OpenU Prof. Henry Wassermann

Updated: July 2007

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Personal

Telephone Office: +972-9-778-1381
Fax Fax: 972-9-778-1416
Email E-mail: henrywa@openu.ac.il

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Education

1968 B.A., Philosophy, Hebrew University
1972 M.A., General History, Hebrew University
1979 Ph.D., General and Jewish History, Hebrew University
Dissertation: Jews, Bürgertum and bürgerliche Gesellschaft in a Liberal Era in Germany (1840-1880)
Advisor: Professor Jakob Katz, Hebrew University

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Academic and Professional Experience

1966-1970 Assistant Editor, Jewish History, Encyclopaedia Judaica
1970-1972 Assistant Editor, Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizman
1971-1974 Assistant Editor, Encyclopaedia Hebraica
1976-1978 Open University, Ramat Aviv, Member of course team, “Jews in an Era of Transition”
1980-1992 Editor-in-Chief, Pinkas Kehillot Germania (Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities), Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
1982-1983 Lecturer, Jewish History, Haifa University
1985 - Associate Professor, General and Jewish History, The Open University

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Active Participation in Scholarly Conventions (Partial List)

1981 World Union of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem
1982 Koebner Chair for German History, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
1984 Institute for Research in Anti-Semitism, Berlin
1986 Koebner Chair for German History, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
1986 "German Jewry and Liberalism," Friedrich Naumann Institute, Bad Königswinter, West Germany
1987 "Historiography of German Jewry," Max Planck Institute, Tegernsee, Bavaria
1993 "Israeli Historians and German History," Hebrew University, Jerusalem
1994 "J. G. Fichte and Antisemitism – a different opinion". Seminar in honor of Prof. Jakob Kat on his 90th birthday, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
2005 "Bibliography of the Jeckes," World Congress of Jewish Studies

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Awards, Prizes & Grants

1975 Warburg Prize, Institute for Jewish Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
1983 Hedwig Goldschmidt Prize, Department of History, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

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Membership in Professional Organizations

1992-2000 Member of the Directorate, Leo Baeck Institute, Bustenai 33, Jerusalem (Member of research, publication and awards committees)
1995- Member of the Editorial Board, Aschkenas (Darmstadt/Köln/Vienna)

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List of Publications

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Books

1. Bibliographie des Jüdischen Schrifttums in Deutschland 1933-1943, Munich: K.G. Saur, 1989, XXVII, 153 pp. [A bibliography of writings by and for Jews during the Third Reich].
Reviewed by E. Hildesheimer, in MB, Febr./March 1993, p. 12; R. Jütte, in Hessische Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte, 44 (1994), 230-232; J. Friedländer, in Hazofe, 14.12.1992 (Hebrew); idem, in Forwaerts (New York), November 6, 1992, p. 15, 22 (Yiddish).
2. Pinkas Hakehillot, Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities from their foundation till after the Holocaust, Germany, vol. III, Hesse/Hesse-Nassau/Frankfort, Jerusalem: Yad Vashem 1992, xii, 725, [12], maps, illus., (Hebrew).
Reviewed by M.A. Meyer, in Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, 19 (1994), 43-44; B. Eckert, in Buchhandels-Geschichte, (1990), A527-529.
3. Hartmut Becker: Für einen humanen Sport. Gesammelte Beiträge zum Sportethos und zur Geschichte des Sports, Schorndorf: Karl Hofmann 1995, 229 pp. (A memorial volume).
4. Germany? Where can it be found? Historical Introduction to the Emergence of a National Culture in Germany (1770-1830), Tel Aviv: Open University 2001, 311 pp, (Hebrew).
5. (Editor): "The German-Jewish History we have inherited": Young Germans write Jewish History, Jerusalem: J.L. Magnes, 2004, iv, 245 pp. (Hebrew).
6. False Start: Jewish Studies at German Universities during the Weimar Republic, Amherst, N.J: Prometheus Books, 2003.
7. People, Nation, Fatherland: Observations on the Emergence, Growth and Demise of Nationalism-generating Concepts, Raanana: Open University, 2007, 412 pp. (Hebrew).

