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97-600: Stoecker was born in Halberstadt , Province of Saxony , in the Kingdom of Prussia . Stoecker's father was a blacksmith turned prison guard, and despite his poverty, Stoecker was able to attend university, which was unusual for a working-class man in the 19th century. An energetic and hardworking Protestant pastor who wrote widely on various social and political issues, Stoecker had a charismatic personality which made him one of Germany's best loved and most respected Lutheran clergymen. As

194-489: A Social Democrat named Ewald before, despite having repeatedly spoken with him during Reichstag sessions. As Stoecker was repeatedly challenged by Bäcker's lawyers about various lies that he had told and contradictory statements that he had made over the years, Stoecker was put on the defensive more and more as he attempted to explain that he did not mean what he had said or he could not remember saying what he had said, making him appear dishonest and shifty. Stoecker's reputation

291-631: A blueprint for a new egalitarian society and became a fervid supporter of Social Democracy, as the Marxist movement was known in the day. Most engaged himself as editor of socialist newspapers in Chemnitz and Vienna , both were suppressed by the authorities, he also worked as editor of the Berliner Freie Presse (Berlin Free Press). Most was a dedicated advocate of revolutionary socialism , sharing

388-834: A figure" and that Germany was taking in far too many poor Jewish immigrants from Russia and Romania. He argued that Jewish immigrants from the Russian empire and Romania should be "sunk on the high seas", rather be allowed to settle in Germany. As early as 17 October 1879, the Board of Trustees of the Jewish community in Berlin had complained to the Prussian Ministry of the Interior that Stoecker should be silenced as his hate speeches were inciting violence against Jews,

485-477: A former tailor who had been imprisoned for fraud, Emil Grüneberg, whom Stoecker had met while he was in prison, who proceeded to give a violently anti-Socialist speech. The American historian Harold Green commented that Stoecker associating with a disreputable individual like Grüneberg, a swindler and blackmailer showed the "demagogic and unsavory" character of Stoecker, who for his all self-righteousness often associated with disreputable people. Much to Stoecker's fury,

582-508: A good Lutheran, Stoecker was impressed with Martin Luther's 1543 book On the Jews and their Lies , and throughout his life, Stoecker always held that to be a good Christian meant hating the Jews. Defunct Defunct Besides working as a court chaplain, Stoecker also served as the head of a church mission in central Berlin that offered aid to the poorest families of the city. Stoecker was shocked by

679-625: A group of Social Democrats, led by Johann Most , showed up to hijack the meeting as Most gave a speech denouncing the Lutheran church for being subservient to the state and declared that only the Social Democrats represented the working class, which prompted loud cheers from the working-class audience. Most led the audience out of the meeting hall, all behind him, while Stoecker was left fuming, as his would be supporters had been taken away by Most. The German chancellor, Prince Otto von Bismarck , brought

776-511: A higher standard of living and democracy, not to be told that it was their duty as Christians to accept their lot. Stoecker's hostility to unions and strikes limited his appeal to the working class. Stoecker called unions "the threatening danger which moves through our time like a flood between weak dykes". Stoecker believed that workers should not fight for higher wages and improve working conditions through strikes, but should deferentially ask "throne and altar" to improve working conditions and wages,

873-504: A letter for having "incited rather than calmed greed, by having drawn attention to big individual fortunes and by proposing reforms that in light of the government's program were too extravagant". The American historian Harold Green noted that Bismarck seemed to have a problem with Stoecker's anti-Semitism only when it was directed against Bleichröder, and as long as Stoecker attacked Jews in general, instead of singling out Bleichröder, Bismarck did not have an issue with Stoecker. The letter from

970-429: A lunatic asylum because everything he had to say reflected an unbalanced mind. Victoria wrote that she was ashamed of her adopted country as men like Stoecker and Treitschke "behave so hatefully towards people of a different faith and another who have become an integral part (and by no means the worse) of our nation!" The Crown Prince of Prussia, Frederich, delivered a speech at a Berlin synagogue, where he called Stoecker

1067-450: A message that strongly limited his appeal to the working class. Stoecker's platform sounded very left-wing with its demand for an income tax, banning children and married women from working, making Sunday a holiday; subsidies for widows and those too injured to work, taxes on luxury goods and a government-supported health system for all. However, at same time, Stoecker's platform called for bringing unions under state control, as Stoecker viewed

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1164-408: A request that was refused. Stoecker's denunciations of the changes wrought by industrialization and urbanization appealed to the lower middle class, as he offered up an idealized, nostalgic vision of an ordered, rural society, where local craftsmen and small merchants did not have to compete with factories and large stores, of a simpler, better time now sadly gone. Stoecker's critique of modernity and of

1261-422: A schoolteacher; his aversion to religion earned him more beatings at school. To the end of his life Most was "a militant atheist with the zeal of a religious fanatic " who "knew more Scripture than many clergymen knew". Most developed frostbite on the left side of his face as a young child. For several years thereafter, flesh rotted and infection spread, with the primitive medicine of the day unable to treat

