Goethe's Anti-Semitism Alluded to in New Friedenthal
Biography, Earlier WSU Volume's Evidence Recalled
Adhering to the view that a
study of the life of Johann Wolf-
gang Goethe "is a task that each
generation must undertake anew,"
Richard Friedenthal has produced
a most informative work, "Goethe
—His Life and Times," published
by World. It is a result of the
author's dedication to his subject.
This volume, which first appear-
ed in German under the title
"Goethe—Sein Leben and Zeit
Piper," is in many respects a
resume of the events that tran-
spired in the exciting years of
Goethes' life, 1749 to 18,32.
Authors, statesmen, the chief
actors who lived in his age, ap-
pear in the many incidents describ-
ed.
There was, as Friedenthal de-
scribes it, a "Goethe movement,"
and there is interesting reference
to the literary salons of his time.
Friedenthal writes:
"The strongest Goethe move-
ment started in Berlin, and its
moving spirits were the Berlin
Jewesses. At a time of social
change they created the first
literary salons in Germany, a
Henriette Herz or a Rahel yarn-
hagen. It was a very short period.
The Romantic era brought a re-
action, with fiercely anti-Semitic
clubs and societies making their
appeal to the 'true Christian'
and old Germanic heritage of the
Middle Ages. It was only for a
decade or two, prior to the civic
emancipation of the Jews, and
of the German bourgeoisie in
general, that the Jewish salons
prospered; intellectually very ac-
tive and socially very free, they
were, for the most part, under
aristocratic protection and pa-
tronage. Henriette Herz' husband
was a physician and philosopher,
regarded as Bant's representa-
tive' in Berlin, and it was with
his pupils that she started her
salon; some form of cultural ac-
tivity was the only means the
Jews had of gaining a degree of
respect and social acceptance.
In her attic rooms in the Jae-
gerstrasse Rahel Levin, later
Varnhagen, received all the well-
known or rising authors and
publicists, Friedrich Schlegel, ,
Tieck, Jean Paul, the two Hum-
boldts, Prince Louis Ferdinand,
as well as diplomats, junkers and
actors. If one can speak in terms
of class at all, it was to the
actor class, who also still had to
fight for social recognition, that
the Jews belonged; both were
beyond the social pale and were
regarded as questionable com-
pany. For this very reason they
were more attractive than `good
society. In one of his epigrams
Goethe says: `society is called
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good when it does not provide
occasion even for the slightest
poem,' Goethe was Rahel's idol,
her solace and counsellor. 'Listen
to Goethe,' she writes to one of
her friends, 'it is with tears that
I write the name of this great
mediator, recalling great afflic-
tion'; he is to be read as one
reads the Bible, she continues,
he has been her unfailing com-
panion throughout her life . . .
While it would be foolish to as-
cribe to these circles a monopoly
in their reverence of Goethe, it
would be equally foolish to un-
derestimate it Goethe, at any
rate, did not do so, although he
was by no means the philo-
Semite Lessing was; he was no
more in favor of state recogni-
tion or civic equality for the
Jews than he was of freedom for
the press."
Friedenthal's book is compressed
into 560 pages and is therefore
vastly shorter in text than an earli-
er work published by Wayne State
University Press. In the WSU work,
which appeared early in 1963 in
two volumes ,Dr. K. R. Eissler, in
1560 pales of text, wrote under
the title "Goethe—A Psychoanaly-
tic Study, 1775-1786." In that en-
cyclopedic two-volume work Dr.
Eissler dealt at greater length
with Goethe's anti-Semitism. Be-
cause of the related importance
of the subject in dealing with a
new biography of Goethe, the re-
viewer quotes from the April 5,
1963, issue of The Jewish News
which carried the following re-
garding the expose of Goethe's anti-
Semitism:
The scholarly study "Goethe—A
Psychoanalytic Study, 1775 - 1786"
is concerned with a decade of sig-
nificance in the life of Goethe,
with his attempt at psychotherapy,
his proto-psychoanalytic ap-
proaches, his search for solution
of problems that confronted him.
The author, Dr. K. R. Eissler,
had befriended Prof. John M. Dor-
sey in Vienna, and the latter
brought him together with Dr. Har-
old Basilius, director of Wayne
State University Press, with the
result that WSU undertook to pub-
lish this extensive study. Seymour
A. Copstein assisted the author in
checking the manuscripts before
the book went to press.
Dr. Eissler confirms that Goethe
was influenced by anti-Semitic
feelings, and he states that the
noted German author's anti-Semi-
tism "at times was quite strong."
It is pointed out by the author:
"I wish to stress that I only hypo-
thetically suggest that Goethe's
father may have been circumcized.
