The Pity of it All by Amos Elon


finished 6/24 ...... conemp Euro history ....... rating 7.5

Whew! _The thing about The Pity of It All_ is that you can't skim at all. Elon hooks you in with names and juicy details. He elaborates, digresses, illuminates and alludes. You don't want to miss a word! (or at least that was my experience).

This is the history of Jewish intellectuals in Germany from the 18th century until 1933, Hitler's election as chancellor. It's an interesting book.

After I got over my misunderstanding about the point of the book the reading went much more smoothly. It is truly heartbreakingly painful to read of the way the Jews loved Germany but were rebuffed time and again. Like an unrequited love in which many of the Jews of the intellectual set seemed determined to leave their Jewishness behind and become Germans thereby becoming a "true" part of their love forever.

Overall this is a very good overview of modern Jewish history in Germany, how long they'd been there, the ups and downs of it, the cultural aspects which were developed, tthe assimilation, the fears, the love, the beginning of the end.

I wonder about the title. Is it referring to the Jews who were lost because that which was not inevitable happened anyway? Or is it to the many beautiful and intelligent people, most of whom seemed far more German than Jew, who ahd worked to make Germany a cultural center and then lost it all and more.

I also wonder about all the Jewish people immigrating to Germany from Russia and elsewhere, and the very religious Jews, and the Jews who weren't a part of this idealistic and modern intellectual community which usually snubbed them. These Jews of the material ghetto are only mentioned in passing and then as being vastly inferior.

After figuring out that the point of this book was *not* how the Jews in Germany could have helped to avoid the Holocaust but how very fragile the intellectual community's hold on their legal status was, I didn't waste time picking the sections apart lookng that. Rather, I just let the story flow. It was much more enjoyable that way and made more sense. At the end of the book Elon elaborates on his idea that Hitler and the Holocaust could indeed have been avoided but he only mentions it specifically in the last few pages. He basically says that the country, with the focus on the Jews, just bowed to the senile Hindenberg's choice of Hitler. They told themselves that Hitler would burn out, go away, etc. Some Jews thought of it as one more change in a changing menu of names but many Jews, especially the rich ones, saw the warnings and got out.

Posted: Thu - June 21, 2007 at 04:02 PM        

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