Zwischen Emanzipation und Beharrung

Starting from the ambivalence of the citizens of Papenburg-Aschendorf toward memories of "Kristallnacht" and a meeting with former Jewish neighbors, traces the history of Jews, their emancipation and assimilation, and of antisemitism and the rise of Nazism in the two towns. Notes that the local (mainly Catholic) population initially resisted Nazism because of Catholic universalism and traditionalism, though after 1933 Catholic anti-Judaism blurred the difference. Seeks the seeds of modern antisemitism in the Enlightenment and 19th-century liberalism. Analyzing texts and debates in the Hannover parliament in 1831, shows that advocates of rights for Jews, starting with Dohm, rejected Jews as they were and insisted on their "improvement". Inherent in this view was the threat that if enlightened measures failed, Jews must be made to disappear by other means. Discusses, also, Marx's analysis of the "Jewish question". Concludes that the continuing existence of Jews as a separate group was seen as a reproach, and thus engendered the wish for their disappearance. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)