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Ruby Rohrlich asked for some information about Wilhelm Marr, who is referred to by many scholars as THE person who coined the term antisemitism. It was asked to answer to her request via her private eMail address, but maybe, the following informations are interesting to other subscribers of this list, as well. The journalist Wilhelm Marr (1819 Magdeburg - 1904 Hamburg) published a booklet or brochure entitled "Der Sieg des Judenthums ueber das Germanenthum. Vom nicht-confessionellen Standpunkt betrachtet. Vae Victis!" in 1879 [in Bern], where he - according to George L. Mosse's book "Towards the Final Solution: A History of European Racism" - rejected christian motives of antijudaism, but repeated most of the traditional anti-Jewish myths. In 1863 he had already published another book, entitled "Der Judenspiegel", in Hamburg. A short overview you will find in Paul W. Massing's "Rehearsal for Destruction", published at Harper & Brothers, New York, in 1949, in the series "Studies in Prejudice" (Eds.: Max Horkheimer and Samuel H. Flowerman). In the year of the publication of his second book, Marr founded the "Antisemitenliga" as a political party [->Massing]. According to Massing, there is not much information about Marr's biographical background - some of his (Jewish) opponents reported that he was from a Jewish background (Massing quotes: Ismar Elbogen: A Century of Jewish Life, Philadelphia 1945, p. 703; Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, New York 1939, Vol. I, p. 241]. What might be most interesting, is that Massing also tells the reader that the term "Antisemitism", according to various authors, is invented by Marr, but that others connect it with Ernest Renan [-> Salo W. Baron: A Social and Religious History of the Jews, New York 1937, Vol. II, p. 237]. This informations finds some support in Alex Bein's book "Die Judenfrage. Biographie eines Weltproblems" [Stuttgart 1980]. Bein refers to Shmuel Joseph Agnon, who told him about an article on the term "Antisemitism" in the Hebrew encyclopedia "Ozar Israel" [-> Jehuda Eisenstadt, Ed.: Ozar Isael, London 1924, Vol. II, p. 130ff]. According to this article the term was used by Moritz Steinschneider, first, who attacked Renan because of his "antisemitic prejudices". This information, again, refers to an essay by the Jewish scholar Moritz Steinschneider (1816-1907) in a journal he edited, together with the philosopher Moritz Lazarus (1824-1903), who was his brother-in-law: "Hamaskir - Hebraeische Bibliographie; Blaetter fuer neuere und aeltere Literatur des Judentums", [Vol. III, Berlin 1860, p. 16]. This essay is a sharp criticism of Renan's essay "Nouvelles considerations sur le caractere general de peuples semitiques, et en particulier sur leur tendance au monotheisme", which was published in the "Journal Asiatique" in 1959. [-> Alex Bein: Die Judenfrage. Biographie eines Weltproblems, Stuttgart 1980, Vol. II, 164ff]. Bein says that Marr himself never wrote or said that he was the inventor of this term, but that it became popular in Germany with the foundation of his political party "Antisemitenliga" in 1879. [For most of the books I referred to, I can, unfortunately, give the detailed bibliographic notes for the German editions, only.] Matthias Heyl ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Stefan Matthias Heyl historian, educator, author SMHeyl@aol.com MHeyl@tak.schule.de Heyl@erzicip.erzwiss.uni-hamburg.de http://members.aol.com/SMHeyl/index.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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