Affair or the World Zionist Conferences before the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (which was published in Russia). There had been repeated pogroms (purges) of Jews in Russia since the assassination of the Tsar in 1881 was blamed on "the Jews" (after economic problems and widespread peasant debt had been laid at the door of "Jewish capitalists). Anyway, I'm sure such literature existed.
(By the way a lot of this "attack on modernity" looks scarily like a Tea Party rant against the U.S. National Endowment of the Arts or PBS).
Anyway, since MM focuses so much on the "shock of the new" and the rapid transformation of William's world to secular modernity, it seems like the story of both Zionism and antisemitism - and the way Jews were scapegoated to defuse tensions associated with the rise of modernity - should be part of that. Also, I doubt many people are aware that Nazi Germany was foreshadowed so strongly at the end of the 19th century.