Mr. Deputy Eberhard: I can only lend my approval to the comprehensive justification made by the gentleman proposing the motion and add a few words in the same spirit. An old, remarkable people, sufficiently known throughout history, whose greatness and former splendor contrast most glaringly with its current situation, scattered all over the world and distributed in different countries, often persecuted and completely oppressed, without any cohesion, we now find the venerable ruins of this formerly great nation, under the pressure of fate, successfully preserving and defending against hostile attacks its language, customs, and religion – which [are] phenomena [that] not only justify a general sympathy, but at the same time also invite admiration. A less sturdy people under similarly unfavorable circumstances would have long ago succumbed to its hard fate and vanished without a trace. It is left to the progressive spirit of our age to honor these facts and, as much as possible, to compensate for the errors committed in past centuries. It is necessary for the German Fatherland not only to oppose decisively every existing division, from whatever side it may advance, and the resulting dissipation of its energies, but at the same time to unite them fervently toward the common Fatherland with the general bond of love. It is unjust to accuse the Jews of the inclination to cheat and all the other vices associated therewith. Their oppressors are more to blame. If one were to grant the former the free choice of any occupation they like, this reproach would disintegrate into nothing of its own accord. But forced to rely on just a few sources of income, and those which are already overfilled by competitors from the ranks of their co-religionists, the necessity of self-preservation creates symptoms that would not arise with free movement.
Only total equality with the other citizens of the country will not only keep the Jews away from the stray paths to which they had formerly turned in distress, but also commit them fervently to their Fatherland, which has up till now treated them only in a stepmotherly fashion, and at the same time spur them on, in friendly union with their Christian neighbors, to perform those services that one may expect from their outstanding aptitudes. Based on these reasons, I likewise move for the complete emancipation of the Jews.
Mr. Deputy Siebert: The gentleman proposing the motion portrays the Jews of today from such a favorable angle that one is almost tempted to become a Jew oneself. The gentleman deputy knows only too well, as he shows in his argument, that every good picture has to include light and shadow; but it is to be regretted that, in the painting he has presented us, he has taken the light from the Jews and the shadow from the Christians. I only wish I had similar experiences to those of the gentleman deputy; but unfortunately this is not the case. I have found that Jews especially are only too [good] at using the distress of the poor as a means of enrichment. Incidentally, I also know quite worthy and honest Jews, whose emancipation I would gladly support. What the gentleman deputy goes on to say, that only the eldest son is entitled to lay claim to protection while the others are condemned to remain unmarried and childless, rests on false premises. According to our laws, certainly, only the eldest son of an Israelite family may be given protection as a commercial dealer. This law is, incidentally, applied quite mildly, in that I myself know families where five sons are commercial people and all of them married. On the other hand, the law also says that the sons born later cannot be denied protection if they dedicate themselves to any other trade. It is to be regretted that so few make use of this. In just the same way, I am convinced that the Jews are rather more favored than disadvantaged against the Christians.
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