Trudy Gold
A Curious Triumvirate: Einstein, Rathenau, Haber, and the Complexities of German Jewish Identity, Part 1
Summary
Albert Einstein, Walther Rathenau, and Fritz Haber, all German Jews, knew one another at the turn of the century in Berlin. These extraordinary men exemplify the challenge of being groundbreaking contributors to their fields during the rise of anti-Semitism. All three were loyal to their country and changed the world with their genius contributions while managing degrees of inner and outer conflict. These conflicts were expressed in different ways in their lives and throughout their friendships with one another. Part 1 of 2.
Trudy Gold
Trudy Gold was the CEO of the London Jewish Cultural Centre and a founding member of the British delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Throughout her career she taught modern Jewish history at schools, universities, and to adult groups and ran seminars on Holocaust education in the UK, Eastern Europe, and China. She also led Jewish educational tours all over the world. Trudy was the educational director of the student resources “Understanding the Holocaust” and “Holocaust Explained” and the author of The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization.
You are saying something very sensible. But you are presupposing people are rational, and racism is not rational. It takes remarkable individuals, like Einstein, for all their flaws, who walked the world and had a rational side but unfortunately, I feel that many people don’t. Your identity is not just self-identity.
The reason I chose them is they were huge figures and they walked the world. Haber was very complex and problematic and is considered by some to be a war criminal. Einstein is the most wholesome, but he had problems with women, and his wife did not get credit for her work as a mathematician. They are three individuals who made a great impact on the world, each having complex, problematic relationships with their German Jewish identities.