A Jewish Communist in Weimar Germany : the life of Werner Scholem (1895-1940) / by Ralf Hoffrogge ; translated by Loren Balhorn, Jan-Peter Herrmann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hoffrogge, Ralf, 1980-

Series:

Historical Materialism Book Series 141.

Historical materialism book series ; Vol. 141

Standardized Title:

Werner Scholem. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Germany--Biography.

Jews.

Jewish communists--Germany--Biography.

Jewish communists.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).

Buchenwald (Concentration camp)--Biography.

Buchenwald (Concentration camp).

Scholem, Werner, 1895-1940.

Scholem, Werner.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (654 pages).

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill.

Summary:

Walter Benjamin derided Werner Scholem as a ‘rogue’ in 1924. Josef Stalin referred him as a ‘splendid man’, but soon backtracked and labeled him an ‘imbecile’, while Ernst Thälmann, chairman of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), warned his followers against the dangers of ‘Scholemism’. For the philosopher and historian Gershom Scholem, however, Werner was first and foremost his older brother. The life of German-Jewish Communist Werner Scholem (1895–1940) had many facets. Werner and Gerhard, later Gershom, rebelled together against their authoritarian father and the atmosphere of national chauvinism engulfing Germany during World War I. After inspiring his younger brother to take up the Zionist cause, Werner himself underwent a long personal journey before deciding to join the Communist struggle. Scholem climbed the party ladder and orchestrated the KPD's ‘Bolshevisation’ campaign, only to be expelled as one of Stalin's opponents in 1926. He was arrested in 1933, and ultimately murdered in the Buchenwald concentration camp seven years later. This first biography of Werner Scholem tells his life story by drawing on a wide range of original sources and archive material long hidden beyond the Iron Curtain of the Cold War era. First published in German by UVK Verlagsgesellschaft as Werner Scholem - eine politische Biographie (1895-1940) , Konstanz, 2014.

Contents:

Front Matter

Introduction

Adolescent Years (1895–1914)

World War and Revolution (1914–18)

A Rebel at the Editing Desk, a Rebel in Parliament (1919–24)

Communism: Utopia and Apparatus (1921–6)

A Reluctant Defector: Werner Scholem as Dissident (1926–8)

Back to the Lecture Hall: Family and University Life in Berlin

The Triumph of Barbarism (1933–40)

Remembering Werner Scholem

Chronology of Werner Scholem’s life

List of Werner Scholem’s Places of Detention, 1917–40

Selected Articles and Publications by Werner Scholem

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

90-04-33726-1

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004337268 DOI