An exhaustive study of how Jews imagined the idea of Europe and how it existed in their collective memory from the Enlightenment to the present
In this rich and thought-provoking work Jürgen Kocka focuses his analytic lens on Germany’s long twentieth century, from the Empire to the present. He begins by establishing the semantic problematic in the German term Bürgertum and presenting an analytical survey of German civil society over the last 120 years. He then offers a fascinating social history of the GDR, along with a comparative analysis of the East German dictatorship and that of the Third Reich. He further compares Germany’s “two dictatorships” in regard to historical memory, post-regime justice, and historiography before and after reunification. Kocka concludes with a surprisingly expansive view of historical interpretation and even argues for the place of trendiness and fashion in the profession
Endorsements:
“In 1945, Europe’s ‘Jewish Century’ came to an end; the ‘Promised Land’ has moved to Israel and America. Jehuda Reinharz and Yaacov Shavit recreate the glories of the 19th century, with Jews acting as ferment of creativity precisely because they were both insiders and outsiders. It is a story of joy and foreboding, subtly told and deeply researched—a treasure-trove of historical scholarship.” —Josef Joffe, Editor, Die Zeit, Hamburg, and Senior Fellow, Stanford University
“This fascinating book deals with a curiously neglected subject: the Jewish discovery of Europe in the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, the love-hate relationship (more love than hate) which lasted for a long time, the great attraction Europe had not only for the Jews who lived in Europe but also those who left it—for America or Palestine. It is a major contribution to the cultural history of our time. It will be of great interest to the general reader and the experts too will find much that they did not know.”—Walter Laqueur
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JEHUDA REINHARZ is the Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History at Brandeis University.
YAACOV SHAVIT is a Professor in the Department of Jewish History, Tel Aviv University.
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