The Jews of Germany: A Historical Portrait

This magnificent book weaves a rich tapestry of the 1500-year history of the Jews in Germany. Ruth Gay's text, interwoven with contemporary accounts, memoirs, letters, and lavish illustrations, follows the German Jews from their first settlements on the Rhine in the fourth century to the destruction of the community in World War II. The book tells a story — moving, terrifying, and exhilarating — that must be remembered.

"In an old German-Jewish tradition, this is a memorial book, but it has not been content with reciting the names of the dead. Rather, it wants to remember those who lived, the world they made, the lives they led, and the vitality they brought to German civilization....It is a mosaic in time." — Peter Gay, from the Introduction

"Through a lively narrative, enhanced by abundant contemporary documents and illustrations, Ruth Gay lays out a broad and fascinating panorama. This popularly written book presents the reader with a fine introduction to the leading personalities, the significant economic and cultural achievements, and the ultimate tragedy of German Jewry." Michael A. Meyer, Professor of Jewish History, Hebrew Union College

"The Jews of Germany is a magnificently illustrated historical synthesis. It will be an essential reference work for a long time to come." Saul Friedlander, Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles

"In its combination of text, pictures, and short documents, this is by far the best and most accessible account yet of German Jewry. Ruth Gay makes a Jewish community...come alive. The destruction of this community and the exile of so many of its members are given new meaning through this book." George L. Mosse, Weinstein-Bascome Professor of History, Emeritus, University of Wisconsin, Madison

"[A] powerful and moving book. Intelligently organized and richly illustrated, it also provides a reliable narrative by Ruth Gay. She succeeds in recapturing for us in one volume the vanished history and culture of German Jewry from its beginnings on the Rhine to World War II." Jehuda Reinharz, Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History and Provost, Brandeis University

"A fascinating account...[in which] almost every page offers some intriguing tidbit." Kirkus Reviews

"The well-balanced text accompanied by lavish illustrations and passages from a wide variety of highly pertinent documents will appeal to virtually anyone with an interest in the European past." Library Journal

"Modeled on the tradition of memorial books handed down among German-Jewish families to commemorate the lives of the dead, Ruth Gay's moving and lively portrait of the Jews in Germany succeeds in restoring a culture's rich history, despite the menacing strokes that so quickly erased it." New York Times Book Review

"The book is especially strong on German-Jewish intellectual life through the centuries." John Barkham Reviews

"Lusciously illustrated....Smoothly written....The social setting of the German violence against Jews is powerfully evoked in the 277 black-and-white photographs, drawings and documents, plus 20 color plates, that Ruth Gay chose for her book." New Leader

"A necessary and welcome corrective to received prejudices and a fitting tribute to a great culture, tragically destroyed. An important book, recommended for all libraries." Multicultural Review

"A comprehensive, richly illustrated survey....Here is displayed a millennium of achievement, in ceremonial art and synagogue architecture, philosophy, literature, commerce, even politics." Jerusalem Report

This unique book provides a panoramic overview of a now extinct culture: the 1500-year history of the Jews in Germany. Through texts, pictures, and contemporary accounts, it follows the German Jews from their first settlements on the Rhine in the fourth century to the destruction of the community in World War II. Using both voices and images of the past, the book reveals how the German Jews looked, how they lived, what they thought about, and what others thought of them.
Ruth Gay's text, interwoven with passages from memoirs, letters, newspapers, and many other contemporary sources, shows how the German Jews organized their communities, created a new language (Yiddish), and built their special culture--all this under circumstances sometimes friendly, but often murderously hostile. The book explores the internal debates that agitated the community from medieval to modern times and analyzes how German Jewry emerged into the modern world. The earliest document in the book is a fourth-century decree by the Roman emperor Constantine permitting Jews to hold office in Cologne. Among the last are poignant letters from Betty Scholem in Berlin, writing during the Nazi years to her son Gershom in Palestine. In between are accounts of a ninth-century Jewish merchant appointed by Charlemagne to a diplomatic mission to Baghdad, a thirteenth-century Jewish minnesinger, a seventeenth-century pogrom in Frankfurt in which gentiles helped to save their Jewish neighbors, and the nineteenth-century innovation of department stores, palaces of consumerism. The book tells a story--moving, terrifying, and exhilarating--that must be remembered.