Language:
English
Year of publication:
1995
Titel der Quelle:
German Studies Review
Angaben zur Quelle:
18, 2 (1995) 291-314
Keywords:
Rose, Paul Lawrence.
;
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
Abstract:
Criticizes the conception of the continuity in German antisemitism, expressed in Paul L. Rose's book (1990). States that Rose considers German antisemitism to be specific and different from that in other countries; that its roots lie in the German "revolutionary mentality" and in the entire German culture; that the Holocaust was a natural result of German antisemitism and a demonstration of its uniqueness. Contends that Rose has misinterpreted the aims of the German Enlightenment, and hence, he accuses two German liberal thinkers - Dohm and Humboldt - of having paved the way for the Holocaust. Disregarding the fact that the arguments of both Dohm and Humboldt for the emancipation of Jews were borrowed from natural law theory and from other liberal doctrines of their time, Rose ascribed to them only "statist" considerations and the desire to destroy Judaism. Such reductionist thinking, ignoring the liberal and pluralistic tradition in German intellectual history, must be resisted.
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