Wilhelm Marr - Late Renunciation of Antisemitism

Late Renunciation of Antisemitism

Toward the end of his life Marr came to renounce anti-semitism, arguing that social upheaval in Germany had been the result of the Industrial Revolution and conflict between political movements. According to Moshe Zimmermann he "openly requested the Jews' pardon for having erred in isolating the problem". He published in Hamburg a final essay entitled Testament of an Antisemite in which he explained the history of his thinking, asserting that he had originally been a "philo-Semite", having rejected "the miserable Romantic madness of Germanism". He complained that modern anti-Semitism was becoming merged with German mysticism and nationalism. Marr condemned 'the beer drinking leaders, the gay "Heil" shouters of modern anti-Semitism' and crude prejudice against Jewish writers and thinkers.

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