Luther Scholars, Jews, and Judaism during the Third Reich: From the Hallowed Halls of Academia to the Sacred Spaces of German Protestantism
This chapter examines the appropriation of Martin Luther’s works by German Protestant Luther scholars during the Third Reich. Luther wrote at least five treatises on the sub¬ject of “the Jews.” One work in particular, Von den Juden und ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies), has fueled the greates...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Indiana University Press
2022
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| In: |
The betrayal of the humanities
Year: 2022, Pages: 114-153 |
| Further subjects: | B
Theology
B Lutherrezeption B Von den Juden und ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies) B Holsten, Walter (1908-1982) B Buchwald, Georg (1859-1947) B Jewish studies B Lutherstudien B Luther, Martin (1483-1546) B Antisemitism |
| Summary: | This chapter examines the appropriation of Martin Luther’s works by German Protestant Luther scholars during the Third Reich. Luther wrote at least five treatises on the sub¬ject of “the Jews.” One work in particular, Von den Juden und ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies), has fueled the greatest discussion of the re¬former’s attitude toward Jews. In the final section of the lengthy treatise, Luther makes seven severe recommendations to the authorities regarding Germany’s Jews. Among these are calls to: burn their synagogues and schools to the ground; to confiscate their “prayer books and Talmudic writings”; and to subject them to harsh labor. These antisemitic recommendations, of course, bear resemblance to measures carried out against Jews in Nazi Germany some four hundred years later. The chapter begins with a brief overview of the German Protestant Church during the Third Reich, the academic context in which Protestant theologians operated, and the roles they played in the church, in academia, and in broader society. The chapter’s focus is the work of two Luther scholars, the respected Leipzig philologist Georg Buchwald and Moringen pastor Walter Holsten. Both scholars ap¬propriated Luther’s writings about Jews and Judaism in support of their own anti-Judaic and antisemitic views. Rather than utilizing the tools of the well-developed discipline of modern German theological studies to reflect thoughtfully on the relationship between Christianity and Judaism, they instead betrayed their commitment to the humanities by dehumanizing Jews in their theological writings. |
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| ISBN: | 0253060796 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The betrayal of the humanities
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