German-Jewish identities in America / edited by Christof Mauch and Joseph Salmons.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Mauch, Christof.

Salmons, Joe, 1956-

Series:

Studies of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--United States--Identity.

Jews.

Jews, German.

History.

United States.

Identity (Philosophical concept).

Jews, German--United States--History.

Jews--Cultural assimilation--United States.

Jews--Cultural assimilation.

Social integration--United States.

Social integration.

United States--Ethnic relations.

Ethnic relations.

Physical Description:

xii, 171 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Madison : Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, [2003]

Summary:

Changing political, social, and cultural contexts have led German Jews in America to take on many different identities. On some occasions most of them have associated with German-speaking immigrants to the United States, while at others they have identified themselves more closely with the general American population. Some German Jews have chosen to identify with both American institutions and ideals, and with the landscapes, culture, and religious institutions of their home country or the country of their ancestors, Israel. This book explores these varied German-Jewish identities in America from a wide range of perspectives and disciplines. Essays examine such varied topics as the relationship between German and Eastern European Jews in America, the development of the B'nai B'rith, nineteenth-century Jewish community-building in Chicago, German Jews' role in the building of modern American show business, and the correlation between date of emigration and language loss among Jewish emigrants fleeing to America from Nazi Germany. Although most of the contributors are historians, there are also chapters from a linguist, theater and literature professors, and even an award-winning documentary filmmaker.

Contents:

1. German Jews and the American-Jewish Synthesis / Henry Feingold 8

2. "Give to the Poor! Yourself You'll Bless!" Jewish Charities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1850-1914 / Anke Ortlepp 21

3. "We Are Brothers! Let Us Separate": Jewish Immigrants in Chicago between Gemeinde and Network Community before 1880 / Tobias Brinkmann 40

4. Shaping the American Jewish Community: The Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, 1843-1914 / Cornelia Wilhelm 64

5. Franz Boas as German, American, and Jew / Mitchell B. Hart 88

6. German Jews and American Show Business: A Reconsideration / Harley Erdman 106

7. German Jews and Ostjuden in the American South: Alfred Uhry's Last Night of Ballyhoo / Thomas Kovach 117

8. I Always Thought I Was a German

It Was Hitler Who Taught Me I Was a Jew": National-Socialist Persecution, Identity, and the German Language / Monika S. Schmid 133

9. German Jew or Jewish German?: Post-Immigration Questions / Manfred Kirchheimer 154.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0924119071

OCLC:

52133246