Ludolf Holst, On the Relationship of the Jews to the Christians in Commercial Towns, Leipzig 1818

Source Description

Since 1799 Ludolf Holst (1756–1825) had gained a reputation in Hamburg as an economic expert. Having studied theology and law, he worked as a private tutor and was married to women’s rights advocate Amalia Holst. Since 1799 he devoted himself to economic issues relevant to Hamburg, a topic on which he published several treatises after the end of French rule. His treatise Über das Verhältnis der Juden zu den Christen in den Handelsstädten [“On the Relationship of the Jews to the Christians in Commercial Towns”] (Leipzig 1818), published anonymously, represented a hallmark of early 19th century anti-Jewish argumentation. His second publication, Judenthum in allen dessen Theilen aus einem staatswissenschaftlichen Standpuncte betrachtet [“Jewry in All Its Parts Considered from a Political Economics Perspective”] (Mainz 1821), was published shortly after the outbreak of the “Hep-Hep” riots, which occurred in several cities including Hamburg. Holst’s criticism was primarily based on the Jews’ economic activities. A century later, both of his publications were used as sources by Werner Sombart. In his well-known book Die Juden in der Wirtschaft [“The Jews in the Economy”] (Leipzig 1911), Sombart explicitly referred to “the well informed writer” Holst when integrating him into his hypothesis on the Jews’ role in capitalism.
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Recommended Citation

Ludolf Holst, On the Relationship of the Jews to the Christians in Commercial Towns, Leipzig 1818 (translated by Insa Kummer), edited in: Key Documents of German-Jewish History, <https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:source-154.en.v1> [October 06, 2024].