Doctor Heinrich Graetz | |
|---|---|
 Heinrich Graetz, c. 1885 | |
| Born | Tzvi Hirsch Graetz October 31, 1817 |
| Died | September 7, 1891 (aged 73) |
| Nationality | German |
| Education | Breslau University, later University of Jena |
| Occupation(s) | Historian, principal, teacher, exegete |
| Notable work | History of the Jews |
| Spouse |
Marie Monasch (m. 1850) |
| Children | 5, including Leo |
Heinrich Graetz (German: [ɡʁɛts]; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was a German exegete and one of the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective.
Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (now Książ Wielkopolski), Grand Duchy of Posen, in Prussia (now in Poland), he attended Breslau University, but since Jews at that time were barred from receiving Ph.D.s there, he obtained his doctorate from the University of Jena.[1] After 1845 he was principal of the Jewish Orthodox school of the Breslau community, and later taught history at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland).
His magnum opus History of the Jews was the first Jewish history which threaded together a unified national history across the global Jewish communities. It was quickly translated into other languages and ignited worldwide interest in Jewish history, and later was used as a textbook in Israeli schools. As a result, Graetz was widely considered a Zionist or proto-Zionist, but historians have also noted his support for European assimilation.[2]
In 1869 the University of Breslau (Wrocław) granted him the title of Honorary Professor. In 1888 he was appointed an Honorary Member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences.
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica (2007, 2nd ed.) entry on "Graetz, Heinrich," by Shmuel Ettinger and Marcus Pyka
- ^ Brenner, M.; Rendall, S. (2010). Prophets of the Past: Interpreters of Jewish History. Princeton University Press. p. 50, 76. ISBN 978-1-4008-3661-1. Retrieved 2023-09-17.
At the same time, during the second half of the nineteenth century a new variant of Jewish historiography developed that put passionate emphasis on the existence of a unified Jewish national history. Its beginnings are found in the work of the most important Jewish historian of the nineteenth century, Heinrich Graetz... It was this Graetz, in some places so altered as to be unrecognizable, that was to go through numerous editions in Hebrew and later be used as a textbook in Israeli schools. This explains why readers of the Hebrew editions often regarded Graetz as a Zionist. The truth is more complicated, however. His support for the construction of Palestine is as un- questionable as is his positive attitude toward the continuation of the Jewish nation. In addition, he reported enthusiastically on his journey to Palestine. But at the same time he felt himself to be a German who did not want to reverse the achievements of emancipation, rejected plans for the establishment of a Jewish state, and had no intention of leaving his homeland. "The fence around the Talmud makes every Jewish house in the world into a distinctly circumscribed Palestine," he had written in his Die Konstruktion der juedischen Geschichte (A Construction of Jewish History). Until recently, however, Israeli historians tried to present Graetz as a proto-Zionist. Yet it may be typical of Graetz's indecision regarding the question of a "return" to Palestine that in his fictional Correspondence with an English Lady regarding Judaism and Semitism, first published anonymously in 1883, he answered all his correspondent's questions, but left open the last one, in which she asked him about his attitude toward the construction of Palestine. Her comment, "So you haven't said anything indicating what you think about the Palestine question," is applicable to his general attitude with regard to this issue. The last sentence of the final letter, "You must later explain what you think about this," remained an unfulfilled demand.