Suchergebnisse

A component of the 19th century German zeitgeist was a "free floating," unarticulated anti‐Semitic sentiment which permeated all strata of Wilhelmine society. Nowhere was this malaise better reflected than in the profusion of anti‐Semitic political parties appealing to the lower middle classes and to elitist academics alike. One of the most significant and earliest sources for galvanizing and articulating the frustrations of a disenchanted lower middle class, or "mittelstand," was the Christian Social Workers party founded in 1878 by Adolf Stoecker the Kaiser's court chaplain. Although not as anti‐Semitic as some of his contemporaries such as Böckel, Ahlwardt, and Henrici, it was nevertheless Stoecker who began a mass movement—a "struggle against the Jews," according to his biographer von Oertzen—which became rampant not only in Berlin by the mid 1880s, but which also had spread to the German hinterlands, thus laying a foundation for later anti‐Semitic movements. Some scholars, most notably Levy (1975), tend to minimize Stoecker's importance, declaring his party along with others to be colossal failures. Indeed as early as 1885 Stoecker's credibility and influence had waned. Yet the legacy of hate he left during his brief ascendancy is sufficient grounds for a reexamination of some salient aspects of his career, as well as for some brief and tentative observations about his place in the history of German anti‐Semitic movements, the impact of his doctrines on National Socialism, and some reflections on Stoecker's agitation as the symptom of a larger, troubled social dynamic present in Wilhelmine society.

A component of the 19th-century German zeitgeist was a 'free floating,' unarticulated anti-Semitic sentiment that permeated all strata of Wilhelmine society. Nowhere was this malaise better reflected than in the profusion of anti-Semitic political parties appealing to the lower-middle classes & to elitist academics alike. One of the most significant & earliest sources for galvanizing & articulating the frustrations of a disenchanted lower-middle class, or 'mittelstand,' was the Christian Social Workers party founded in 1878 by Adolf Stoecker, the Kaiser's court chaplain. Although not as anti-Semitic as some of his contemporaries such as Bockel, Ahlwardt, & Henrici, it was nevertheless Stoecker who began a mass movement -- a 'struggle against the Jews,' according to his biographer von Oertzen -- that became rampant not only in Berlin by the mid-1880s, but which also had spread to the German hinterlands, thus laying a foundation for later anti-Semitic movements. Some scholars, most notably Levy (1975), tend to minimize Stoecker's importance, declaring his party along with others to be colossal failures. Indeed as early as 1885, Stoecker's credibility & influence had waned. Yet the legacy of hate he left during his brief ascendancy is sufficient grounds for a reexamination of some salient aspects of his career, as well as for some brief & tentative observations about his place in the history of German anti-Semitic movements, the impact of his doctrines on National Socialism, & some reflections on Stoecker's agitation as the symptom of a larger, troubled social dynamic present in Wilhelmine society. 38 References. Adapted from the source document.