More German than the Germans

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 & Besitz", ie cultivation and wealth.[3]

Examples

A notable example of this was Kurt Singer (born 1885, died in Terezin concentration camp, 1944), "a conductor, musician, musicologist, and neurologist".[4] Singer was described by his daughter as "More German than the Germans" - he earned an Iron Cross for his gallantry in World War I, was music editor for a Berlin newspaper and published research on music.[4]

Another cited example is Nikolaus Pevsner, who was "more German than the Germans" to the extent that he supported "Goebbels in his drive for “pure” non-decadent German art".[5] 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]

References

  1. ^ The Hitler émigrés: the cultural impact on Britain of refugees from Nazism, Daniel Snowman, 2002, page 10, http://books.google.com/books?id=HF5nAAAAMAAJ&q=%22more+german+than+the+germans%22&dq=%22more+german+than+the+germans%22&hl=en
  2. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=NDOJ473PJ_MC&pg=PA235&dq=%22more+german+than+the+germans%22&hl=en#v=onepage&q=%22more%20german%20than%20the%20germans%22&f=false
  3. ^ a b c http://books.google.com/books?id=9yQmyXeNEMQC&pg=PA90&dq=%22more+german+than+the+germans%22&hl=en#v=onepage&q=%22more%20german%20than%20the%20germans%22&f=false
  4. ^ a b http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/the-berlin-jdischer/singer-kurt/
  5. ^ a b http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article7074469.ece



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