Raphael Straus

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Raphael Straus (born February 25, 1887 in Karlsruhe , † May 3, 1947 in New York ) was a German historian and publisher. He was persecuted as a Jew in Germany and emigrated to Palestine in June 1933 . His life's work was researching the history of the important Jewish community in Regensburg . His specialty was the history and economic situation of Judaism in the Middle Ages . Shortly before his death, he received US citizenship .

Life until 1933

Straus came from a strictly Orthodox family that had lived in southwest Germany for centuries. An ancestor of Straus was employed in an official position at the court of Emperor Maximilian I and Emperor Karl V. A great-grandfather, Isaac Loeb Wormser , worked as a rabbi in Michelstadt am Odenwald and was in great demand as a clever adviser in large parts of the Holy Empire of the German nation . The maternal family also had many famous ancestors. Strau's father was a banker. Straus graduated from the Goethe Gymnasium in Frankfurt and studied history in Freiburg , Berlin and Heidelberg from 1906 . In 1910 he received his doctorate with The Jews in the Kingdom of Sicily under Normans and Staufers . Furthermore, the Jewish economic and social history of the Middle Ages developed as his main field of work. Since he, as a German citizen of the Jewish faith, was discriminated against as a Jew, Staus did not see any chances for a university career in the anti-Semitic climate at German universities. Therefore, he initially embarked on a career in publishing. In 1913 he bought Holbein Verlag, which specializes in art reproductions and historical works, and which he managed successfully until the late 1920s. On the side, Straus always organized courses for students and historical lectures for the general public.

In 1927 a new opportunity for historical research opened up: the historical commission of the Association of Bavarian Israelitic Congregations commissioned him to research the sources on the history of Judaism in Bavaria and, above all, Regensburg. The historical commission also funded this work. To do this, Straus had to locate documents in many German and Austrian archives and make copies. He reduced his publishing activities and devoted himself almost entirely to historical research. All the more so when in 1929 he was entrusted with the editing of the journal for the history of Jews in Germany .

Life after 1933

Straus' research came to an end in 1932/33. In 1932 he published the book Die Judengemeinde Regensburg in the late Middle Ages - critically examined on the basis of the sources and re-presented in the renowned Heidelberg publishing house Carl Winter . The sources and documents he collected in the research project were to be published in a second book entitled Documents and documents on the history of the Jews in Regensburg in the late Middle Ages . The publisher was already determined and the book was already in galley proof . During this time, the historian was visited by a prospective doctoral student from Munich named Wilhelm Grau , who posed as a democrat and a friend of the Jews. He declared that he wanted to prepare an exhibition on the subject of Jews in Augsburg in Regensburg. Straus willingly gave him the proofs for inspection.

Grau used the Straus'schen findings and documents from the document work for his anti-Semitic dissertation, which 1934 as anti-Semitism in the Middle Ages. The end of the Regensburg Jewish community 1450-1519 appeared and was praised for its "rare abundance of sources". With this use of Straus' documents, Grau had not only acquired Straus years of careful research in archives; Without any knowledge of Jewish religious practice or mastery of Hebrew , he arbitrarily interpreted Straus 'translations of Hebrew and Straus' sources in the sense of his anti-Semitic attitude, thus laying the foundation for his career as a professional anti-Semite with the position of managing director of the research department of the Jewish question in Reich Institute for the History of the New Germany .

After Straus' emigration to Palestine in June 1933, Grau tried to take over the publication of the document book, which was decisive for his doctoral thesis, as co-editor responsible for the final correction (which would have allowed him any interventions and would have put his name on the title page), which he did, however, despite his reputation as a proven enemy of Jews did not succeed. In 1938 flags and printing blocks were confiscated and destroyed by the Gestapo. After the war, Grau used these efforts as an alibi.

In 1936, while in exile, Straus published a criticism of Grau's work, which appeared in the Journal for the History of the Jews in Germany , which was still tolerated in Germany at the time . Since Straus could not endanger the lives of the editors of the newspaper, which was under SS observation, Straus' reply was limited to proving the unscientific nature of this work - without mentioning the plagiarism of Grau's publication. Wilhelm Grau, on the other hand, forced a multifaceted reply in the next but one issue of the journal for the history of the Jews . At the end of his article, Grau made threats against the Jews.

"In Jewish circles, one must above all make it clear that we Germans do not want to write the history of the Jews or Judaism, but the history of the Jewish question."

It was not until 1939 that Straus was able to publicize the plagiarism in his book History of Jews - Regensburg and Augsburg , published in English in the United States . The foreword of the book reads in a note (note) other “... the work of Wilhelm Grau Antisemitismus im late Mittelalter , Munich 1934, ... is entirley valueless for scholars, ... it is based entirely on Straus ” work.

In Jerusalem , Straus continued his scientific work under difficult conditions. His wish to move to the United States was not fulfilled until the end of 1945. There he died a year and a half later of a heart attack.

Estate and Commemoration

Straus' manuscript The Jews in Economy and Society: Studies on the History of a Minority , like the above-mentioned documentary work, was not published until 1960, long after his death and the end of National Socialism. His scientific study Apokatastasis - a peaceful contemplation of Judaism and Christianity (probably created in the late 1930s, early 1940s, unfinished) was only discovered decades after his death and, despite various efforts and announcements, is still unpublished today.

In January 2006 the city of Regensburg organized a symposium in honor of Raphael Straus. It dealt with both Straus's merits for researching the history of Regensburg's Jews and the misuse of his research by the Nazi historian Wilhelm Grau. The symposium was brought to the city administration and the content prepared by the Fritz Bauer Institute . This was preceded by a public criticism of an economic history publication published by the city archive and portraying Wilhelm Grau as an honest or anti-Nazi scientist. At the symposium, however, the criticism of the publication published by the archive was not discussed. A publication of the speeches at the symposium, which was announced by the city archives at the time, was not published until 2014.

Fonts (selection)

Books

  • The Jews in the Kingdom of Sicily under Normans and Staufers . Heidelberg 1910 (dissertation) ( archive.org ).
  • The legal situation of the Jews in the Kingdom of Sicily in the 12th and 13th centuries . Heidelberg 1910.
  • The Jewish community of Regensburg in the late Middle Ages: critically examined and re-presented based on the sources . Winter, Heidelberg 1932. In the series Heidelberger Abhandlungen zur Mittleren und Neue Geschichte Heft 61. The sources used for this should be under the title documents and files on the history of the Jews in Regensburg in the late Middle Ages 1932/1933 in the collection Contributions to Bavarian History in the publishing house for culture and history in Munich. The publication was prevented and only took place under a slightly changed title in 1960, see below
  • Regensburg and Augsburg . From the German by Felix N. Gerson. Jewish Publication Service, Philadelphia 1939. Contains on page X a description of the appropriation of Straus research results by Wilhelm Grau.
  • Moshe Montefiore . Omanut Verlag, Tel Aviv 1939. A biography of the thought leader of Zionism Moses Montefiore in Hebrew.
  • Documents and files on the history of the Jews in Regensburg 1453 - 1738 . With a preface by Friedrich Baethgen, Beck Verlag, Munich 1960. Published in Sources and Discussions on Bavarian History , Ed. The Commission for Bavarian State History at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.
  • The Jews in Economy and Society: Studies on the History of a Minority . European Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1964.

Journal articles

  • The Regensburg ritual murder trial . In Menorah - Jüdisches Familienblatt für Wissenschaft / Kunst und Literatur, 1928 No. 11/12, readable under compactmemory .
  • The Jewish question at the Augsburg Diet of 1530 . In: Bayerische Israelitische Gemeindezeitung 23 (1930), pp. 359–361 ( digitized version ).
  • Anti-Semitism in the Middle Ages: a word pro domo . In: Journal for the History of the Jews in Germany . Berlin, issue 1. 1936 ( compactmemory.de ). An article on Wilhelm Grau's 1934 book Antisemitism in the Middle Ages, which is peppered with unobjective and anti-Semitic attacks on Straus .
  • Palestine as a Colonial Enterprise . In: Jewish Social Studies , 5/4, 1943, pp. 327-354 ( JSTOR 4464528 ).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Jews in Economy and Society: Studies on the History of a Minority . Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main 1964 biography on pages 210–213.
  2. ↑ See Dirk Rupnow: Destroying and remembering . Traces of National Socialist Memory Policy, Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2005, pp. 184ff. ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ Alexander von Müller: For guidance . In: Anti-Semitism in the late Middle Ages: The end of the Regensburg Jewish community 1450-1519 . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1934.
  4. ^ Patricia von Papen-Bodek: Research on Jews and persecution of Jews. The habilitation of the managing director of the research department Jewish question, Wilhelm Grau, at the University of Munich 1937. In: Elisabeth Kraus (Hrsg.): The University of Munich in the Third Reich. Essays . Volume 2. Utz, Munich 2008. (Contributions to the history of the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich Volume 4) ISBN 978-3-8316-0727-3 , pp. 236-238.
  5. ↑ Patricia von Papen-Bodek: Research on Jews and Persecution of Jews , p. 234, fn. 103.
  6. ↑ Journal for the History of Jews in Germany , 1936, Issue 1, see under journal articles the article Antisemitism in the Middle Ages: a word pro domo
  7. ↑ Wilhelm Grau: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte der Juden , 1936, Issue 4, p. 186, compactmemory.de ( Memento of the original from January 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.compactmemory.de
  8. ^ Wilhelm Grau: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte der Juden , 1936, Issue 4, p. 198
  9. ↑ Namely on the above work documents and files on the history of the Jews in Regensburg 1473-1738 . Just the work whose proofs Grau - as described above - had exploited as a plagiarist and whose publication he had prevented. It was only published posthumously by Beck Verlag in 1960.
  10. ^ Rafael Straus: History of Jews - Regensburg and Augsburg. From the German by Felix N. Gerson. Jewish Publication Service, Philadelphia 1939, p. X. Note
  11. ↑ Guide to the Papers of Raphael Straus (1887–1947) (English)
  12. ↑ The widow Erna Straus initiated the printing in 1954. In the foreword (p. 8) of the document collection, the details and the location of proofs that were believed to be lost are described by the editor.
  13. ↑ It was about the slightly revised dissertation by Klaus Fischer: Regensburger Hochfinanz , published by the museums and the archives of the city of Regensburg 2003. Cf. Alexander Kissler: Der Wissenschaft gerader Weg. A book by the city of Regensburg ennobles “Jewish research” . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , June 24, 2004.
  14. ↑ In February 2010, Fischers Hochfinanz was taken out of the range by a new publishing director. Cf. Stefan Aigner: Historical incompetence in the world heritage? regensburg-digital , February 11, 2010; Retrieved November 26, 2013.
  15. ↑ Florian Sendtner: In honor of the Jewish historian from Regensburg: The first Raphael Straus Symposium recognized his achievements . In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung , February 1, 2006.
  16. ↑ (June 2014) Patricia von Papen-Bodek: Judenforschung und Judenverendung , p. 236, fn. 113.
personal data
SURNAME Straus, Raphael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Strauss, Raphael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American historian
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Karlsruhe
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 1947
Place of death New York City