Colonialism and the Jews in Germany, 1880-1918

• Applicant: Dr. Stefan Vogt
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History ; Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
• Term: from 2014 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 259893023

This project will be the first comprehensive investigation of the relationship between colonialism and the Jews in the German Empire. It analyzes the significance of Jews as objects of colonial ideology and practice, as well as their role as actors in colonial contexts. The project proceeds from two working hypotheses. Firstly, it is presumed that colonial experiences, notions and practices fundamentally influenced the situation of the Jews in Germany, especially German Antisemitism, and vice versa. Secondly, it as assumed that this entanglement of colonialism, Jewish experience and Antisemitism was of critical importance for the construction of national identity. The project examines these hypotheses for the period of active German colonialism from 1880 to 1918. The project will close important research gaps both in German-Jewish history and in the history of German colonialism. In addition, it connects these fields of research for the first time and will thus significantly expand both of them.To this end, the project analyzes major segments of the colonial discourses and practices in the German Empire. It pursues two sets of questions. Firstly, it will investigate if and how colonial ideology and practice influenced the situation of the Jews. This includes the influence of colonialism on the attitudes towards Jews in the German empire as well as on the thinking and acting of the Jews themselves. Secondly, it examines the impact of the situation of the Jews in Germany on the ideology and practice of German colonialism. Here, the project explores the possible effects which attitudes towards Jews could have had on colonial concepts and policies, but also the consequences which Jews might have drawn from their experiences in the German society for locating themselves within or with respect to colonial contexts.The project addresses discourses and politics of German overseas colonialism, as well as colonial ideas and practices concerning the Orient and Eastern Europe. Methodologically, it pursues an approach of cultural and intellectual history. It also uses concepts of postcolonial critique to determine the relationship between racist and anti-Semitic notions and the location of Jews inside the colonial field. The project intervenes in three major research controversies: the debate about the connection between colonialism and the Holocaust, the dispute about the relationship and the comparability of anti-Semitism and racism, and the discussion about the applicability of postcolonial concepts on European Jewish history. By investigating these problems in a specific historical constellation and by using a wide range of primary sources, the project helps to base these controversies on empirical evidence.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants