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Historian Theodor Mommsen (c. 1870)

Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903) was an archeologist, jurist, and historian of the ancient world. He served as a liberal member of the Prussian House of Deputies (1873-82) and the Reichstag (1881-84). In his pamphlet Another Word About Our Jews [Auch ein Wort über unser Judentum] (1881) – which was written in reply to his fellow historian Heinrich von Treitschke’s argument in the Preußische Jahrbücher (November 1879) that “the Jews are our misfortune” – Mommsen called for tolerance towards the Jews and argued that they had made worthy contributions to the German Empire. Previous to that he had been among the first academics to sign the “Declaration of Notables” (November 12, 1880), which labeled antisemitic agitation a “national disgrace.”

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Historian Theodor Mommsen (c. 1870)

© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz