Berthold Auerbach's Anticipation of the German-Jewish Tragedy

Berthold Auerbach (1819—1882) counted in his time as the most successful and best integrated individual among the German Jewish intellectuals. His stories and novels portraying the life of the Schwarzwald peasants made him an exponent of German creativity and as such, a kind of national hero. The an...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kats, Yaʿaḳov 1904-1998 (Author)
Format: Print Article
Language:English
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Published: College 1982
In: Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
Year: 1982, Volume: 53, Pages: 215-240
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Auerbach, Berthold 1812-1882 / Judaism / Identity / Antisemitism
IxTheo Classification:BH Judaism
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:Berthold Auerbach (1819—1882) counted in his time as the most successful and best integrated individual among the German Jewish intellectuals. His stories and novels portraying the life of the Schwarzwald peasants made him an exponent of German creativity and as such, a kind of national hero. The analysis in this paper reveals him as fully conscious of his Jewish background and sensitive to the many signs of reserve by Germans towards him and Jews in general. He sought to overcome this reserve through the artistic presentation of Jewish life along with what he presented of German rural society. His failure to do so because of his absorption in his work for the purely German enterprises is emblematic of what occurred to German Jewry in general. His famous exclamation at the outbreak of the antisemitic movement in 1880, "Lived and labored in vain," indicates his disappointment not only with the Germans' behavior, but also with his own reaction to it.
ISSN:0360-9049
Contains:In: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion