Trudy Gold
Germany and Jewish Identity 1750’s – 1933, Part 4

Trudy Gold - Germany and Jewish Identity 1750’s-1933, Part 4

- [Lauren] All right, well, it’s two past. So whenever you’re ready, Trudy.

• Okay. Well, good evening everyone, and welcome to the third, fourth in the series of Jews and German identity. And this is something that I’m going to be continuing probably after the Rosh Hashanah because it’s such an important issue, and I think it’s very important we go very, very, very slowly. I’m going to start actually with two quotes on Berlin after unification. This is from an Englishman called Sheppard Thomas Taylor. He was a traveller, a diplomat, and this is where he wrote of Berlin in the 1870s. Bearing mind how small the Jewish population of Germany was, if you recall, it’s under 1% of the population. Jews inhabit the best houses in the best quarters of town. They drive about the parks in the most elegant equipages, figure constantly in the dress circle at the opera and theatres, and in this, in other ways, excite a good deal of envy in the minds of their less fortunate Christian fellow citizens. So that’s a quote from an English traveller. And now I’m going to read from a very, very interesting philosopher, Nietzsche. Now, Nietzsche of course, is one of the most complicated characters.

He’s been claimed by nationalists, he’d been claimed by all sorts of people. And I’m hoping that later on in the year, professor Ken GIMs will give a lecture specifically devoted to Nietzsche and the Jews. But I think it’s important just to, I just want to read you what he had to say of the people of Israel. And he often changed his mind about the Jews. But in The Main, he was positive in his very enigmatic acerbic way of the people of Israel, among the spectacles to which the next century invites us is the decision on the fate of European Jews. Every Jew has in the history of his fathers and grandfathers a mine of examples of the coldest composure and steadfastness in terrible situations. There has been an effort to make them contemptible by treating them contemptibly for 2000 years, and by barring them from access to all honours and everything honourable, thus pushing them under much deeper into the dirtier trades. And under this procedure, they have certainly not become cleaner, but contemptible. They themselves have never ceased to believe in their calling to the highest things. And the virtue of all who suffer have never ceased to adorn them.

The way in which they honour their fathers and their children and the rationality of their marriages, marital customs, distinguish them above all Europeans. In addition, they know how to create for themselves a feeling of power and eternal revenge out of those very trades which were abandoned to them or to which they were abandoned. One must say in excuse, even of their usury, that without this occasional agreeable and useful torture of their despises, they could scarcely have persevered so long in respecting themselves. So.

And then he goes on to say, and what shall this wealth of accumulated great impressions, which Jewish history constitutes for every Jewish family, this wealth of passions, virtues, decisions, renunciations, fights and victories of all time? Where shall it flow, if not eventually into great spiritual men and works? Then when the Jews can point to such gems and golden vessels as their work, such as the European people with their shorter and less deep experience cannot produce and never could. When Israel will have been transformed, its eternal revenge into an eternal blessing for Europe, then the seventh day will come and once again, on which the ancient Jewish God may rejoice in Himself, His creation and His chosen people, and all of us, all of us want to rejoice with Him. Now, the only reason I wanted to read you that now is to explain how by the 1870s, this tiny people were absolutely at the forefront of modernity and were, if you like, at the centre of the great challenges that Germany was facing. Now, I mentioned yesterday, and I know a lot of you will have read about this extraordinary period, because it was finally Otto von Bismarck, the brilliant chancellor of Germany whose three wars, war with Denmark, and this is very interesting, those of you who are interested in European history. Queen Alexandra of England, who of course was married to the future Edward VII, and her sister was married to the czar of Russia.

You had two Danish princesses married into the Russian royal family and into the British royal family. And you can just imagine the kind of hostility that was going to promote with Germany when war was declared and never forgiven. So in 1864, the war with Denmark, then in 1866, the war with Austria really taking on German supremacy over the German Austrians, and now finally the war with France, which led to the unification of Germany. So now even though you have the separate lender, you have one united Germany under the Prussian image, under its brilliant chancellor, Bismarck. Now, there’s a few things to say about Bismarck. He was an authoritarian. He was conservative. He was a brilliant man. He did have houses of parliament, but he rolled through imperial decree. And the problem with Bismarck, of course, was quite simple. That was his fatal flaw. He ruled through the decree of the kaiser. He controlled Kaiser Wilhelm I, who doesn’t die until- at the age of 91 in 1889. His son Frederick then only rules for 100 days. He could never control the wayward William Wilhelm II. And of course, that it’s Wilhelm II who is later going to escalate Europe into the most disastrous war, the impact of which is incalculable, The First World War. So the point is, you now have Bismarck in control in Berlin, in Prussia, the now really running Germany within the Prussian mould. And I mentioned yesterday a book called “The History of Berlin” by Alexandra Richie. It’s other title is “Faust’s Metropolis.” And of course, this is a brilliant title for what Berlin was.

Now I’m going to give you a few ideas as to what was going on in Berlin. There was a huge influx of wealth. This is already Prussia and many of the other states began a very high industrialization process. Wealth was there to make. Germany by the end of the century was pushing to become the most industrialised successful nation in Europe. Germany, which came late to the race for colonies, Germany that was not unified till 1871, nevertheless, is going to push and push and push, and there were fortunes to be made in the railway networks, in industrialization, the setting up of factories. All the, if you like, everything that makes up modernity. And of course, who was at the forefront of modernity? It’s these Jews who are outside the tradition. It’s been said many times. It’s almost as though the modern world was made for the Jews. But not only are you going to see Jews in capitalism, at the forefront of capitalism. You are also going to see Jews in the emerging socialist movements.

The Jews were individuals. And along with this, and I think this comes out very much in Nietzsche’s statement, Jews are, if you like, they are the division between those elements in German society, because there was still the Germany of the Enlightenment. There was a large liberal party. It’s all going to fall apart after the stock market crash of 1873. But Germany, particularly as a result of industrialization, you’re going to have the liberalism and also the enlightenment, but of course the forces of romanticism, the forces of atavism and the growth of modern antisemitism. Because in any secure nation, what happens? People go back to tribalism. I mean, we see it all the time, don’t we? You know, history changes, but human nature doesn’t. When people are insecure and an incredible amount of people suffered as a result of the modern world, what happens was this. They, if you like, they looked for a scapegoat. And if you just, what I’ve just read to you from Thomas Taylor, if Jews had an incredibly high visibility profile, they never had real power, though.

This is very interesting, because where does power really rest in any society? There was a lot of prejudice. They were barred from the army. It was very difficult for them in the diplomatic service. They never really made it into the traditional bastions of the aristocracy. And even though some of them spent millions emulating the aristocrats and through very elaborate parties, there was a ball where an officer was forced to dance with Bleichroder, one of the most important of the- In fact, Bismarck’s banker to dance with his wife. And he actually apologised to his fellow officers because he felt that he had to dance with a Jew. And the other point, after the crash of 1873, when thousands and thousands of people lost their savings, and there were huge bankruptcies, it was the Jews who were blamed. And also this notion that there is something distasteful about modernity. And this going back to a time in history when Germany was great and when was Germany great? The tribes that defeated the might of Rome.

Now I want to be careful here, because all the seeds of the 20th century and the 19th century, but it was not an inevitability. And I think it’s very important that we do understand that. So what have we established so far? The Jews are really at the cusp of modernity. That Bismarck is running an authoritarian state, that many ordinary folk. Now, what are the groups that most suffered? The lower-middle classes, teachers. The other point that happened is you had a huge influx of the peasantry into the cities looking for work. Huge urban density. And the Jew is really the other, because the problem is this. The German Jew, more than any other, particularly those on the edge characters who tried so hard to become German and there were so many converts, they are not going to be seen by people who believe that German nationality, nationhood is about blood. The Jew can’t possibly be a German because he’s got the wrong blood. And it was also affected by the whole issue of degeneration.

A subject that I want Ken to talk about later in the course because it’s, he has already touched on it. But it’s very, very important. We move into the theories of social Darwinism, all these kind of pseudoscientific theories that talk about the nature of race and can a Jew ever be a German? So what was like? We’ve talked about the glittering palaces. We’ve talked about the wonderful opera. If you think about avant-garde theatre, by the turn of the century, German theatre, and of course after the invention of the moving image, German cinema and the art galleries. But even in the art galleries, there’s a huge division between what is established German art and what is the new art, which is decadent, the new music that is decadent and who is pioneering it? The people that can never be German, the Jews.

Now, the reality was that you have completely divided community in Germany. It was moving more and more towards reform. Yes, there were orthodox Jews, particularly those who were coming from Eastern Europe, far more poor Jews and also more pious and more noticeable in terms of the way they dressed, the way they spoke. But what you had with the Jews seeing themselves very much as German, if you’d like. As Walter Rathenau later said, only able to ape the Gentile. Many of them tumbled into conversion, believing it would change them into Germans. But of course it couldn’t, if you believe in race and blood. And it comes to the fore after the stock market crash. So, and of course the word antisemitism is coined in Germany by a German journalist, a man called Wilhelm Marr.

And it’s all you need to know, really. It is about race. A Jew cannot be a German because he has the wrong blood. On the contrary, Jews are their own nation. And gradually, you move to this terrifying notion that it’s about power. The reality was the Jews never really had power. And I mentioned this to you yesterday, and I really think it’s something that we should talk about and something that we should discuss, because what is absolutely fascinating about this is it’s the notion of the power of the Jew. Because if Jews are in left wing movements, if Jews are businessmen, if Jews are in every aspect of modernity, then obviously to the outsider who’s suffering, its power. But the reality was there is no common bonding between the capitalists and between the socialists and that terrible category of self hating Jews and converts. So anyway. The other problem was the situation in the city itself.

Berlin had the highest urban density of any city in Europe. In each small block, there was an average of 53 people. There were eight in Dickensian London. And of course, those of you who loved Dickens, or if you love reading about this period, you will know about the squalor and the horror of London. Over 60,000 people in Berlin officially lived in coal cellars. Now in those tenements that were built on the outskirts of Berlin to house the workers, the German industry, German factories, wanting more and more people. Ironically, that is where the cabaret begins, that incredible satire that comes out of Germany as it came out of Paris. The sanitary conditions were totally inadequate. There was sewage in the slum areas. Smallpox. There was a smallpox epidemic that was so terrible that the Berlin garrison actually allowed hospital tents on their parade ground at Tempelhof. That’s where you now have an airport. And that was the site where later on, the Wright brothers would test their planes. This is what Rosa Luxemburg, the Polish Jewish revolutionary wrote. She came to Berlin.

Every day, homeless people die in Berlin, broken by hunger and cold. Nobody notices them, particularly not the police report, because the police aren’t interested in anything by this. I’m quoting her again. Authorities react brutally to any processes. And why? Because it reminded them of the unsuccessful revolutions of 1848. Remember, 52 separate revolutions. The authorities are very atavistic. Bismarck is an authoritarian. He rules through the will of the kaiser. He wants a prosperous country. He wants to rule through the Kaiser, through almost divine right. Street battles, the working classes, street battles with the police become absolutely normal. There’s a Berlin underclass. There’s the whole kind of play of really violence in the streets, which is kept away from those going to the opera.

And in fact, another issue that came up was the rise of illegitimacy. In 1750, 4% of births in Berlin were illegitimate. By 1870, 15%. And of course it, led it… What did it lead to? It led to abortion clinics. It led to many women dying, because- And this is the other point. Women. Women who didn’t have the protection of men, father or husband, and you know, couldn’t find work, what was to happen to them? Anyway, this is against the backdrop of the most extraordinary Jewish success story. And I’m going to emphasise it because I think it’s most important, and I’m going to be talking about these characters in a minute. Bismarck’s personal banker, Bleichroder, the first Jew perse, to be ennobled. Although he’s one of the richest men in the world, he’s still shunned by the aristocracy. This is from Auerbach, a very sensitive Jew. To look at the way these wealthy Jews were trying so hard to be part of German society, he says, to have lived and worked in vain, there was an official German Israelite community and he issued a circular letter to every Jewish family.

Although this new wave of artificially kindled and fanned religious and racial hatred, arouses painful emotions in every thinking and feeling co-religionists, let us not embitter our hearts against our fellow Christian citizens or lessen our devotion to civic duties. Just like the Jews of France, the Jews of Germany believed that things would get better. Look, just to talk about the extraordinary success story, again, because I think it cannot be overemphasised. They’re not much in public banking, of course. They’re not high up in the civil service. But the three leading private banks, including the Mendelssohn Bank, were in Jewish hands. Now the department stores. Just think about department stores as the arbiters of modernity. The Tietz brothers, Wertheim. KaDeWe. Now, I dunno how many of you have visited, actually visited Berlin, but KaDeWe is still one of the wonders of the world. Shoe stores. Salomon, , manufacturing. Emil Rathenau’s, AEG, it brought the electricity to 70,000 Germans, one of the biggest industrial complexes in Europe. Self-service restaurants, advertising, every aspect of the railway business. Who do you think was financing the railways which were changing the face of Europe? And also after 1871, the Jews were going to university between 1815 and 1871, but it varied from state to state.

After 1871, there’s nothing officially to bar Jews from universities. And where did you find them most? In law, in medicine and in the new sciences. And I mentioned yesterday, by 1900, 50% of the lawyers and the doctors in Berlin were Jewish. They’re also very prominent in left wing and liberal movements. So you’ve got this picture of Jews almost being everywhere. Also the middle classes. The middle classes, it’s the lower middle classes that have problems. The prosperous middle classes before the crash of ‘73, you see between between 1871 and 1873, you had a couple of years when the property of middle classes were also rich beyond their wildest dreams. And the other issue in terms of that it meant that more people had time for luxury.

That’s why you see the proliferation of the department stores, restaurants. And who do you think is pushing all of this? I’m going to talk in a while about the Wertheim store. And Harden noted, one finds nothing in the world to compare with the department store of Wertheim. Those who first come to Berlin believe they have stepped onto the earth of the richest city in Europe. Wilhelm believes, this is Wilhelm I, that he is God’s interest on Earth. But again, Rosa Luxemburg. Berlin made a ghastly impression on me. It’s a cold, tasteless, massive barrack filled with those darling arrogant Russians, everyone looking as if he swallowed the stick with which he had just been beaten. And also, the problem of German militarism, because remember, they’d done it through three wars.

There’s almost a worship of the officer class. And particularly after Wilhelm II became kaiser, he much preferred the company of the officer class at Potsdam. So you’ve got, if you like this total duality. But going back to 1873, can we come onto the first slide, please? There, here you see Henry Strousberg. His dates are 1823 to 1884. He was born Baruch Hirsch Strousberg. He was born in Eastern Prussia. And if you remember Eastern Prussia, that should give you a clue. The Jews were emancipated in 1812. He attended a gymnasium. Very, very bright. His father died young. So he and his mother and brother went to London where he went into the family fancy goods business. His uncle Peter Gottheimer was in the fancy goods business. And he decides it’s going to be better for him. He falls in love with an non-Jewish woman. He converts and he marries in Fleet Street at Bride’s Church. He has two children. So he’s a convert from Christianity, from Judaism to Christianity.

Evidently he had the charm of the devil. He, through his family business, made a lot of interesting contacts. And also, it’s the period of insurance companies and the setting up of all sorts of property companies. And he becomes an agent. There is an issue of fraud. He spends six months in prison. He goes to America. He comes back, completely reinvents himself. He becomes a successful publisher and a successful journalist. You know, one of those characters, ruthlessly determined, who can do anything. He even becomes a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He’s seriously clever. He was a man, not just of charm, but he also had that terrible, dangerous property charisma. He mixed in all sorts of influential British Jewish circles. And with finance, he decides in 1860, look, Prussia’s expanding. This is just before all the wars. He goes back to Germany, because he realises the modernization in Germany can be the key to huge fortune. And what does he do? With capital, he goes into the railway industry. He finances these Prussian and railways.

And what they do is they set up stock companies and people invest in the railways. So he has himself, put less and less capital in. He also bought a huge iron foundry complex. He operated the Berlin cattle market. He becomes a member of the North German parliament. He has made it. he’s one of the most successful people in Berlin. In 1868, he buys himself a castle in Bohemia. He begins to live the life of an aristocrat. He also builds a palace in Berlin. It’s just by the Brandenburg Gate. And those of you who travel to Berlin, it’s now the site of the British Embassy, an incredible, incredible location.

However, when he went, he stretched himself too far. He got involved in railway building in Romania, and the venture sent him into liquidation. And it’s at this stage that The Liberal Party, because up until the 1870s, there was a very strong liberal party actually denounced him. And also, many government officials were tied in with him because, you know, if you’re thinking about it, government contracts, we’ve heard it all before. And he was absolutely at the centre of all of this. And it all of it led to the resignation of the Prussian Minister for trade. When this crash came, he, more than anyone else was blamed for it. He was the symbol of aggressive capitalism. He went bankrupt and he actually died in poverty. He came back to England where his sons were living and he finished up in England. But the point is, the converted Jew is seen as the symbol of aggressive capitalism. And the person who most calls him out on it is actually a man called Edward Lasker. Can we see Edward Lasker, please? Lauren, if I could have the next slide. Thank you, Lauren.

Now, Edward Lasker, this is the other side of the coin. His dates are 1829 to 1884. He was born in Posen, which of course is that area to the east. Had once been part of Poland. He went to a gymnasium, University of Breslau. Very, very, very clever. 1848, he travels to Vienna and is very involved in all the disturbances in the city. He comes back. He continues his studies in Breslau and Berlin, and then visited Britain. Now why did he come to Britain? Already, politically, he is becoming a liberal. He loves the notion of parliamentary democracy and he thinks that England is the model. He returned and he came back. He entered the Prussian legal service, an incredibly clever man. And by 1870 though, he leaves government and takes up an administrative to post. He’d written many, many political articles. He was totally against all the corruption around him. He was very much a man of the enlightenment of liberalism. And he wanted a just society. And he believed that the kind of society that was being created was in fact very, very unjust. And he was the person, he very much worked for Ford’s judicial reform. One of the problems with Bismarck’s Germany was on one level you had all the, if you like, all the, I suppose, the window dressing of modernity, but you didn’t have any kind of social poor law reforms. Whereas this was happening in England.

And I mentioned yesterday, that Disraeli was quite close to Bismarck and he kept on saying, you’ve got to do something. You see, Disraeli understood people far more than Bismarck. And it was Disraeli who actually coined that incredible phrase. When the cottages are restive, the stately homes should tremble. But Disraeli was not a socialist. He was a paternalism, but he understood people. Edward Lasker was not a socialist either. He was a liberal and he believed in social justice. He never converted. He was still a Jew. But how important is Judaism? But many people say that this kind of liberalism, certainly it was, I think, true of people like Moses Hess. This belief in social justice does in many ways come from prophetic Judaism, which is of course something interesting to argue about. He was one of the main figures that brought down Henry Strousberg, because he was the one who screamed out against the corruption, and Bismarck never, ever forgave him.

Why? Because it led to the resignation of one of his closest aids, who I’ve already mentioned. He actually, after the stock market crash, and as the 70s unfolded, the decline of liberalism, he’s writing and writing. He’s writing against aggressive capitalism. He actually loses his seat in parliament in 1879. And he’s on a tour of America. He dies in New York. And he was such a popular, important figure in liberal politics, that the US House of Representatives made a statement that his loss is not alone to be mourned by the people of his native land, where his firm and constant expedition of a devotion to free and liberal ideas have materially advanced the social, political, and economic conditions of these people, but by lovers of liberty throughout the world. And the note was sent to Bismarck, and Bismarck refused to communicate it to Parliament. He wouldn’t allow any civil servants to attend the funeral, 'cause as far as he was concerned, the man was really, really a problem. And now we come onto another Jew who was also of huge importance, who took on the whole issue of the working classes. And that was a brilliant young Jewish lawyer, a man called Ferdinand Lassalle.

Now, I already mentioned Lassalle to you because of course, he was hated by whom? Although he was often bailing Marx out of trouble, he was absolutely loathed by Marx. He, in a way is a… Robert Wistrich called him a kind of cross between Disraeli and Marx, because look at him. He’s a dandy. He’s a figure of the romantic movement. And yet he becomes the greatest champion of the working classes and really is the creator of the Communist Party in Germany. And ironically, he was a close friend of Bismarck. Bismarck said he was the cleverest man in Germany. So that is another Jew, Ferdinand Lassalle, who, and you see this is the problem. I’m giving you very high profile people. So if you are suffering, you put it all together. This is where we move into the realm of human nature. Now, let’s talk a little bit about Ferdinand Lassalle. He was born in 1825, also in Breslau. His father had Germanized the family name to Heyman Lassalle. The father was a successful silk merchant. And originally, the father had wanted to be a rabbi. But because of difficult economic circumstances, he goes into business.

The father was always a pious Jew. He was very much the son of… He was a pious Jew and an admirer of Moses Mendelssohn. Now, he transmitted all the values of the German enlightenment. He tried to walk the line between being a pious Jew and a follower of Moses Mendelssohn and the German enlightenment. And all these ideas, he transmits to his precocious, brilliant son. His mother, Rosalie, Lassalle’s mother was strictly orthodox and observed . Now, there was a lot of controversy in Breslau between reform and orthodoxy. And it rather… Because Lassalle’s father was important in the community, they were very much part of it. And father and son both supported reform. And this is what he writes, though. But in 1840, so he’s 15 years old, he’s had his be mitzvah. I think I’m one of the best Jews in existence, although I disregard the ritual laws. He’s already moving away. This is one of the problems of the enlightenment. Is it possible to be, if you like, a Jew in civil society? As that’s what one of the students suggested. The Damascus Affair of 1840, profoundly shocked him.

And you’ll remember, that was the first blood libel in the Arab world and it spread like wildfire. And for these young Jews who believed in enlightenment, it was a real bang on the head for them. And he wrote in his diary, I wish I could risk my life to deliver the Jews from their present crushing conditions. I would not even shrink from the scaffold. Could I once more make of them a respected people? Again, the downgrading of the Jew, or when I indulge in my childish dreams. So even my favourite idea to stand armed at the head of the Jews and make them independent. He was horrified at the passivity of the Syrian Jews. It drove him to a frenzy. A people who bears this is hideous. Let them suffer or avenge the treatment. This is his diary. Remember he’s only 15 years old. Even the Christians marvel at our sluggish blood, that we do not rise, that we do not rather perish on the battlefield than by torture. Is there a revolution anywhere which could be more just if the Jews were to rebel?

Set fire to every quarter in Damascus. Blow up the powder magazine and bring death to their persecutors. Cowardly people, you deserve no better fate. You do not know how to die or how to destroy. You know nothing of just revenge or how to go down to the same grave as your enemies, tearing the flesh from their bones in the last death struggle. You were born to be slaves. Now this is very much the kind of rather nasty rhetoric of a man who’s, well, a boy. But he’s grown to manhood, who looks at the downgraded condition of the Jew. He’s also, who happen to admire the strong German, Teuton. And it’s obvious that he’s becoming estranged from his Jewish roots. And his father obviously wanted him to go into business. He was wealthy, though. He sends him to university. Comes under the sway of Hegel at the University of Berlin. He reads, Heine. Gets to know Heine very well and he’s totally swayed by Heine’s writings. And he writes this. I find. I see what a vast prison Germany is, where human rights are stamped underfoot, and that 30 million people are tormented by 30 tyrants.

I will proclaim freedom to the people even if it costs me my life. And yet, so he’s already moving towards thinking I’ve got to sort out the wrongs of Germany. It’s fascinating, because there were maybe, I don’t know, a thousand of these radicals throughout Europe, and they do change the world. And so many of them are of Jewish birth. And yet, you still have the pull of Judaism with him. And he writes this, today was Passover. Memories of happy past days came back to me. I saw us all sitting at the large festive table, my dear father at the head. But more and more, he becomes estranged from his roots. And what he writes, an exodus from the Mosaic desert into the promised land. So basically, he moves into hegalianism. And he writes to his father, hate has got hold on me. In a letter to his mother, how can one say with every justification that the world of the Hebrew people represents, if you like, the most perfect ugliness, the most extreme submission of man before God, the most inward fragmentation? So basically he’s moving away. He develops these ideas of socialism. He becomes a lawyer and a very incredibly good lawyer. He’s a brilliant advocate. He begins to move. He’s an interesting character, because he’s a man of the people and he’s going to create the people’s movement. But he loves mixing with the aristocracy. And he has the most in remarkable intellectual gifts.

He makes his reputation by defending a countess in a divorce suit and he becomes very, very famous as a lawyer. And he becomes involved in the 1848 revolutions. He’s arrested and his defence is one of the greatest documents of the revolution. Paul Axelrod, one of the founders of Russian social democracy, also a Jew, record that how Lassalle’s speeches of being, that’s what propelled Axelrod into the movement, and this is what he writes. The proud language in an authoritative tone of a subject, a Jew at that, to the ruling power made an immeasurable impression and gave me profound delight and satisfaction. And from then on, he’s going to fight for the idea of a democratic revolution in Germany. He was quite close to Karl Marx. He was much kinder to Marx, than Marx ever was to him. And he quite often, because he made money and he came from a wealthy family, he quite often helped Marx out. And those of you who live around Hampstead, or know that there were many Sundays when Karl Marx went wandering with Lassalle or with Engels, tramping over Hampstead Heath, dreaming of changing the world. But as I said, he’s got a huge place in German high society. He’s a barrister, he’s a philosopher. He’s absolutely a the pinnacle of success.

There was a difference in style between Lassalle and Marx. Lassalle saw class consciousness and class conflict as a way of lifting the human condition to a greater level. Marx saw it as the disillusion of the state and they became more and more at odds with each other. This is what Bismarck said of him. Lassalle was one of the most gifted and intellectual men with whom I have ever had intercourse. A man whose ambition was on a grand scale. By no means a Republican, he had very decided national and monarchical sympathies. The ideas which he strove to realise was the German empire, and in that we had a point of contact. In May, 1863, he founds the German General Workers’ Association, which becomes the largest working class movement in Europe. His life was shortened by a total personal weakness for women. And, you know, this alienated Jew loses his life over a duel fought over a countess.

And this is what Engles wrote to Marx. And what an extraordinary way to die. This would be Don Juan really falls in love with the daughter of a Bavarian ambassador. Ironically, her grandfather was Jewish and wants to marry her. Then he comes up against a rejected suitor who incidentally is a swindler from Romania and gets himself shot dead by his rival. This could only happen to Lassalle with his unique character, part Jew, part cavalier, part clown, part Sentimentalist. How can a politician of his character be shot dead by a Romanian adventurer? There’s such a film to be made on Lassalle. What rejoicing there will be in- This is also Engels. What rejoicing there will be in the ranks of the factory owners, those dirty dogs in the Progressive Party. Lassalle was the only fellow in Germany that they really feared. Now this is what Robert Wistrich had to stay say about him.

As a Jew, he stands somewhat between Marx and Disraeli. In his aristocratic tastes, his social climbing and flamboyant dandyism, he resembles the English Tory leader in his passionate revolutionary idealism and faith in the working classes, he was closer to Marx. He combined in unique measure, the German furor cult with Jewish prophetic instinct. And of course, he died young. And that was the problem. You know, if he’d lived, would things have been different? So when his party, the party goes on after his death. And it becomes incredibly important, and it becomes so important that you have Disraeli putting so much pressure on Bismarck, change things, change things, change things. So in what I’m trying to give you is this picture of huge change. Can we go on to the next slide, please? Here you see Otto von Bismarck. I am going to be dealing with him. We’re going to- Wendy and I think that what might be interesting is to run some sessions on leadership. And we will certainly have a whole session on Bismarck who was as I said before, one of the great figures of the 19th century.

So can we go on please to the next picture, please? Because here you see, Gerson von Bleichroder. The Baron von Schroeder who financed the sixth- the 1870, 1871 war, Bismarck’s personal banker and the first Jew in Germany to actually be ennobled as a Jew. He was born in Berlin, the eldest son of Samuel Bleichroder who founded the banking firm. He joined the family business when he was 17, and he became head of the firm. He acted at the branch office in Berlin of the Rothschilds. He was very close to the Rothschilds and traditionally the Rothschilds had represented the banking interests of the Austrians. And when Bismarck was in Frankfurt, the Rothschilds had been his bankers. But because when he goes back, they recommend Bleichroder. So Bleichroder becomes Bismarck’s banker. And he also accrues, you can imagine the kind of businesses, that he’s in the railway business. In 1868 project in Romania had come to nothing. Bleichroder, because Strousberg went bankrupt, Bleichroder actually bought it up, supported by Bismarck. He also became a partner in the banking firm of Ladenburg and Thalmann. He’s ennobled by the state in 1872. Another Jew to be so honoured was Abraham Oppenheim who was also close to the regime.