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Articles

1. "Jews and Judaism in the Gartenlaube," in Year Book of the Leo Baeck Institute (YBLBI), XXIII (1978), 47-60.
2. "Jews in German Bürgerliche Gesellschaft in the 19th Century as reflected in cartoons (a methodological experiment)," in Etkes, E.; Salmon, J. (eds.), Studies in the History of Jewish Society in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Period presented to Professor Jakob Katz on his Seventy-Fifth Birthday, Jerusalem: Magnes 1980, 248-260 (Hebrew).
3. "Jewish History as Observed from a Prussian Registrar's Office," in Jahrbuch des Instituts für Deutsche Geschichte, X (1981), 169, 189-198.
4. "The Intimate Culture of German Jewry ,” in Zimmermann, Moshe (ed.), Crises of German Nationalism, Jerusalem: J.L. Magnes 1983, 187-198 (Hebrew).
5. "The Fliegende Blätter as a source for the social history of German Jewry," in YBLBI, XXVIII (1983), 93-138.
6. "Kauft nicht bei Juden!" Der politische Antisemitismus des späten 19. Jahrhunderts in Darmstadt" [with E.G. Franz], in Franz, E. G.(ed.), Juden als Darmstädter Bürger, Darmstadt: E. Roether 1984, 121-134.
7. "Reference Groups and Control Groups: Social Mobility of German Jews according to mid-19th Century Prussian Statistics,” in Gross, Nachum (ed.), Jews in Economic Life, Jerusalem: Shazar, 1985 (Hebrew).
8. "Jews in Jugendstil (A social analysis of jokes and cartoons in the Simplicissimus)," in YBLBI, XXI (1986), 71-104.
9. "Was ist des Juden Vaterland?" Zum Selbstverständnis der Deutschen Juden in der Zeit der Assimilierung,"in Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht (1986), 14-29.
10. "Reflections on Jewish Historiography in the State of Israel, as occasioned by Continuity and Change, by H.H. Ben-Sasson,” in Kivunim, No. 34, Feb. 1987, 101-115 (Hebrew).
11. "The Political and Social Impact of Liberalism upon Jewish Bürgertum in the 19th Century,” in Das deutsche Judentum und der Liberalismus, Königswinter: Friedrich-Naumann Stiftung 1988, 113-123?.
12. "Reflections on some inadequacies of the concept of Antisemitism in the Study of Relations between Jews and Germans in the Modern Era,” Working paper No. 715/87, Tel Aviv, Open University, 29p [Paper presented at a seminar of the LBI and the Max Planck Institute for history (25-28 Nov. 1987, Schloss Ringberg, Tegernsee Bavaria) on "German Jewish History. Developments in Historical Research and Writing since 1945: Results, Criticism, Goals".]
13. "Jews in Jugendstil,” in Zemanim, Tel Aviv University, vol. 9, Winter 1990, No. 33, 50-61 (Hebrew).
14. "Stereotype Darstellungen von Juden, Judentum und Israel in der neuzeitlichen Karikatur,” in Ginzel, Guenther B.(ed.), Antisemitismus, Cologne: Wissenschaft und Politik 1991, 418-437.
15. "An Essay on Haman, Risches, Judenhass and Antisemitisms,” in Freimark, Peter; Jankowski, Alice; Lorenz, Ina S. (eds.), Juden in Deutschland, Hamburg: Christians 1991, 186-195.
16. "Das Judentum und die Juden in der bürgerlichen Vorstellungswelt des 19. Jahrhunderts,” in Aschkenas, 2 (1992), 151-171.
17. "Anti-Semitic Violence in Weimar Germany. A Pilot Study,” in Heilbronner, Oded (ed.), Weimar Jewry and the Crisis of Modernity, 1918 to 1933, Jerusalem: Magnes Press 1994, 263-293 (Hebrew).
18. “Goethe und die Juden,” in MB (=Mitteilungsblatt IOME), March-April 2000.
19. "Prof. Dr. Hugo Gressmann: '…Ich bitte endlich, diese Gastvorlesungen auch als eine Anerkennung der jüdischen Wissenschaft zu betrachten',” in Peter Schäfer (ed.), Reuchlin und seine Erben: Forscher, Denker, Ideologen und Spinner, Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke, 2005, 285-292.
20. “On the Construction of anti-Semitism,” in Aschkenas, 13 (2003), 237-255; in forthcoming publication of the Koebner Institute for German History, Hebrew University, Jerusalem (in print, German).
21. "I am in danger of writing a historical legend about myself and justifying it,” in Haaretz, 22. 11. 2002 (Hebrew), also in the English-language edition of Haaretz.
22. "How to invent a cultural renaissance in Weimar Germany,” [review article] of Michael Brenner, The Renaissance of Jewish Culture in Weimar Germany, Jerusalem: Shazar Center, 2004, (Hebrew), in Katharsis, No. 2 (2004), 69-94 (Hebrew); reply to rejoinder of M. Brenner, ibid, No. 4 (2004), 256-260.
23. "Das Deutsche in Erez Israel (1933-1948): Preliminary Reflections upon approaching completion of a bibliography of titles written in German in Palestine and Israel since 1933,” in: Hermann Zabel (ed.), Zwischen zwei Stühlen, (in print).
24. "Observations on: History – Myth or Reality?, in Amir Horowitz; Ora Limor; Ram Ben-Shalom; Avriel Bar-Levav (eds.), The Past and Beyond: Studies in History Presented to Elazar Weinryb, Raanana: The Open University of Israel, 2006, 385-415.
25. "Fehlstart: Die 'Wissenschaft vom späteren Judentum' an der Universität Leipzig (1912-1941),” in Sephan Wendehorst (ed.), Die ersten Bausteine einer jüdischen Geschichte der Univrsität Leipzig (Leipziger Beiträge zur jüdischen Geschichte und Kultur, 4), Leipzig: Leipziger Universtätsverlag, 2006.

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Brochures

1. Stereotypes and Anti-Semitism from the Middle Ages till Today, Jerusalem: Government Information Center 1985 (& further editions) 22 pages (Hebrew).
2. “Der Habilitand hat sich stets durchans unjüdisch bescheiden gehabt...” Zur Geschichte der Judaistik an der Leipziger Universität, Leipzig: Simon-Dubnow-Institut 1998, 44 pp.

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Articles in Encyclopedias

The Encyclopedia Judaica contains hundreds of articles including "Bismarck, Otto von"; "Nietzsche, Friedrich"; "Peddling"; "Prussia"; "Textiles"; "Tailoring" etc. [some of these articles were reprinted in Nachum Gross (ed.), Economic History of the Jews, Jerusalem, Keter, 1975].
The Encyclopedia Hebraica contains many scores of articles, including "Jewish Press" and "Caricatures," Tel Aviv, Massada.
Walk, Joseph (ed.), Wuerttemberg/Hohenzollern/Baden, Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1986, Pinkas Kehillot Germania, vol. 2, contains many articles including "Mannheim,” "Göppingen,” "Bad Mergentheim,” "Ulm."
Richard Levi (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Anti-Semitism, articles on the German periodicals Fliegende Blätter, Simplicissimus, Kladderadatsch and on "Caricatures, Modern Period."