If this was actually the case, it
would contribute a great deal to
the understanding of some aspects
of Goethe's psychology, such as the
surprising ease with which he con-
verted castration fear into feel-
ings of victory." This may also ex-
plain Goethe's anti-Semitic feel-
ings, the author states.
Considerable attention is given
by Dr. Eissler to an incident in
Goethe's life "when a fire broke
out in the Jewish quarter and he
organized the people in their fight
against the flames, drenching his
most elegant garments and arous-
ing laughter among the bystand-
ers ... " Dr. Eissler writes:
"Fully to examine the signifi-
cance of the story of the fire in
the Jewish quarter would require
a broad discussion of Goethe's at-
titude toward the Jews . . . Suffice
it to say that his remarks about
contemporary Jews were not al-
ways friendly and that apparently
he was not in favor of full emanci-
pation for them. His deep feeling
about the Biblical Jew, his desire
to make the Wandering Jew the
topic of epical poetry, his admira-
tion for Spinoza, his infatuation
with the boy Mendelsohn, show his
profound tie to Judaic tradition
and Judaic culture and his appre-
ciation of Jewish talent; yet all
this did not result in a liberal at-
titude toward the Jewish question
of his times.
"His story about the fire may be
interpreted as an indication of an
identification with the Jews. In it,
he behaves as if he were one of
them and he incurs ridicule, which
was also customarily directed
against the Jews in Frankfurt.
Goethe had already adumbrated
this identification with the degrad-
ed (circumcised?) Jew when he
complained about the pirating pub-
lishers. He tells us that the first
one to offend him in that way of-
fered him some Berlin porcelain as
a compensation. 'On this occasion,'
Goethe continued, 'it was bound to
occur to me that the Berlin Jews
when they married were compelled
to buy a certain quantity of porce-
lain in order to assure the sales
of the Royal works.' Here Goethe
quite openly records that he was
made to feel like a Jew when he
liad to bow helplessly to exploita-
tion.
"Thus we have the following ele-
ments in associative connection
with Spinoza: to be exposed to hor-
ror -arousing, supernatural im-
pulses (the inner genius), to be ex-
posed to uncontrolled aggression
(the Pirating publishers), to be ex-
posed to ridicule because of asso-
ciation with a degraded minority
(the fire in the Jewish quarter)
.. . One finds in association with
Spinoza a melange of those situa-
tions that are in general ttnalter-
able, such as the sex to which we
belong, or our group membership,
or the inner force of drives, pas-
sions and appetites. Apparently
Goethe had learned from Spinoza
to accept without rebellion that
part of nature and society that is
unalterable." —P.S.
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Write Box 724
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PHONE 542-1464
BUYING A CHEVY?
Red Auerbach, Coach of Year
BY JESSE SILVER
(Copyright, 1965, JTA,
Inc.)
Red Auerbach, coach of the
Boston Celtics, has finally ar-
rived! He has been named Coach
of the Year in the National Bas-
ketball Association. Although
Red has been the most successful
coach in the history of the profes-
sional game, it is his first such
award. Auerbach drew 21 of the
27 votes cast by a panel of bas-
ketball writers.
It's been quite a year for Red
in many ways. He was named gen-
eral manager of the club and
finally bought some shares in the
team, becoming a part owner. The
Celtics won their ninth straight
Eastern Division championship,
and are going for their seventh
straight league crown.
Even the Russians appreciate
Red. They are publishing his book
on basketball, and leaving his
name on the cover . . . Speaking
of things, Red, Adolph Schayes,
coach of the Philadelphia War-
riors, will take a group of NBA
players behind the Iron Curtain
for the State Department .. . The
final figures have been released
by the NBA for the 1964-65 sea-
son. They show Art Heyman with
a 5.7 scoring average, and Barry
Kramer with 3.6. They both play
for the New York Knickerbockers.
Kramer will spend the summer
working at a boys' camp.
Coaches for Maccabiah
Phil Moriarty of Yale has been
named swimming coach of the
United States Maccabiah Games
team. He has directed the Yale
swim squad since 1959. He is the
fifth coach named to the team.
The others are Joe Healey of New
York University and Payton Jor-
dan of Stanford, co-coaches for
track and field; George Davidson
of Lafayette, basketball; and Al-
len Rosenberg of the Vesper Boat
Club crew
Trains for Diamond Sculls
Olympic single sculler, Don
10—Friday, August 13, 1965
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Spero is in training for the Dia-
mond Sculls at London and the
European championships to be
held in Duisberg, Germany. Spero
hopes to defeat the Russian Olym-
pic gold medal winner at these
meetings. Don was invited to Rus-
sia to take part in the Moscow
Regatta, but was forced to decline
due to his work schedule.
SEE
JOHNNY LEBOW
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