The Scholem Brothers and the Paths of German Jewry, 1914-1939

The First World War and the Weimar Republic opened new opportunities for Jews in Germany, but they also complicated the Jews' situation. Significant antisemitism accompanied illiberal antirepublican sentiment, and the Jews' place in German society was increasingly called into question. Faced with this challenge, German Jews saw four options available to them: the Jewish particularism of Zionism, the universalism of Marxism, an embrace of German nationalism and minimization of Jewish identity, and bourgeois liberalism. These four positions found representation in the four Scholem brothers: Gershom (born Gerhard), Werner, Reinhold, and Erich. An examination of their lives and their relationship to Judaism and German politics elucidates the options that German Jews considered available in this era and the decisions they made.