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Jews and the German State

The Political History of a Minority, 1848-1933

Peter Pulzer

European History, German Studies, History, Jewish Studies

Paperback
Published: March 2003
ISBN: 9780814331309
Pages: 392 Size: 6x9
Illustrations: 3 black and white images
$23.99
Review

These essays, expanded and revised for this volume, produce a fresh and illuminating historical analysis of the political identity of the Jews in Germany from the early nineteenth century to Hitler's coming to power.

— American Historical Review

Unlike many historians who see the period between 1848 and 1933 primarily as one of growing anti-Semitism which culminated in the Nazi Party’s rise to power and the enactment of its program of genocide, Jews and the German State emphasizes the evolution of the ethnic identity, social roles, and political activities of German Jews. Pulzer documents their emergence of the Jews of Germany from obscurity and marginality into the mainstream of public life over the century prior to the Nazi takeover and demonstrates the importance of Jews in the public life of Germany. The author argues that German history cannot be understood without grasping the role played by the Jewish population of Germany, and proposes that the German-Jewish relationship helps to illuminate the complex roles played by minorities in modern societies. This is an important work for students and scholars of Jewish history in general and German Jewish history in particular.

Published by: Wayne State University Press

Peter Pulzer is an emeritus fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He is the author of many books, including The Rise of Political Anti-Semitism in Germany and Austria, Political Representation and Elections in Britain, and German Politics: 1945-1995.

Over the last twenty years Peter Pulzer has published a number of stimulating and important essays that have become classics in the historiography of German Jewry. These essays, expanded and revised for this volume, produce a fresh and illuminating historical analysis of the political identity of the Jews in Germany from the early nineteenth century to Hitler's coming to power.

– American Historical Review

[Pulzer's] collection of essays is compulsory reading for all interested parties.

– European History Quarterly

Pulzer is the rare historian of an ethnic minority with a really sure grasp of the larger trends. He has the skill, moreover, to set the smaller story deftly into the larger tale. He amasses heaps of telling details, both anecdotal and statistical. Because he has buried himself so well in this past, he is able to shed light on subtle but decisive ways that Jews saw their situation.

– Journal of Modern History