Association for the Defense against Anti-Semitism
The association for the defense of anti-Semitism ("Abwehrverein") was founded by liberal and humanist-minded citizens in the German Empire in 1890 in order to publicly oppose the growing hostility towards Jews (anti-Semitism). The association was dissolved in 1933.
The increase in political anti-Semitism
Since the 1880s years had anti-Semitic political groups receive in the German Reich increasing supply. The program of these anti-Semites envisaged the "suppression of Jewish influence" and the withdrawal of civil equality for Jews . Leading representatives of anti-Semitism were the court and cathedral preacher Adolf Stoecker , the leader of the anti-Semitic Berlin movement , and the historian Heinrich von Treitschke , who triggered the " Berlin anti-Semitism dispute " in 1879 with his anti-Semitic statements . An " anti-Semite petition" addressed to Chancellor Bismarck in 1881“Had called for the restoration of civil equality for Jews.
In the first Reichstag elections after the founding of the Reich, there was no party-politically organized anti-Semitism in the German Reichstag . That changed after the Reichstag elections in 1887 and 1890 . For the first time, candidates who described themselves primarily as "anti-Semites" were able to win mandates.
In addition to this public political anti-Semitism, there was an abundance of, in some cases, traditional anti-Jewish prejudices and stereotypes in large sections of the population, extending far into the politically left spectrum.
Founding of the association, organ of publication and members
In order to counter anti-Semitism, the “Association for Defense of Anti-Semitism” was founded on December 14, 1890 out of the liberal bourgeoisie .
“In the last few days an association for the defense of anti-Semitism has been formed [in Berlin], which has already been registered with the police authorities on the basis of the Association Act. With the provisional management of the business, Mr. Professor Rudolf v. Gneist , Member of Parliament Rickert and Ludwig Loeweentrusted. It is intended to first create a broader basis for the efforts of the association and then to ward off the agitations of the anti-Semitic parties on a larger scale through written and spoken word. It will also be the task of the association to promote institutions, especially in rural districts, which are capable of removing the ground from the anti-Semitic movement. In view of the growing agitation of the anti-Semites and the mass distribution of anti-Semitic writings, especially in the rural districts of individual parts of Germany, more recently also in Hanover, the founders of this association consider it necessary to take action as soon as possible. The invitations to join this association are distributed throughout Germany. "
In the association, Christians and Jews stood up against the anti-Semitic propaganda. The main actors were at first the pastor Friedrich Otto Gräbner , the archivist Georg Winter , the Jewish entrepreneur Charles Hallgarten and the deputy chairman Wilhelm Foerster.
The 14,000-20,000 members included the historian Theodor Mommsen , the lawyer Rudolf von Gneist (the first chairman of the association), the politician and publicist Theodor Barth , the poet and publicist Ludwig Jacobowski , the left-liberal politician Heinrich Rickert, the industrialist Robert Bosch , later the writer Heinrich Mann and the liberal, social democratic or center politicians Heinrich Krone , Hugo Preuss and Otto Landsberg . A relevant local group was that in Marburg, headed by Edmund Stengel .
The organ of publication of the association was from 1891 to 1924 the " Mitteilungen aus dem Verein zur Abwehr des Antisemitismus " and from 1925 to 1933 the " Abwehr Blätter ", which were published weekly. In the first sample number of the communications from October 1, 1891 it said:
“The program of the German Social (anti-Semitic) party , which is being disseminated again these days through its organs throughout the country, openly contains the demand that the constitutional equality of Jews be abolished and that our Jewish fellow citizens be placed under special aliens lawshould be. The anti-Semites use all their agitational power to remove these regulations, which are the result of centuries of cultural work and the arduous development of our public life in Germany. But we want to ensure that the anti-cultural plan is rejected from the outset. That is the duty of all men and parties standing on the basis of our constitution and our legal status. "
It also said:
“With the weapons of truth and facts we want to fight our opponents and counter their endeavors, which we firmly believe are pernicious for the fatherland. It is not a question of attacking the opponents personally , but of showing the inner untruth of their efforts and the danger of their inflammatory agitations. "
In its publications, the association reported on anti-Semitic incidents, such as B. also on the Konitz murder affair , in which the medieval ritual murder legend was revived, and tried to expose the claims of the anti-Semites as unfounded and inflammatory arguments. However, as early as 1894 the co-initiator of the Theodor Mommsen association had to resignedly state that the anti-Semites could not be dealt with with arguments of reason:
“You are mistaken if you think that anything can be done with reason at all . I used to mean that too and repeatedly protested against the immense disgrace that is called anti-Semitism. But it's no use. It's all free. What I could tell you, what can be said at all in this matter, are always just reasons, logical and moral arguments. No anti-Semite listens to that. They only listen to their own hatred and envy, to their shameful instincts. Everything else is the same to them. "
Among the authors of the communications was Rudolf Steiner .
Politically, the association was linked to the left-liberal Progressive People's Party during the empire and later in the Weimar Republic to the German Democratic Party , which was therefore also known as the “Jewish Party” by the political right.
