With the kind permission of Hamburg State and University Library Carl von Ossietzky.
critical
lie. We acknowledge Jewry without any reci-
procity.
How can we want to emancipate that which we
recognize
as an object! We can emancipate human beings,
not Jews. The emancipation of the Jew lies
within himself; it is the self-emancipation from
Judaism. The Christian state has
not actually emancipated the Jews. It has only decreed
that an element, incompatible with our nature, has the
right to harass us. Can feelings, opinions,
prejudices be abolished by decree? Never. The
palpable antipathy toward Jews has its
cause in the essence of Judaism. Antipathy is
merely an effect. For the effect to be set aside the
cause of it must be done away with.
Let us sum up the ultimate consequences
of this book’s argument.
The Jews wish not only equal civil rights but
political rights equal to those of their fellow-men. That
is, they lay claim to state offices in
the execu-
tive,
judiciary, and civil administration.
Where do they make these demands? In a
“Christian”
state Jews have no entitlement so long
as they remain loyal to their religious Judaism, because no
“state religion” recognizes any other religious element but its own.
Consequently, and in all seriousness,
the so-called “enlightened” Jew, the “Jewish indifferentist,” whose
religion has become a mere formula, has no reasonable
cause to hesitate becoming a “Christian,” if he wants full rights and
recognition in the “Christian” state.
In a state without a state
religion? Such
a state cannot and may not recognize any religious denomination
at all, including Judaism.
In a word: the Jew ought to be a citizen, pursue
any sort of business, acquire any property, enjoy
everything that civil life can afford him. However,
we contest his right to hold state offices, as long
as he remains a Jew. These are the reasons:
“National“ is understood here in the sense that
Jewry, in the final analysis, has always pretended to be a
nation.
Therefore, let us say: Just as we demand of every Frenchman,
every Englishman, every Italian that, if he
wishes to be a citizen in our state
completely germanized. The same applies to the
Jew.
Any Jew, who strives to do this whole-heartedly, honorably, and
seriously, is our friend. Disolution of his social-religious-national communal
association is the first step toward equal rights
for Jews.