Language:
German
Year of publication:
2006
Titel der Quelle:
Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft
Angaben zur Quelle:
54,4 (2006) 317-338
Keywords:
Billroth, Theodor,
;
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Jews
Abstract:
Billroth (1829-1894), born and educated in Germany and an ardent German nationalist, was a professor of surgery at the University of Vienna. Highly regarded, he cultivated a select group of students, all ethnic Germans from the higher socioeconomic classes. The empoverished Jewish students from the "Crown lands" (Hungary, Galicia, etc.) who were crowding into the university were, he warned, lowering the academic level; they were utterly lacking in intelligence and culture and hardly spoke German. But even Jews born and educated in Germany, seemingly assimilated and speaking perfect German, could never be real Germans; they were of other blood. These opinions he aired in a brief but trenchant chapter of his book "Lehren und Lernen" (1875). The chapter aroused controversy both at the (until then largely liberal) university and in the city; the Ministry of Education threatened to dismiss him. The ethnic German students adored Billroth because his demand to restrict the number of Jewish students promised to reduce competition at the university and in the labor market. In subsequent years, university policy increasingly followed Billroth's line.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink