Abstract

Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) was an archeologist, jurist, and historian of the ancient world. He served as a liberal member of the Prussian House of Deputies (1873–82) and the Reichstag (1881–84). In his pamphlet Another Word About Our Jews (1881), which was written in reply to his fellow historian Heinrich von Treitschke’s argument in the Preußische Jahrbücher (November 1879) that “the Jews are our misfortune,” Mommsen called for tolerance towards the Jews and argued that they had made worthy contributions to the German Reich. Previous to that he had been among the first academics to sign the “Declaration of Notables” (November 12, 1880), which labeled antisemitic agitation a “national disgrace.”

Historian Theodor Mommsen (c. 1870)

Source

Source: Loescher & Petsch, portrait of Theodor Mommsen. Photograph (c. 1870).
bpk-Bildagentur, image number 10005088. For rights inquiries, please contact Art Resource at requests@artres.com (North America) or bpk-Bildagentur at kontakt@bpk-bildagentur.de (for all other countries).

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