Hundt's inflammatory book, in which every word is an abomination, was as ravenously swallowed by the German reading public, as his bad novels. Only at the request of Jews it was forbidden and confiscated by the censorship, which had become omnipotent through the Carlsbad regulations. In Portugal, at about the same time, a motion was brought forward in the Cortes to re-admit the banished Jews and atone for the crime perpetrated against them, whilst in Germany authors and statesmen justified this crime, and wished it to be repeated in the nineteenth century. Hundt did not stand alone in his advocacy of the extirpation of the Jews. Who cares to enumerate all the virulent, hostile writings against the Jews of the years of the "Hep, hep" storm? Conversation on questions of the day, however remote from the subject of the Jews, always ended in abuse of them. If an author glorified Sand and his murder of Kotzebue, and praised his Christian religious spirit, he did not fail to add that "Christian hate would call down a day of judgment upon the Jews, the accomplices of financiers who worked the ruin of the state, even though no writer had ever printed a syllable to the disadvantage of the Jews."
Thus every man's hand was against them; no defender of any weight or influence appeared for them, whose word, if it could not silence, might at least curb the opposition. The aged Jean Paul (Friedrich Richter) did not raise his voice for them, although he had a predilection for the Jews; nor Varnhagen von Ense, although Rachel was his wife, and was included in the general obloquy. Only one writer overcame his prejudice, and defied public opinion in order to take up cudgels on behalf of the universally despised and downtrodden Jews. This was the comedy writer Julius von Voss, whose voice certainly had no great weight, and whose disordered affairs roused the suspicion that Jewish liberality encouraged his venturesomeness. Voss himself in his comedies and novels had exposed the Jews to ridicule, but from regret and remorse, he confessed, he desired to protect the Jews against the "Hep, hep" insults. His words were little regarded, and even were derided. Still less impression was created by the anonymous writings of various freemasons in favor of the Jews, but their goodwill should be recognized. The converted Jews conducted themselves at this juncture in a shameful manner. Not one of them, except Börne, came forward, in behalf of their former brethren, with that just indignation which violence against the defenseless ought to inspire. Rachel von Varnhagen, it is true, wrote to her brother, Ludwig Robert, who had been a witness of the "Hep, hep" storm, in the following manner:—
"I am intensely moved, as I have never yet been, on account of the Jews. They are to be preserved, but only for torture, for contumely, for insult, for brutal outrage. The hypocritical newborn love for the Christian religion (God forgive me for my sin!), for the Middle Ages with their art, poetry, and hideousness, incites the people to the only abomination to which, mindful of all past experiences, it can still be incited. It is not the action of the people, who are taught to cry "Hep, hep." The professors Fries and Rühs, and others, such as Arnim, Brentano, 'our connections,' and yet greater persons are filled with prejudices."
She thought that the Christian priests ought to step forward to check the outrages of the people. "Aye, the priests." But neither Rachel, nor her brother Robert, nor her husband Varnhagen, who elaborated their periods for every childish folly, and had a voice in public opinion, raised it against violence, and against the rule of oppression.
The Jews had, it is true, their own literary exponents to protect them. In Germany alone there were nearly forty Jewish writers who could address the German public. They possessed two Jewish organs, and the daily journals occasionally opened their pages to them. They advanced boldly to the battle-field to ward off the universal accusations against their race. Even the aged David Friedländer raised his voice, wrung his hands over the enemies of the Jews and their persecutions in Germany in the nineteenth century, and could not conceive—he who considered official Christianity and the State as ideal—how these gods could wallow in so much filth. He addressed himself to the Countess Von der Recke, and reminded her of the time when eminent Christians conversed pleasantly with Jews, and both received instruction from each other. This sounded like a forgotten fairy tale from ancient days. But the Jewish combatants only threw light missiles, and could scarcely prick the thick hide of prejudice. For this purpose sharp and heavy harpoons were necessary. At this point the Guide of all history, who had not abandoned the Jews, awakened for them two avenging angels, who with fiery scourges lashed the perverseness of the Germans. These avenging spirits, who brought the Germans more blessings even than their guardian angels, were Ludwig Börne and Heinrich Heine.
[CHAPTER XIV.]
BÖRNE AND HEINE.
Börne and Heine—Börne's Youth—His Attitude to Judaism—His Love of Liberty—His Defense of the Jews—Heine: his Position with Regard to Judaism—The Rabbi of Bacharach—Heine's Thoughts upon Judaism—Influence of Börne and Heine.
1819–1830 C. E.