The people of Germany have, since before even the reunification of 1873, always been struggling with their identity. The questions of who is Germany, what is Germany, and where is Germany has always been at the forefront of the German people’s minds. So much so that the collection of questions has been given the name ‘The German Question’. When most people hear about cultural, racial, or religious disputes in Germany they would think of the Jewish Europeans during World War II. While this example may be the most backwards, terrible example, it is far from the only one. First of all, before the enlightenment, those serving any religion other than Catholic Christian were treated as worse individuals in Prussia (though, still in this situation,
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This is more commonly referred to as xenophobia. The word xenophobia comes from the Greek words “xenos”, which is translated as stranger, and “phobos”, meaning fear, combined to mean fear of strangers. It is easy to find evidence of xenophobia rooted throughout the whole of German history. Not long after German reunification (1872), in 1881 Duehring wrote more negativity about jews in his essay “The Question of the Jew is a Question of Race”. In it, he argued exactly what the title implied in order to take advantage of the German people’s growing xenophobia, particularly towards races other than the so called “aryan” race. Furthermore, out of xenophobia and what he believed was science at the time, Duehring argues that Jews being another race made them fundamentally worse than an average German when he says that “in society there is never an instance in which the members of the Jewish religion are made completely equal” (Duehring [308]). Furthermore, he argues that “it is impossible that close contact [between Germans and Jews] will take effect without the constant realization that this infusion of Jewish qualities is incompatible with our best impulses”, as a way to show his belief that the fundamental differences between the races of a German and a Jew make them unable to
This is more commonly referred to as xenophobia. The word xenophobia comes from the Greek words “xenos”, which is translated as stranger, and “phobos”, meaning fear, combined to mean fear of strangers. It is easy to find evidence of xenophobia rooted throughout the whole of German history. Not long after German reunification (1872), in 1881 Duehring wrote more negativity about jews in his essay “The Question of the Jew is a Question of Race”. In it, he argued exactly what the title implied in order to take advantage of the German people’s growing xenophobia, particularly towards races other than the so called “aryan” race. Furthermore, out of xenophobia and what he believed was science at the time, Duehring argues that Jews being another race made them fundamentally worse than an average German when he says that “in society there is never an instance in which the members of the Jewish religion are made completely equal” (Duehring [308]). Furthermore, he argues that “it is impossible that close contact [between Germans and Jews] will take effect without the constant realization that this infusion of Jewish qualities is incompatible with our best impulses”, as a way to show his belief that the fundamental differences between the races of a German and a Jew make them unable to