When the First World War broke out , the association initially ceased its activities in view of the " truce " proclaimed by Kaiser Wilhelm II . However, he had to experience that the anti-Semitic agitation did not diminish and accusations against alleged Jewish war profiteers and slackers were repeatedly loud. Under pressure from the anti-Semites and under protests from the Abwehrverein, the Prussian War Ministry conducted a “ Jewish census ” in the middle of the war"Among the soldiers at the front in order to" examine the claim of the anti-Semites that Jews were underrepresented at the front ". The results of this statistical survey were initially not published, which gave rise to further anti-Semitic prejudices. In 1922, the Jewish statistician and demographer Franz Oppenheimer proved that the German Jews, with more than 100,000 active soldiers and 12,000 dead at the front, made a contribution that corresponded to their demographic and percentage of the population.
The association dissolved in July 1933.
The defense sheets
- The defense sheets: from the digital library - Munich digitization center (MDZ): 1891–1924: "Messages from the association to defend against anti-Semitism". 1925–1933: "Defense sheets".
The Austrian Association for the Defense against Anti-Semitism
In 1891 Arthur Gundaccar von Suttner founded an Austrian association of the same name. One of his leading personalities was Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach .
Start-up
An association with the name "consequent eV - Association for the Defense of Anti-Semitism" was founded on January 29th, 2020 in Stuttgart to build on the old tradition. The foundation of the association took place in the reception rooms of the President of the State Parliament. The leaders of the parliamentary groups Andreas Schwarz (Greens), Wolfgang Reinhart (CDU), Andreas Stoch (SPD) and Hans-Ulrich Rülke (FDP) as well as the state parliament president Muhterem Aras , the anti-Semitism commissioner of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Michael Blume as well as took part the Lord Mayor of Heilbronn, Harry Mergel . Assaults on Jews in the country, the murder of Walter Lübcke , thatThe assassination attempt in Halle , increasing right-wing extremism and the brutalization of language: “We must oppose this from within society. Every anti-Semitic statement or act is an attack on our democracy. We have to say: It's enough! ”Said the initiator Guido Rebstock .
See also
literature
- Ismar Schorsch : Jewish Reactions to German Anti-Semitism 1870-1914. New York 1972, pp. 79-101.
- Barbara Suchy: The association for the defense of anti-Semitism. In: Yearbook Leo Baeck Institute 28 (1983), pp. 205-239 (Part I) and 30 (1985), pp. 67-100 (Part II).
- Auguste Zeiß-Horbach: The association for the defense of anti-Semitism. On the relationship between Protestantism and Judaism in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2008, ISBN 978-3-374-02604-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tulo Nussenblatt: A people on the way to peace . Reinhold-Verlag, Vienna – Leipzig 1933, p. 43 ( online ).
- ^ Association for the fight against anti-Semitism. In: Neues Wiener Tagblatt. Democratic organ / Neues Wiener Abendblatt. Evening edition of the (") Neue Wiener Tagblatt (") / Neues Wiener Tagblatt. Evening edition of the Neue Wiener Tagblatt / Wiener Mittagsausgabe with Sportblatt / 6 o'clock evening paper / Neues Wiener Tagblatt. Neue Freie Presse - Neues Wiener Journal / Neues Wiener Tagblatt , December 27, 1890, p. 4 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ Gottfried Mehnert: The association to defend against anti-Semitism . In: Freiburger Rundbrief , NF, Vol. 9 (2002), Issue 4, pp. 270–275.
- ↑ Communications from the Association for Defense of Antisemitism , No. 1, October 21, 1891 (sample number) digitized (passages blocked in the original in italics).
- ↑ Der Konitzer Mord , Mittheilungen No. 14, April 4, 1900
- ↑ Interview with the writer and journalist Hermann Bahr 1894, in: Helmut Berding: Moderner Antisemitismus in Deutschland. Klett-Verlag , Stuttgart 1988 ISBN 3124902904 , p. 156, quoted in Volker Ullrich : Die nervöse Großmacht 1871-1918. Fischer Taschenbuch, 2nd edition 1999, ISBN 3-596-11694-5 , pp. 394f.
- ↑ Contributions by Rudolf Steiner in the communications from the Verein zur Abwehr des Antisemitismus Vol. 11, 1901: pp. 307–8, 316, 326–7, 331–2, 380, 390–1, 397–8, 405–5 , 413–4 link to the digitized full text ( memento from January 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Saul Friedländer : The Third Reich and the Jews. Volume 1, p. 89.
- ↑ Wolfgang Benz (Ed.): Handbuch des Antisemitismus, Vol. 5., Walter de Gruyter, 2012, p. 627 ( online )
- ^ Albert Lichtblau: Anti-Semitism 1900–1938. Phases, perception and acculturation effects . In: Frank Stern, Barbara Eichinger (ed.): Vienna and the Jewish experience 1900–1938: Acculturation, anti-Semitism, Zionism . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2009. pp. 39–58, here p. 39.
- ↑ Karl-Markus Gauss : Fighting is better than begging. Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach was the most famous German-speaking author of the 19th century . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 4, 2016, p. 12.
- ^ Initiative from Heilbronn: Association against Anti-Semitism is founded in January , Heilbronner Voice , November 25, 2019. Accessed on November 28, 2019.