You know, it’s interesting, Bismarck probably spent more time with Bleichroder than he did with any other person. And it’s fascinating how even Kasimir and Richard Wagner went to his bank. All of Berlin high society, be they do or Gentile. And yet, even though he had such a close relationship on his part with Bismarck and Bismarck did give him honour by making him a baron. Yet in Bismarck’s memoirs, there’s hardly any mention of Bleichroder. And ironically, he is called by bi Bismarck’s son, the dirty Jew. Now, ironically, after Bismarck’s fall, as I mentioned, it’s under Wilhelm II. You see, Bismarck made a terrible mistake ruling through decree, because he could handle Wilhelm I, then there was 100 days when the son was in power, and I’ll talk about that next time. But under Wilhelm II, he realised that Wilhelm II, of course, had all the power and he just took it away from Bismarck. So, but Bleichroder maintained loyal, close links. And it’s interesting. He was, if you like, the merchant prince of Berlin. That’s another one of Wistrich’s phrases. I love it. And he rose, and this is again, Robert. He rose to heights that no Jew and a few commoners ever reach. Amidst respect of secretness and whispered abuse, he was received everywhere in German society, usually at the black back door. And this is from another great commentator, Fritz Stern.

You’re equal, said the law. You’re more than equal said Bleichroder patent of nobility. Your are less than equal, said the gentile world. And behind his back, whispered filthy Jew with his Jewish money and Talmudic wisdom. Jewish pig. At an earlier time, he would’ve been called What happened to his children? They converted. But can we see the next slide? Because that is his brother Julius. Now Julius took a completely different path. He also, he completed, he became a very wealthy banker. He completed, of course, they come from a banking family, very close to the Rothschilds. He completed his apprenticeship at the Rothschilds Bank. He founded his own bank. He married Adelaide Solomon, the daughter of another banker. He had seven children. He was a member of the Berlin Jewish Society of Friends, where the wealthy Jews of Berlin, who still had a very strong Jewish conscience, met to dispense charity. He supported the first Jewish old age home in Berlin.

He also established a Jewish teacher training school. A park was named for him and for his son. He and all his children died as Jews, and they’re buried in the Jewish cemetery in Berlin, the incredible Weissensee cemetery. If you visit Berlin, please go and see it because it’s really about Jewish life, not Jewish death. Ironically, all his descendants converted. Are we surprised? All his descendants converted to Christianity. Before I go on to look at some other characters, another great commentator on this period is Professor John Rohl. He wrote a brilliant book called “The Kaiser and His Court.” The Second Reich of Bismarck represents the most determined effort in Europe to uphold the feudal principles of personal monarchy by divine right, a military code of honour and a social hierarchy dominated by the aristocracy. And to reserve these outdated institutions and values into a world increasingly characterised by trade and industry, burgeoning cities and mass mobility, democracy and socialism and freedom of expression in the press and in the arts.

Nowhere was the clash between ancient and modern attitudes and beliefs more intense than in imperial Germany. Can we go on, please? And here you see Mr. Rudolf Mosse. Now because I want to look at some of those extraordinary individuals who changed Germany. And Rudolf Mosse, his dates are 1843 to 1920. He’s born in Posen. Again, on the borderlands. Eastern European Jews who are now part of Prussia after the divisions of Poland. He began his career in the book printing business. He mastered the art of printing. And you see, he realised how undeveloped advertising was. Again, the outsider looking at what’s going on. And he actually organised an advertising agency in Berlin, which gradually he extended to most cities in Europe, Austria and Switzerland. So throughout the German speaking world, I should say. And through his initiative, newspapers started taking on more and more advertising supplements. You’ve got to remember also that more and more people can read. This is the day of the newspapers, print. And gradually, through beginning with advertising and printing, he establishes one of the largest printing, or one of the largest printing empires in the world.

There were two of them in Germany, the Mosse and the . And they were both started by Jewish entrepreneurs. He was an incredibly decent man. He was a very, very good employer, huge philanthropist. He set up a huge fund for all his employees. He built a hospital in Gratz. He built an educational institute for children in Berlin. He also, he was very much a patron of the arts, contributing to all sorts of artistic endeavours. Think about the arts are flourishing now in capitalist Berlin. He also represented the reformed Jewish community in Berlin. He was very much more solid in his Jewishness. He was a reformed Jew. He was a man of society, but have a look at that kind face. He was one of six brothers and they all had Jewish brothers. After his death, he only had one child, a daughter. And after his death, his son-in-law took over the business. He joined the company as an accountant. He was also socially very philanthropic and very, very liberal. He though, in an interview in 1922, very interesting about Jewishness, he said that Zionism made it harder for the Mosse Empire Newspapers to deal with antisemitism.

And in fact, in… They had built one of the most incredible, the Mossehaus was one of the most incredible architecture wonders of Berlin. It was designed by the incredible architect, Eric Mendelsohn. Gradually, the empire crumbled and the son fled Nazism and also fled his creditors. Having fled, he does convert the Mosse empire, because of course, his father-in-law had died. He does convert the empire into a foundation and he says this. I don’t want to benefit from anything. All the fruits the tree shall bear, should belong to the victims of war. He’s fought in First World War, like so many. Look, 100,000 German Jews fought for Germany. I’ll be talking about that next time. Ironically, he did receive an invitation from Goring to continue as the business manager of the Berliner Tageblatt which one of the most important newspapers with protective status of Honorary Aryan. He rejected the offer. He never returned to Germany. Why on earth did Goring make the offer? Because you’ve got to remember, the Mosse empire had branches throughout the whole of the German speaking world.

And Goring wanted to get his hands on that. His son. He divorced his wife. She and her son relocated to Switzerland. He married his mistress and he made it into America where he became a great patron of the arts. So let’s have a look at another incredible family. Now this is Wertheim. He was born near the Baltic. He and his brother took over their parents’ haberdashery shop. Their names were Abraham and Ida Wertheim. Already, they had very innovative ideas. Customers were allowed to replace goods. Prices were fixed. Only cash purchases. They do so well, they open another branch in Rostock. This is modernity in action. They founded the first Berlin branch. What they are responsible for is they open the first real department store in Berlin. I’ve already described it to you. It was considered one of the wonders of the world, the presentation of the goods, the shop floor giving in an incredible space. They create an emporium of dreams. Just as later on, the American movie moguls, those other alienated Jews are going to create the factory of dream. Here, you have Jewish entrepreneurs creating a paradise. Can you imagine ordinary folk, middle class women stepping into paradise? George had furthered his education, by the way, at the Berlin Art Academy, where he met a very interesting unknown architect, a man called Alfred Messel. And he developed the concept of actually building these incredible emporiums, specifically as department stores. And it becomes compared with Harrods in London and Galeries Lafayette in Paris.

Ironically, Alfred Messel was himself the son of a Jewish banker. He later converted to Protestantism and he became so famous. He also designed the, what’s it called? The great art centre in Berlin. Oh, I’ll think of it in a minute. Oh, the Pergamon, of course. Messel, ironically, he finished up in London and one of his descendants is Antony Armstrong Jones. Now, the last one I’m going to talk about, I think, have we got the last picture, please? Yes. That is Paul Julius Reuter, another fascinating character. I decided, really, just to give you a glimpse of some of these entrepreneurs. As I said, modernity was almost made for the Jews. He was born Israel via Josaphat. His father was a rabbi. And he goes off to Gottingen. What happens to him is he goes to study, He works as a clerk in the uncle’s bank. But then he goes to study and he meets up with an extraordinary individual. Because if you think about it, at universities in the sciences, they are looking at new techniques. And he meets up with a man who is working on the transmission of electrical signals. And he realises the potential for this. He decides, he converts… He comes to London and Israel Beer Josaphat converts.

He marries, and as he emerges from the church, he becomes Paul Julius Reuter. He married a woman called Ida Magnus, the daughter of a German banker. But the two of them convert and marry in church. What is so interesting is he goes back to Germany and he sets up a publishing house. And in the publishing business, he’s terribly involved in the 1848 revolution, because he’s printing radical pamphlets. He comes to London and he forms a ped telegraph office. You see the point is he realises… On the way to London, he stops off in Paris and he sees the potential of telegraphy. Why? Because if you think about it, transferring messages between Berlin, London, Paris, think about war, think about the stock market. He sets up his office in London, just by the London Stock Exchange. Areas where, for example, between Brussels and Aachen, there was no telegraph. So he uses the pigeon post. What he does is he revolutionises telecommunication. A telegraph line was also under construction between Britain and Europe. So that’s why he decides he’s got to between Britain and Europe, and also he wants to work on America. And in 1863, this is the genius of the man.

He erects a telegraph link to Brookhaven, which it’s the foremost southwesterly part of Ireland. And on nearing Crookhaven, ships from America with canisters containing news into the sea. It was retrieved by Reuter’s agents and telegraph directory to London, which arrives long before the boats, which means he’s very much at the forefront of any knowledge, be it financial, be it political, because obviously, those of you in business will know that in order to be able to play futures, you’ve got to know about economics, you’ve got to know about finance, you’ve got to know about war. So he’s absolutely instrumental. He was presented at court in 1861. He becomes a big figure of high society in England. And he was the first to bring the news of the assassination of Lincoln. He also turns to Alexandria. He opens up a telegraph office in Alexandria. He becomes very involved in Persia. He becomes wealthier and wealthier. He’s ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and Queen Victoria granted him and his successors the right to use his German title. He died in 1899 in… In he’s buried. Christian burial in Norwood Cemetery. He had three sons. Herbert became the second baron. His son Herbert was killed in The First World War. And his son Hubert. Also his son, Hubert, educated at Oxford. He married Edith Campbell of . He moves into the English aristocracy. His daughter marries into the Scottish aristocracy.

The second baron’s brother had two sons. They marry into the European aristocracy and the last of the granddaughters in-law dies childless in 2009, age 96. It’s interesting, isn’t it? Some of these extraordinary families who… And I haven’t even had time to talk about the Kempinski family. Can we see the last picture? Yeah, there you see there you see Kempinski. And of course, he of course sets up the incredible Kempinski Hotel chain. So the picture I’ve tried to give you is Jews at the centre of modernity in socialism, in capitalism. This tiny percentage of the population. You know, what was it Heine said? The two ethical nations, the Jews and the Germans will create a new Jerusalem at the sharp edge of modernity, taking every opportunity that the modern world offered. Now, they’re not the majority, but they are the visible ones. And that’s the point I’m trying to make. I don’t want you to draw too many conclusions, because history, I do not believe it is completely determined.

So let’s have a look at the questions.

Q&A and Comments:

Okay, this from Arlene. I have read that Nietzsche was not anti-Semitic, but rather his anti-Semitic sister who inherited the works when he died, inflicted her feelings into his posthumous published work. Yes, you are completely correct and Arlene has said so.

Oh yes, Victoria, I am so sorry. I should have added names to all the photos. I will in future. I’m sorry about that.

Yes, Thelma. Once the website is up, you’re going to have more resources you can know what to do with. For the Germans, the important thing was German blood. How does this conflate with the blood libel?

Steven, please don’t look for any kind of logic. What actually caused the financial clash of 1873? Let me try and work this out in my very non-economic head. I think what had happened was prices were overinflated. Too many people and invested too much money. And there was total corruption. It couldn’t hold. But the point about the crash, it was Europe wide and it was the death knell of liberalism.

Q: What was the rabbi’s attitude to the Jewish embrace of modernity in the 1830s?

A: That is a very, very good question, David. It depends which rabbi is where. In Eastern Europe, the majority of rabboni were absolutely horrified by it. In Germany, you had those who were trying to stay true to orthodoxy, but the rise of reform tried to embrace modernity. You see, reform Judaism in its infancy was not about theology. It was trying to prove to the outside world that Jews could be modern.

This is from Esther. We also need to hear about the Jews of Turkey and the Balkans. Under the Ottoman Empire and later, my family could live quite well in Istanbul and Solanica.

Yes, Esther. We’ve already been working with Lynn Julius, and there will be far more. she’s already given five lectures on Jews of the Arab world. But we will be looking at Turkey, we will be looking at Solanica. And we have many, many more lectures to go from all sorts of different people.

Yes, Jonathan is talking about Albert Fallon was the largest shipping in the world. Yes. He was a close friend of the Kaiser. Yes, yes. There are so many of these characters. We had to make choices. They changed the modern world. Oh dear. I went .

Please spell Lassalle’s name. Audrey has done it for you.

Yes, Bleichroder did have the most astonishing facial hairdo? The difference between money and talent is money creates envy.

Yeah. Talent creates admiration. It can.

Q: What happened to all those converted Jews during the time of Hitler?

A: Well, the ones I’m talking about, they were all long dead and their children converted. Now what happened with Hitler? It was blood. And you know what happened to the category. If you were half Jewish, it was very scientific. The Nazis were so pseudo-scientific. If you looked Jewish… We will read the Nuremberg Laws. In general,

Q: Were the Christian descendants and these prominent Jews treated as if they were Christian, Jewish?

A: Yes. If they were ¾, yes, basically. Some of them got away.

Yes. I promise I will put names to photographs.

Yes, Harvey. Yes, I know. I’ve spoken to the family. Bleichroder’s great-granddaughters are living in . Yes, I know. I’ve spoken to them. Yes. My friend Victoria Messel is descended from a Messel. Yes.

Q: What was the name of the fabulous department store?

There was Wertheim’s. We’ve looked at the Wertheim, but there was also KaDeWe. 80% of the department stores in Germany were Jewish. Barbara’s recommended the TV series, “Babylon Berlin.” What happened in the show? Look to the descendants of these extraordinary Jewish entrepreneurs. Look, depending how far back you want to go, if you are only an eighth Jewish in The Main, you got away with it. But there’s so much pain in all of this. And I think we have to be careful a about this, Carol, because Nazism was not inevitable.

This is from Norman. My paternal grandfather and one brother born in Stuttgart had the second largest business in their adopted cities. Mulheim and . Is that Duisburg? Department stores with conductors, with live classical music to entertain the shoppers. My grandfather, after the 1930s during six-month boycott moved to Berlin in be believing things would be better. But at the end, after his three sons immigrated, he and my grandmother were trapped in Berlin and perished in Riga. Oh, Norman, they’re so tragic because they really, really believed they were German. You see, there was so much to admire in Germany.

Q: Did it have to go so bad?

A: And I’ve already given this presentation. Remember we’ve been online for a year ½ now. I’ve given these kind of presentations on the inevitability of The Shoah, and I will be talking about it over the because in the days between we will be having different sorts of lectures. We have quite a few rabbis speaking, but I will be talking about the show and trying to make some sort of sense.

Q: Adrian, why did all these eminent and successful Jews convert to Christianity? Was it a religious belief or an attempt to associate themselves from their heritage?

A: It depends, Adrian. I think for some of them they wanted, you know, for Heine, it was the ticket of admission to Christian society, passport to European civilization. For others, I think some of them fell in love with the smells and bells, you know, the romantic movement. They wanted to be accepted.

Oh, this is lovely. This is from Josie Adler. Bismarck rode his horse in the tea garden, stopped to look into governess’ his pram with two small .

He said, two such wonderful little Aryan boys. One was a child, the other my grandfather, who later was in the EAJ. Oh, that’s fantastic. That’s fantastic. Josie.

Yes, this is Ludwig Gutmann born in Germany in 1899. Started the Paralympic games. Yes, he was so important. I mean, of course, look what he did for people who had lost limbs in the war. I mean, he was an incredible man. Look, I’ve just given you a few entrepreneurs. Depends what discipline you are interested in. Do you want to go into sciences? Do you want to go into the world of chemistry, mathematics? Something like… I mean, so many of those who won the Nobel Prizes were German Jews.

How is Mosse spelled? M-O-S-S-E.

So much pain. It is spelled Bleichroder.

Q: What happened to the fun lectures in August? You’ve promised you’d have a few fun lectures.

A: And I am going to look at Hollywood, but I just felt… I just felt that to look at Hollywood, to look at the image of the Jew in American film, I have to ground it first, but I promise you we’re going to have fun.

Yes, I have made a terrible mistake not putting the names on the people. I apologise for that. It’s all my fault. I’m so bad at technology. And Judy and Lauren do try and help me. And we were just… I would have to do better, won’t I, Lauren? Anyway, I think that’s it. You have another lecture tonight from Jeremy Rosen. So I will see you, yeah, I’ll see you on Thursday. And I promise you after there will be fun. So, and actually, August hasn’t been too gloomy, has it? I don’t think so. I don’t find this gloomy. You’re just projecting onto what happened.

Look, don’t forget, the 20th century might have been the most traumatic century for the Jewish people, but never forget, despite all the pain, you know, we are the only people, landless people that have survived without a country, and now there is a Jewish state. And, you know, the game goes on. Every generation has to write its own rules. And I’m just particularly interested in these on the edge characters who do change the world. What Isaac Deutscher, I suppose, called the non-Jewish Jews. Look. How many of them converted because they believed? Remember what Abraham Mendelssohn said? Religion. Remember what he said? He said, when he converted his daughter and son, Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn. I have converted you because Christianity is the religion of civilised people. Not because he became a religious Christian. Ironically, Felix did. And you will remember how Heine mocked him so much. Okay, I think that’s it. Isn’t it, Lauren? Lauren?

• [Lauren] Yeah. Sorry. That is it. Thank you so much, Trudy.

• Okay. God bless everybody. Bye.