How Jews Became Germans

The History of Conversion and Assimilation in Berlin

Nonfiction, History
Cover of the book How Jews Became Germans by Deborah Hertz, Yale University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Deborah Hertz ISBN: 9780300150032
Publisher: Yale University Press Publication: October 1, 2008
Imprint: Yale University Press Language: English
Author: Deborah Hertz
ISBN: 9780300150032
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication: October 1, 2008
Imprint: Yale University Press
Language: English

When the Nazis came to power and created a racial state in the 1930s, an urgent priority was to identify Jews who had converted to Christianity over the preceding centuries. With the help of church officials, a vast system of conversion and intermarriage records was created in Berlin, the country’s premier Jewish city. Deborah Hertz’s discovery of these records, the Judenkartei, was the first step on a long research journey that has led to this compelling book. Hertz begins the book in 1645, when the records begin, and traces generations of German Jewish families for the next two centuries.

 

The book analyzes the statistics and explores letters, diaries, and other materials to understand in a far more nuanced way than ever before why Jews did or did not convert to Protestantism. Focusing on the stories of individual Jews in Berlin, particularly the charismatic salon woman Rahel Levin Varnhagen and her husband, Karl, a writer and diplomat, Hertz humanizes the stories, sets them in the context of Berlin’s evolving society, and connects them to the broad sweep of European history.

 

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

When the Nazis came to power and created a racial state in the 1930s, an urgent priority was to identify Jews who had converted to Christianity over the preceding centuries. With the help of church officials, a vast system of conversion and intermarriage records was created in Berlin, the country’s premier Jewish city. Deborah Hertz’s discovery of these records, the Judenkartei, was the first step on a long research journey that has led to this compelling book. Hertz begins the book in 1645, when the records begin, and traces generations of German Jewish families for the next two centuries.

 

The book analyzes the statistics and explores letters, diaries, and other materials to understand in a far more nuanced way than ever before why Jews did or did not convert to Protestantism. Focusing on the stories of individual Jews in Berlin, particularly the charismatic salon woman Rahel Levin Varnhagen and her husband, Karl, a writer and diplomat, Hertz humanizes the stories, sets them in the context of Berlin’s evolving society, and connects them to the broad sweep of European history.

 

More books from Yale University Press

Cover of the book The Incidental Steward by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book Web Style Guide, 3rd edition by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book A Spiritual Economy by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book The Darwin Archipelago: The Naturalist's Career Beyond Origin of Species by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book Benjamin V. Cohen by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book Six Poets by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book An International Civil War by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book The Gift of the Gab by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book Learning Policy by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book Russian Crossroads by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book Susan Sontag by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book The Jews of San Nicandro by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book Faith, Science and Understanding by Deborah Hertz
Cover of the book Immortality and the Law: The Rising Power of the American Dead by Deborah Hertz
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy