Germany: A New History

As I read Chapter 2 in Hagen Schulze’s book, “Germany: A New History,” I found multiple aspects of German history that I found interesting. From emperors, to the Holy Roman Empire, ideas and ideals of personalities of the centuries, and change in the country, I found it hard to choose just one topic to write about. Nevertheless, after consideration, I chose to further explore the woodcut work of art of “Jewish Moneylenders.” I suspect that others have and will also choose this topic for one major reason: when we first met as a group and spoke about what we knew about Germany, most people referenced the Holocaust/WWII, a large part of which would be the treatment of Jews. As we, the students, are well versed in this topic through school, it seems natural to pick this topic instead of a more foreign one. However, the more I gave thought to this illustration and its description, the more I wondered about this topic throughout history and also collected observations based on this new knowledge.

This piece has one main component that is understandable to the English speaker’s eye, which is the illustration aspect of the woodcut, as the surroundings are in German. What the illustration portrays is “a pawn shop with drinking cups and articles of clothing; to the right a Jewish moneylender calculates interest at a counting table, and to the left a scholar raises a finger in warning” (34). The description explains that Jews had few rights during the Middle Ages, and they could only really earn a living through moneylending, as they could only see the king directly or the church for protection and they could not practice trade. In summary, Jews were given little to no way of living a successful life, and were seen as lower people. Well, I would say this sounds quite familiar. Like it was previously mentioned, most people are aware of the mistreatment of Jews during the Holocaust. Besides the mass amounts of death involved, how is the treatment of the Jews during the Holocaust and late Middle Ages entirely that different? They were given barely any chances in order to thrive, let along survive. In fact, if one considers the element that Germans were once seen as savages, why would they inflict that sort of pain and ridicule onto others, even going out of their way to make rules of how others can live/better their lives (4).

As a comparison to America, however, we can see that we are not any better. African Americans were in fact treated quite differently, similar to the Jews in Germany, for quite a long time. The ideals of America and Germany were not far off, as they both obviously seemed to think they were above others, and mistreating them to put themselves up higher. Of course, both nations have grown since then, morally. But, if one was to only know about the treatment of Jews in German history, Germany would not seem like a place to visit, if they abuse their own people like that. Germans could be considered as savages once again, if people were not willing to take stock in the circumstances and perhaps see past them, as Germany has improved in the treatment of Jews, as a general whole.

Why this piece interested me was because of the comparisons you can draw between Germany past and present, along with the comparisons between America and Germany. As a student traveling to this land, I believe it is important to reflect on where you come from, as well as the country you are traveling to, in order to understand information, past and present. “Jewish Moneylenders” depicts a sad, relatively unknown aspect of the German late Middle Ages. Commonly, the mistreatment of Jews is only an understood element of the Holocaust in Germany, but the same mistreatment has been witnessed in the same country hundreds of years prior to that large, recent event. It interests me that although Germany could be known for thousands of positive things, it only takes one, big, horrifying characteristic of that country that will be its infamous trait. 

Word count (of paragraphs prior to photographs): 689

Citation: Schulze, Hagen. Germany: A New History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1998. Print.

This is a photograph of Jewish Moneylenders of France that are quite similar to the ones of Germany during the Late Middle Ages. This represents a less harsh version of the "Jewish Moneylenders" depiction that was seen in "Germany: A New History." The picture portrays Jews going about their business with no negative influence or representation of their business during the time. 

On the other hand, this picture represents a more harsh version of "Jewish Moneylenders" from the text. Jews were far more mistreated during the Late Middle Ages than our book seemed to let on, as they were burned alive for a number of reasons (perhaps some could have been breaking the laws set up against them at the time). Overall, these pictures were meant to represent both sides of Jewish mistreatment, to display different sides of what our illustration from our text shows, and to further confirm just how difficult it was for Jews to survive during these times. What I hope to learn from this and our Germany experience is - how are Jews portrayed and treated in Germany today? How do people of Germany perceive this past mistreatment? Is it seen as a mistake and easily forgiven? Is it something no one speaks about out of embarrassment? What do people really think about this and how much has changed since then? All of these are important questions because I am sure some people in the world still see Germany as what these pictures represent, and I believe that they are much more than their past.

Photograph Citations:
1) "Jews in the Middle Ages." - Jewish History for Kids! Web. 3 Sept. 2014. <http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/religion/jews/middleages.htm>.
2) "Jews of Cologne Burned Alive in Germany in the Late Middle Ages Posters." Jews of Cologne Burned Alive in Germany in the Late Middle Ages Posters. Web. 3 Sept. 2014. <http://www.goldposters.com/item-4237294/jews-of-cologne-burned-alive-in-germany-in-the-late-middle-ages.html>