Colonialism, Antisemitism, and Germans of Jewish Descent in Imperial Germany (Social History, Popular Culture, And Politics In Germany) - Hardcover

Davis, Christian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0472117971 ISBN 13: 9780472117970

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2012

Synopsis

Colonialism, Antisemitism, and Germans of Jewish Descent in Imperial Germany examines the relationship between the colonial and antisemitic movements of modern Germany from 1871 to 1918, examining the complicated ways in which German antisemitism and colonialism fed off of and into each other in the decades before the First World War. Author Christian S. Davis studies the significant involvement with and investment in German colonialism by the major antisemitic political parties and extra-parliamentary organizations of the day, while also investigating the prominent participation in the colonial movement of Jews and Germans of Jewish descent and their tense relationship with procolonial antisemites.

Working from the premise that the rise and propagation of racial antisemitism in late-nineteenth-century Germany cannot be separated from the context of colonial empire, Colonialism, Antisemitism, and Germans of Jewish Descent in Imperial Germany is the first work to study the dynamic and evolving interrelationship of the colonial and antisemitic movements of the Kaiserreich era. It shows how individuals and organizations who originated what would later become the ideological core of National Socialism---racial antisemitism---both influenced and perceived the development of a German colonial empire predicated on racial subjugation. It also examines how colonialism affected the contemporaneous German antisemitic movement, dividing it over whether participation in the nationalist project of empire building could furnish patriotic credentials to even Germans of Jewish descent. The book builds upon the recent upsurge of interest among historians of modern Germany in the domestic impact and character of German colonialism, and on the continuing fascination with the racialization of the German sense of self that became so important to German history in the twentieth century.

About this title

About the Author

Christian S. Davisis Assistant Professor of History at James Madison University.

Review

"...an outstanding contribution to the literature on the imperial period. Davis’s nuanced examination of antisemitism in the context of colonial debates provides a new perspective on issues of central importance for German history." - Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker, H-Net H-Judaic

"...an outstanding contribution to the literature on the imperial period. Davis's nuanced examination of antisemitism in the context of colonial debates provides a new perspective on issues of central importance for German history."
—Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker, H-Net H-Judaic

(Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker H-Net H-Judaic 2012-08-23)

"Overall, the book provides an important addition to the history of organized antisemitism in imperial Germany and contributes an interesting aspect to the influence of colonialism on German culture."
—Daniel Rouven Steinbach, German History (Daniel Rouven Steinbach German History 2013-03-13)

"Davis covers his subject thoroughly and convincingly."
—Journal of Modern History (Woodruff Smith Journal of Modern History 2014-01-24)

"... few scholars have delved very deeply into the contemporary linkages between colonialism and the politics of antisemitism during the time of Kaiserreich itself. This is the focus of Christian Davis’s thorough, detailed, and multifaceted account. Davis’s book charts how colonial ideology (including its racial and economic dimensions) fits into the political thought of antisemites... A great strength of this book is the way that it uses biographical vignettes to avoid simplistic assertions or categorizations, and instead reveals the complexity of both antisemitic politics and of German-Jewish participation in the colonial project."
—German Studies Review (Jennifer R. Davis, The Catholic University of America German Studies Review 2014-12-11)

"Davis makes it clear that anti-Semites affected the colonial movement, whereas it is less clear that the reverse may have been true—he notes a lack of sources for that case. He has provided an excellent guide to those political parties (both inside and aspiring to the government) directly associated with anti-Semitism... his use of contemporaneous publications and the colonial archives sets a new bar for research on Judaism and German-Jewish populations of the Reich—he opens up considerable new data for consideration, to nuance our perceptions of what it might have meant (especially in Berlin) for politicians and public figures to speak in anti-Semitic terms."
—Monatshefte (Katherine Arens, The University of Texas at Austin Monatshefte 2015-03-13)

"This monograph raises a number of extremely interesting and relevant questions."
—American Historical Review (Lars Fischer American Historical Review 2013-03-13)

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0472117971
• ISBN 13: 9780472117970
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296