The enlightenment to World war one

“To the Jew as an individual, everything. To the Jew as a Nation, nothing.”

Historical Context: The Enlightenment was a time somewhat revered in America as the foundation for the ideas that would become our nation’s constitution, establishing a democratic tradition that has shaped our history. However, for the Jews in Europe, it meant many things. It “exposed” the Jews as the root of all Western religion, which came to be despised for its faith-based qualities in an Age of Reason. The Jews also faced the pressure to ally with the various flags of Europe after widespread emancipation in the 19^th Century. With these situations as the background for the period, Europeans maintained their suspicions about the Jews as “the other”; as the 20^th Century approached, Social Darwinism and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion set the stage for the worst act…

Rationale to Teach: Students will come to this period with hopefully a better-than-rudimentary knowledge of the ideals of the philosophes, of the causes and results of the American and French revolutions, and of the political turmoil of the 19^th Century. However, as is the case with most high school history curriculum, their views will be skewed to the “winners”: democracy, the powerful, and the survivors. Eyebrows will be raised when the underbelly of the normally positive results lay exposed; students will recognize that as the 20^th Century dawned, the fate that would befall the Jews during the Holocaust had been cast by social perceptions and machinations.

Major Topics:

1. Major ideas of the Enlightenment

2. Views on religion

3. Emancipation of the Jews and subsequent problems

4. Social Darwinism

5. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

6. History of antisemitism in Germany

Comment: As stated in the Rationale, this is another area where a political majority-based curriculum leaves us lacking for the “big picture” that was European society in this period. Students will see causations for antisemitic and anti-Jewish discrimination, and some rationalization of such should be apparent. I tend to continue to focus here on the concept of “the other”; students can readily relate this to situations in their own lives, in the very halls of our school. The teacher should take care to emphasize that cultural morals change throughout time – what seems offensive now might have been the norm in a time gone by. Stress that that doesn’t make it right, but ask: how easy is it to go against the grain?

Resources:

Classroom notes with lines of questioning/student interaction

See also http://www.adl.org/special_reports/protocols/protocols_intro.asp for the Anti-Defamation League’s stance on the Protocols.

http://ddickerson.igc.org/protocols.html. This website contains links to many other sites with specific commentaries on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/spencer-darwin.html. Resource from Paul Halsall at Fordham University. This site lays down many of the principles of Social Darwinism as set forth by one Herbert Spencer. The main essay covers Spencer’s theories on race and class.

Grobman, Gary, The Holocaust: A Guide For Teachers – Modern Anti-Semitism © 1990. http://remember.org/guide/History.root.modern.html. Grobman covers the Enlightenment through the nationalist movements of the 19^th Century. With questions and student activities suggestions.

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/PHIL.HTM. Site gives a nice overview of the Enlightenment and several of its principle philosophers from throughout Europe.

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