Antisemitismus Eine unparteische Prufung des Problems von Friedrich v. Oppeln-Bronikowski – Antisemitism? An Impartial Examination of the Problem by Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski, published by Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft für Politik und Geschichte mbH, Charlottenburg (Berlin) 1920 – First edition. The copy belonged to Ernst Rudin, a prominent disseminator of racial theories in Germany, with his ownership stamp on the cover.
“We Need to Settle with the Jews” – A bold publication by a member of the German right-wing party in the early 1920s, amidst rising antisemitism in Germany, proposing a middle way in relation to Jews and completely rejecting the common antisemitic statements in early 1920s Germany, such as: “The Jews are responsible for most of the wars in the world, ” “Jewish money, ” “the Jewish swindler, ” etc. The author calls for a reassessment of the prevalent perceptions in Germany regarding hatred of Jews and suggests a “middle way” approach – isolating the negative phenomena that some Germans attribute to certain Jews as isolated incidents and objectively re-evaluating the benefits the Jewish people bring to the German nation. He extensively lists the achievements of Jews throughout history in the fields of science, society, and culture, particularly the Jews in Germany at that time (including breakthroughs brought by Albert Einstein in the sciences), and explains that the antisemitic approach of black or white is fundamentally flawed. One should not hate the Jews just as one should not embrace them wholeheartedly. One should accept the good in them and reject the bad without passing a sweeping judgment on the entire Jewish race. He completely condemns phenomena such as pogroms against Jews, the extermination of Jews, or attempts to legislate laws against them as a people, saying, “Even discussing this is an illusion and a waste of time, ” and adds that the correct attitude towards Jews will rebuild “our economy and our politics.” “I call on my party members, draw a line on the past and stop blaming the Jews for ‘their guilt’… we need to rebuild Germany.” Moreover, he advises “the many Jews who agree with me to join the right as soon as the current antisemitic wave subsides.”
Friedrich adds that he could not publish these ideas in the right-wing press in Germany, so he preferred to publish the booklet independently, given that the issue required more extensive attention than newspaper pages could provide. He acknowledges that publishing the booklet “will bring me much hostility” and that “I may suffer the consequences, ” but accepts his fate as just as when two people are fighting, they turn their anger on the third person trying to separate them – “I know exactly what to expect from radical antisemitism and arrogant Judaism, if their reaction will only strengthen my belief that I have found the right middle way.”
An exceptional example of a moderate approach during the years when Germany was blindly following racial theories, and even more surprising that this approach came from the German right.
Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski [1873-1936] a German author, translator, publisher, and cultural historian. He was born into a traditional military family in Kassel. In 1905, he began publishing numerous novels, novellas, and short stories in Berlin. Military life and Prussian history were frequent subjects of his works. With the onset of World War I in 1914, Oppeln-Bronikowski was called to military service and served in the general staff. From 1920-1923, he was active in the German Foreign Office. He advocated for equal treatment of Jews and during those years published his works against antisemitism – the publication before us, as well as Gerechtigkeit! Zur Lösung der Judenfrage (“Justice! Solution to the Jewish Question”) in 1932.
The copy of the German psychiatrist Ernst Rudin [1874-1952]. Rüdin was one of the prominent students of German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin (the spiritual father of racial theory). Ernst Rüdin was one of the founders of the German Society for Racial Hygiene in 1904 and an adviser to the Nazis on racial politics. Rüdin was among the first to write about the “dangers” of hereditary defects and the alleged superiority of the Nordic race as the supposed “creator of culture”. Rüdin headed the organizations of psychiatrists and neurologists in Nazi Germany. His ideas served as the scientific basis for justifying the racial policy of Nazi Germany and the “Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring” was passed by the German government on January 1, 1934. Rüdin was so enthusiastic about the idea of racial selection that his colleagues called him the “Reich Führer for Sterilization”. From his high position as Hitler’s senior adviser, he instigated scientists who gave legitimacy to the murderous regime. In particular, Rüdin is responsible for the sterilization of 400,000 people and the murder of 300,000 mentally ill and disabled people. Immediately after Hitler came to power, Rüdin declared: “Through the political work of Adolf Hitler, only he will enable us to realize our dream of thirty years, to make racial hygiene a reality”. Rüdin formally joined the Nazi party in 1937. In 1939, on his 65th birthday, he was awarded the ‘Goethe Medal for Art and Science’ by Hitler, who defined him as the “pioneer of the Reich’s racial-hygienic means”. By using the title of pioneer of psychiatric heredity studies, he designed, justified and financed the mass sterilization and clinical killing of adults and children during the Holocaust. In 1942, he was one of the proponents of the idea of “Euthanasia” and called and worked for the “elimination of clearly inferior young children”. In 1945 Rüdin was apprehended, and the prosecution team at the Nuremberg Trials considered putting him on trial, but in 1946 he was released and absurdly returned to his position as director of the research institute until his death in 1952.
Extremely rare. It does not appear in the world catalog of libraries world cat.
72 p. Good condition.
