Where Do We Go from Here? Tortured Expressions of Solidarity in The
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Where Do We Go from Here? : Tortured Expressions of Solidarity in the German Jewish Travelogues of the Weimar Republic A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of German Studies of the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences By Wesley Todd Jackson, Jr. 2015 M.A. University of Cincinnati, December 2008 B.A., Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, 2006 Committee Chair: Dr. Todd Herzog, Professor University of Cincinnati Abstract This dissertation examines three travelogues written by German Jewish intellectuals during the Weimar period of Germany, just after World War I. x Das ostjüdische Antlitz (The Face of Eastern European Jewry), by Arnold Zweig, published in 1920. x Reise in Polen (Travels in Poland), by Alfred Döblin, published in 1926. x Hawdoloh und Zapfenstreich (Havdalah for Sabbath and Taps for Curfew), by Sammy Gronemann, published in 1924. Each of these travel writers addressed the issue of how German Jews were to navigate national and cultural identities in an environment of political, economic, and social instability after World War I. In response to mass migrations of impoverished, Eastern European Jews and exclusivist, anti-Semitic definitions of national identity, these travel writers articulated an inclusive, porous vision of European Jewish identity that was rooted in the Judeo-Christian ethic to “love thy neighbor.” Each author proposed a different mechanism to bring about such a sense of spiritual renewal and of neighborly hospitality—particularly toward the Eastern European Jews. Arnold Zweig relied on the inspirational power of art and poetry; Alfred Döblin as a psychiatrist pointed to a complicated process of individuation and sublimating one’s ethnic or national identity to the greater good of a common state; and Sammy Gronemann advocated a return to religious Orthodox ritual. While the formation of more “porous” and inclusive German Jewish identities were innovative for the cultural debates of the1920s, each of the proposed versions of solidarity or national identity presented in the travelogues contains contradictory mechanisms for relieving Western, German Jews of the obligation to actively identify with the Eastern Jewish community. ii These contradictory elements reveal the psychological, social, and political difficulties for the assimilated, German Jewish community in confronting their dominant, anti-Semitic culture. The contradictions also demonstrate the challenges they faced in actively identifying with Jews from different national, cultural, and religious backgrounds. All three travel writers ultimately hoped to recover the spirit of the old, pre-war monarchies that granted them the space and the freedom to assimilate and inhabit multiple identities. In a post-war Europe when so many of the new nation states sought to express their nationalism through exclusive, racial methods, Arnold Zweig, Alfred Döblin, and Sammy Gronemann articulated an innovative ideal for a national identity the foundational characteristic of which was the transcendent ethical principle to “love thy neighbor.” Their difficulty in implementing their renewed identities revealed both the fragility of their ideals but also the fragility of a post-war German identity that was so insecure and paranoid it sought to define itself through exclusivist prejudice and purges. As it was, the protective ghosts of the old empires were no match for the very physical incarnations of the anti- Semitic Blut und Boden ideology that already permeated German society and tragically cut short the development of a more hospitable vision of humanity before such a vision could outgrow the weakness of its own infancy. iii © Wesley Todd Jackson, Jr. 2015 All Rights Reserved iv Acknowledgements The culmination of this research project would not have been possible without the active support, encouragement, insight and challenge of the following people and organizations. While I have been the beneficiary of the generosity and kindness of a host of friends, family and colleagues all along this journey, I wish to extend my greatest appreciation and gratitude specifically to the following individuals and institutions. For research funding The Charles Phelps Taft Foundation, Cincinnati For work as committee members Prof. Todd Herzog, Ph.D. (University of Cincinnati) Prof. Tanja Nusser, Ph.D. Chair (University of Cincinnati) Prof. Valerie Weinstein, Ph.D. (University of Cincinnati) For advice as my “extended” committee members Prof. Katharina Gerstenberger, Ph.D. (University of Utah) Prof. Sylvia Sellers-García, Ph.D. (Boston College) Prof. Sigrun Haude, Ph.D. (University of Cincinnati) For advice, common sense, and coaching Nelson Soto, Ph.D. (Union Institute & University) Prof. Michael David Hutchins, Ph.D. (Indiana University Southeast) Nicole Roccas Collin Davey Laura Beth Payne Nathan Payne Anthony Jones Joshua Parman Ted Dass, Ph.D. For support and encouragement Todd Jackson Paulette Jackson Joan Neumann Mark Neumann The Graduate Students of the German Studies Department, University of Cincinnati Union Institute & University Most importantly, for her love for and belief in me Kristina Neumann, Ph.D. v Table of Contents Introduction: Hospitality and Porous Identities .............................................................................. 2 Alternative Ideals towards Nation Building ................................................................................ 2 World War I and the End of Empire ......................................................................................... 22 Mass Migration ......................................................................................................................... 25 Emancipation and the Persistence of Old Divisions ................................................................. 31 Nationalisms and Völkisch Identities ........................................................................................ 35 Towards a Jewish Volk Identity ................................................................................................ 42 Zionism and Politicized Anti-Semitism .................................................................................... 51 Whither the Travel Writers? ...................................................................................................... 56 Chapter I........................................................................................................................................ 64 Arnold Zweig: Das ostjüdische Antlitz ......................................................................................... 64 A Note on the Strangeness of the Text ...................................................................................... 64 Summary of Das ostjüdische Antlitz ......................................................................................... 72 The New Ideal: Solidarity, Hospitality, Neighborliness ........................................................... 82 The Spiritual and Aesthetic Premise of Zweig’s Vision ........................................................... 87 A Community Rooted in Stereotypes: Universal Virtues and the Vices of Particularism ...... 110 The Solidarity of a Persecuted Minority ................................................................................. 128 A Palestinian Home for Zionist Youth .................................................................................... 138 Zweig’s Self-Deceptive Solidarity .......................................................................................... 148 Chapter II .................................................................................................................................... 153 Alfred Döblin: Reise in Polen ..................................................................................................... 153 Introduction: Reise in Polen as an “Important Work” for the Jewish Community ................. 153 Summary and Critical Reception of Reise in Polen ................................................................ 161 Döblin’s Portrayal of Solidarity with the Eastern European Jews .......................................... 169 The State of Poland ................................................................................................................. 175 The Zadik and Jesus Christ: Döblin’s Vision of a Spritual (“geistliche”) Transformation .... 178 The Importance of the Individual Aufmenschung ................................................................... 192 The Cost of Aufmenschung: The Suffering of Döblin’s Fictional Protagonists ...................... 211 Döblin’s Paradoxical Path to Community ............................................................................... 221 vi Chapter III ................................................................................................................................... 234 Sammy Gronemann: Hawdoloh und Zapfenstreich: Erinnerungen an die ostjüdische Etappe 1916-1918. .................................................................................................................................. 234 Introduction: the Necessity for Jewish Ritual and Separation ............................................... 234 Summary of Travelogue and Publication Background ........................................................... 243 Gronemann’s Definition of Solidarity with the Eastern