Trudy Gold
A Curious Triumvirate: Einstein, Rathenau, Haber and the Complexities of German Jewish Identity, Part 2
Summary
Albert Einstein, Walther Rathenau, and Fritz Haber, all German Jews, knew one another at the turn of the century in Berlin. These extraordinary men exemplify the challenge of being groundbreaking contributors to their fields during the rise of anti-Semitism. All three were loyal to their country and changed the world with their genius contributions while managing degrees of inner and outer conflict. These conflicts were expressed in different ways in their lives and throughout their friendships with one another. Part 2 of 2.
Trudy Gold
Trudy Gold was the CEO of the London Jewish Cultural Centre and a founding member of the British delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Throughout her career she taught modern Jewish history at schools, universities, and to adult groups and ran seminars on Holocaust education in the UK, Eastern Europe, and China. She also led Jewish educational tours all over the world. Trudy was the educational director of the student resources “Understanding the Holocaust” and “Holocaust Explained” and the author of The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization.
It depends on who was doing the considering. According to the Nazis, it was all about Jewish blood. There’s a difference between anti-Judaism and antisemitism. Antisemitism is a dislike of Jews by race. Race theory, in my view, is total balderdash. To create a pure race, you would have to have geographical isolation for thousands of years. The Nazis believed if you were of Jewish blood, you were tainted. For the Nazis, a Jew was a Jew. There was a famous case of the nun Edith Stein who is considered a Catholic martyr because she died in Auschwitz. The reason she was sent to Auschwitz was because she was born a Jew.
It’s a truism that when there’s political, economic, and social instability, we tend to look for populist leaders and scapegoats. We should be working on the human condition instead, in my view. Yes, there are right-wing groups all over Europe and America who are espousing these vile views on the far-left, ironically. Anti-Zionism is being taken to such an extent that it’s as dangerous as the rubbish that’s coming out of the far-right. It’s happening because of the insecurities, basically. I really believe that when society is relatively even people don’t hate as much. That’s the problem we face – the deeper into history or psychology we go we face the same problem: what constitutes the human condition?
Basically, it embarrassed Rathenau. He wrote the article where he said that German Jews were like dachshunds who were trying to dress up as greyhounds and they would never be able to be like the athletic Germans. Haber felt very insecure, that’s why he converted, he was in love with Germany and German militarism. Einstein walks the world much more easily. He was a huge figure with a kind of bemused detachment.