Aby Warburg und der Antisemitismus : Kulturwissenschaft als Geistespolitik

Examines Warburg's scholarly work in relation to his lifelong concern with antisemitism. As a student in Germany in the 1880s he was aware of the antisemitism around him; as a Jew he could not hope to become a reserve officer (the key to advancement) or a university professor. He considered making it his life mission to "solve the Jewish question". The problem worsened during and after World War I. Aby supported the actions of his banker brother Max, who in 1916 submitted a memorandum against antisemitism, and in 1923-27 fought a libel action against the antisemite Theodor Fritsch. Aby kept a file of newspaper clippings and other material on antisemitism: pogroms in Eastern Europe, blood libels, the rise of the Nazis. But in his lectures and publications and the activities of his library, antisemitism hardly ever appears explicitly. Argues that his intention was rather to combat antisemitism indirectly by fighting irrationalism and promoting reason and enlightenment. The appendix (pp. 251-279) contains the texts of Warburg's letter to his mother on antisemitism (1889); Max Warburg's memorandum "Die Judenfrage" (1916); and a "friendly" letter to Max by Börries von Muenchhausen on the "otherness" of Jews and their danger to German culture, with Aby's comments (1917). Originalausgabe. 317 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm.