Juden in der Toskana und in Preußen im Vergleich

The question regarding the reason for the failure of the Jews in Germany to emancipate themselves can only be answered with the help of comparisons. Ulrich Wyrwa examines the specific achievements of the Jews and the particular hindrances they faced in the age of emancipation, using Prussian and Tuscan cities as an example. He begins his study with the invitations to persecuted Jews to settle in Tuscany and Prussia, and follows the public debates about the status of the Jewish population in society from the Enlightenment through the French Revolution, the national and liberal movements of the 19th century up to the establishment of the »new« nation-states, Germany and Italy, whose constitutions established the principle of legal and political equality for the Jews.