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Reviews of Books

1. Engelman, Todd. M., The Jews of Georgian England, 1714-1830, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society 1979, in Kiryat Sepher, April 1981 (Hebrew).
2. Zimmermann, Moshe, Wilhelm Marr: Patriarch of Anti-Semitism, Jerusalem: Shazar Center 1982 (Hebrew), in Kivunim, No. 17, 1982 (Hebrew).
3. Demandt, Karl E., Bevölkerungs- und Sozialgeschichte der jüdischen Gemeinde Niedenstein, 1653-1866, Wiesbaden: Kommission für die Geschichte der Juden in Hessen 1980, in Kiryat Sepher, July 1983 (Hebrew).
4. Stern, E., Danzig Jewry, 1840-1943, Beit Lochamei Hagettaot: Hakibbutz Hameuchad 1983, (Hebrew), in Kivunim, No. 26, 1985, (Hebrew).
5. Henning, E. (ed.), Hessen unterm Hakenkreuz, Frankfurt a.M.: Insel 1985, in Jewish Social Studies, XLIX (1987), 85-88.
6. "Kristallnacht – spontaneous pogroms or planned Aktion ?" [review article], in Yalkut Moreshet, April 1989, 203-208 (Hebrew).
7. Almog, Shemuel, Antisemitism and Nationalism in Modern Europe, Jerusalem: Shazar Center 1988 (Hebrew), in Zemanim, No. 30-31, Summer 1989, 196-7 (Hebrew).
8. Klein, Judith, Der deutsche Zionismus und die Araber Palaestinas, Frankfurt: Campus, 1983, in Haaretz, 27.10.1989 (Hebrew).
9. Liberles, Robert, Religious Conflict in Social Context. The Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism in Frankfurt am Main, 1838-1877, Westport, Conn./London, England: Greenwood Press 1985 and Breuer, Mordechai, Jüdische Orthodoxie im Deutschen Reich 1871-1918, Frankfurt a.M.: Jüdischer Verlag bei Athenäum 1986, in Kiryat Sepher, 62 (1988/89), 427-432 (Hebrew).
10. Katz, Jakob, With my own eyes, Jerusalem: Keter 1989 (Hebrew), in MB, January 1990, p. 8. (Hebrew).
11. Kochavi, Yehoyakim, Jewish Spiritual Survival in Nazi Germany, Ghetto Fighters House: Hakibbutz Hameuchad ,1988 (Hebrew), in Zemanim, Winter 1990, No. 36, 103-104 (Hebrew).
12. Zeman, Zbynek, Heckling Hitler, Caricatures of the Third Reich, London: Tauris 1987, in Studies in Contemporary Jewry, 7 (1991), 427-428.
13. Gelber, Yoav, New Homeland. Immigration and Absorption of Central European Jews 1933-1948 (Hebrew), Jerusalem: Leo Baeck Institute & Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi 1990, in Haaretz, (8.6.1990) (Hebrew); German version in: Aschkenas, 2 (1992), 285-292.
14) Loewenstein, Ute (ed.), Quellen zur Geschichte der Juden im Hessischen Staatsarchiv Marburg 1267-1600, 3 vols., Wiesbaden: Kommission für die Geschichte der Juden in Hessen 1989, in Zion, 57 (1992), 217-220 (Hebrew).
15. Taddey, Gerhard, Kein kleines Jerusalem. Geschichte der Juden im Landkreis Schwäbisch Hall, Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke 1992, in Staatsanzeiger für Baden-Wuerttemberg, 5.12.1992, p. 2.
16. Kaiser, Wolf, Palaestina-Erez Israel. Reisebeschreibungen deutschsprachigen Juden aus Mitteleuropa, Hildesheim: Olms 1992, in Davar, 1993 (Hebrew); also in MB, February-March 1993, p. 11-12 (German).
17. Riemer, Jehuda, Fritz Perez Naphtali. Sozialdemokrat und Zionist,Bleicher: Gerlingen 1992, 400 p., illus. (Schriftenreihe des Instituts für Deutsche Geschichte, Tel Aviv, No. 12, in Aschkenas.
19. Geisel, Eike; Broder, Henryk M. (eds.), Premiere und Pogrom. Der Jüdische Kulturbund 1933-1941. Texte und Bilder, Berlin: Siedler 1992, 335 p. in Haaretz, Sefarim Supplement, 20.7 1994, p. 5 (Hebrew).
20. Volkmann, Michael, Neuorientierung in Palaestina Erwachsenenbildung deutschsprachiger jüdischer Einwanderer 1933 bis 1948, Vienna: Böhlau 1994, in MB, 1995.
21. Schimpf, Dorothee, Emanzipation und Bildungswesen der Juden im Kurfürstentum Hessen 1807 bis 1866, Wiesbaden: Kommission für die Geschichte der Juden in Hessen 1994, in Vierteljahreshefte fuer Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 82 (1995), 257f.
22. Lowenstein, Steven, M., The Berlin Jewish Community. Enlightenment, Family and Crisis, 1770-1830, New York/Oxford, 1994, 300pp., in Zion, 60 (1995), 225-236 (Hebrew).
23. Aly, Götz, "Endlösung". Völkerverschiebung und der Mord an den europäischen Juden, Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer 1995, 446 pp., in Haaretz, 8.9.1995 (Hebrew).
24. Dittmar, Peter, Die Darstellung der Juden in der populären Kunst zur Zeit der Emanzipation, Munich/London/New York/Paris: K. G. Saur 1992 (Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung der Technischen Universität Berlin), in Zion, 61 (1996), 125-8, (Hebrew); English version in Aschkenas.
25. Klemperer, Victor, Ich will Zeugnus ablegen bis zum letzten. Tagebücher 1933-1945, Berlin/Weimar: Aufbau. 1995, 2 vols, ca. 1700 pp., in Haaretz, 12.4.1996 (Hebrew).
26. Katz, Jacob, The Unhealed Breach. The Cessation of Orthodox Jews from the General Community in Hungary and Germany, Jerusalem: Merkaz Shazar 1995, in Haaretz, 13.12.1996 (Hebrew).
26. Loewy, Ernst, Jugend in Palästina, Berlin: Metropol 1997, in MB, March/April 1998, p. 20 (Hebrew).
27. Borut, Jacob, "A New Spirit among our Brethren in Ashkenaz" – German Jewry's Change of Direction at the End of the 19th Century, Jerusalem: Magnes 1999, 336 pp. (Hebrew), in Zion, 75 (1999), 529-533 (Hebrew).
28. Wiese, Christian, Wissenschaft des Judentums und protestantische Theologie im wilhelminischen Deutschland – Eine Schrei ins Leere?, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 1999, xxvi, 507 pp., in Zion (Hebrew); in Aschkenas, 11 (2001), 261-275; in Modern Judaism, 22 (2002), 83-98.
29. Kuhn-Ludewig, Maria, Johannes Pohl (1904-1960) – Judaist und Bibliothekar im Dienste Rosenbergs, Laurentius 2000, 334 pp., in Sefarim/Haaretz, 4. 7. 2001, p. 10 (Hebrew).
30. Helmut Heiber; Beatrice Heiber, Die Rückseite des Hakenkreuzes, in Mitteilungsblatt, 2002.
31. Nagel, Michael (ed.), Zwischen Selbstbehauptung und Verfolgung. Deutsch-jüdische Zeitungen und Zeitschriften von der Aufklärung bis zum Nationalsozialismus, Hildesheim-Zurich-New York: Georg Olms, 2002, 372 pp., in Zion, 71 (2006), 112-116 (Hebrew).
32. Schlör, Joachim, Endlich im Gelobten Land? Deusche Juden unterwegs in eine neue Heimat, Berlin: Aufbau, 2003, 223 pp., in Haaretz, 26.3.2004 (Hebrew; also in English-language edition); also in German in Aschkenas, 14 (2004), 379-583.
33. Brocke, Michael and Müller, Christiane, Haus des Lebens: Jüdische Friedhöfe in Deutschland, Leipzig: Reclam, 2001, 264 pp., in Haaretz, February 11, 2005, p. 2, 5.

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Open University Publications

Jews in An Era of Transition
Unit 6; Units 5 & 7 (with Y. Zur)
Changes in Jewish Society in Germany
The Culture of the Enlightenment
Unit 18 (Moses Mendelssohn); appendix to unit 16 ("Frederick the Great and the Jews"); Historical Introduction on Germany; Historical Introduction on England (with Dr. A. Hofman)
Europe, Cradle of Nationalism
Unit 3-4 with H. Ben Aharon; Unit 8 with Brenda Miller
Issues in the Study of Nationalism
Scientific editor, Hebrew translation of Gellner, Ernest, Nations and Nationalism, Tel Aviv: Open University 1994, 1998 (Hebrew).
Scientific editor, Hebrew translation of Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities, Tel Aviv: Open University 1999, 2000 (Hebrew).
Editor (with Dr. J. Dehan as co-editor) To Invent a Nation: An Anthology, Raanana: Open University, 2006, ca. 300 pp. (Hebrew).
Germany 1770-1830: From Kulturnation to National Culture
Jewish Press as a Historical Source, under development.

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Research in Progress

1.

"Bibliography of the Fifth Aliyah" [c. 2,000 titles, presently undergoing computerization].
2.

"Frankfort Jewry, 1932-1938: Demography of a Community in Distress" (in cooperation with Dr. Martin Liepach of Frankfurt University).
3.

"…Writings of the most exquisite obscurity…,” or: Gershom G. Scholem and the structure of academic discovery,” study based upon an analysis of Scholem's Bibliographica Kabbalistica and article no. 20.
4.

"Shaye": Early writings and letters of Prof. Y. Leibowitz and his wife Grete (nee Winter).

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