Originally published in 1970, Germans and Jews brings together George L. Mosse’s thoughts on a critical time in German history when thinkers on both the left and the right shared a common goal. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, intellectuals across the political spectrum aimed to solve the problems of contemporary society by creating a force that would eliminate both state Marxism and bourgeois society: a “third force” beyond communism and capitalism. This pervasive turn in ideology had profound effects on German history. In Mosse’s reading, left-wing political efforts became increasingly unrelated to reality, while the right finally discovered in fascism the force it had been seeking.

This innovative perspective has implications for understanding not only the rise of fascism and Nazism in Germany but also the rise and fall of the New Left in the United States and Europe, which was occurring at the time of Mosse’s writing. A new critical introduction by Sarah Wobick-Segev, research associate at the University of Hamburg, places Mosse’s work in its historical and intellectual contexts and draws lessons for students and scholars today.

George L. Mosse (1918–99) was a legendary scholar, teacher, and mentor. A refugee from Nazi Germany, in 1955 he joined the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was both influential and popular. Mosse was an early leader in the study of modern European cultural and intellectual history, the study of fascism, and the history of sexuality and masculinity. Over his career he authored more than two dozen books.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
A Critical Introduction by Sarah Wobick-Segev
Introduction: The “Third Force”                                
1. Culture, Civilization, and German Antisemitism                        
2. The Image of the Jew in German Popular Literature: Felix Dahn and Gustav Freytag    
3. The Influence of the Völkisch Idea on German Jewry                    
4. The Corporate State and the Conservative Revolution in Weimar Germany        
5. Fascism and the Intellectuals                                
6. Left-Wing Intellectuals in the Weimar Republic                        
Notes                                                
Index