1358-409: A speech delivered on 11 June 1880, Stoecker attacked an unnamed Orthodox Jewish banker to powerful people, by which he clearly meant Bleichröder, who he claimed had too much power and wealth. Stoecker stated the solution to poverty was to confiscate the wealth from rich Jews, rather than have an "impoverished" Church minister to the poor, and said that the banker was "a capitalist with more money than all

1455-458: A strike. Unemployable in his trade, he learned to make wooden boxes for hats, cigars, and matches, which he sold on the street until police brought an end to his trade for lacking a license. As the 1860s drew to a close, Most was won over to the ideas of international socialism , an emerging political movement in Germany and Austria . Most saw in the doctrines of Karl Marx and Ferdinand Lassalle

1552-587: A theology student at the University of Halberstadt, Stoecker was already known as the "second Luther" as his writings and speeches defending the Lutheran faith were considered outstanding. After his ordination as a minister, Stoecker joined the Prussian Army as a chaplain. Stoecker came to national attention after delivering a sermon after the Siege of Metz in 1870, where he argued that Prussia's victories over France were

1649-611: Is an important railway hub on the Magdeburg–Thale and Halle–Vienenburg lines, mainly served by Transdev Sachsen-Anhalt . Halberstädter Verkehrs-GmbH  [ de ] operates the city's public transport system, comprising the Halberstadt tramway network of two lines, and six city bus lines. Germania Halberstadt is a football club that plays in Halberstadt. Halberstadt is twinned with: Johann Most Johann Joseph "Hans" Most (February 5, 1846 – March 17, 1906)

1746-751: Is situated between the Harz in the south and the Huy hills in the north on the Holtemme and Goldbach rivers, both left tributaries of the Bode . Halberstadt is the base of the Department of Public Management of the Hochschule Harz University of Applied Studies and Research. The town center retains many important historic buildings and much of its ancient townscape. Notable places in Halberstadt include Halberstadt Cathedral ,

1843-516: The Berlin movement , which as an enthusiastic Stoecker reported: "His Imperial Majesty, the Kaiser agreed to receive delegates from the Berlin movement on the eve of his birthday, something that had never happened before in the case of a political party. I had the honor to deliver a speech...[after the address] the Kaiser aptly replied that there had been very strange developments during the past year; that both

1940-818: The Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious made the Christian mission in the German stem duchy of Saxony the episcopal see of the Diocese of Halberstadt . It was granted market rights by King Otto III in 989. The town became the administrative centre of the Saxon Harzgau and an important trading location. The Halberstadt bishops had the Church of Our Lady erected from about 1005 onwards. In his fierce conflict with Emperor Frederick Barbarossa ,

2037-635: The Enlightenment ( Aufklärung ) movement. Under the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit the town became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia , a Napoleonic client-state and administrative seat of the Westphalian Department of Saale . On 29 July 1809 a Westphalian regiment was defeated by the Black Brunswickers under Prince Frederick William of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in the Battle of Halberstadt . After

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2134-607: The Junkers company in Dessau . The aircraft factory was the site of an SS forced labor camp, one of several subcamps of Buchenwald ; the production facilities and the nearby Luftwaffe airbase were targets of Allied bombing during the ' Big Week ' in February 1944. In the last days of World War II , in April 1945, US forces approached Halberstadt as they attacked remaining Nazi troops in

2231-512: The Mittelstand (lower middle class), rather than the working class and the poor. In September 1879, Stoecker's speech "Our Demands on Modern Jewry" caused a sensation and attracted much media attention, as it was widely assumed that Stoecker was speaking on behalf of Emperor Wilhelm I when he blamed all of Germany's problems on "Jewish capital" and the "Jewish press". Stoecker, in particular, complained that 45,000 Jews living in Berlin were "too large

2328-598: The Peaceful Revolution in Autumn 1989 St Martin's Church was a centre of the Swords to ploughshares movement. After the reunification of Germany Halberstadt became part of the restored state of Saxony-Anhalt. Halberstadt's Jewish community is mentioned in records from the 13th century and the town had a synagogue in 1464. In the early 18th century, Halberstadt had one of the largest Jewish communities in central Europe and

2425-596: The "Bleichröder affair" and because Stoecker had failed to win the working class from the SPD, instead attracting support from an already-conservative Mittelstand . In 1882, Stoecker attended the world's first anti-Semitic international congress in Dresden . Stoecker was condemned most forcefully by Frederich, the Crown Prince of Prussia and his British-born wife Victoria. In 1882, Wilhelm agreed to receive Stoecker and other leaders of

2522-527: The "Jewish press". Prince Wilhelm wrote that to dismiss Stoecker would be to strengthen the Social Democratic and the Progressive parties, who the prince claimed to be both controlled by the Jews. Prince Wilhlem called Stoecker the victim of the "ghastly and infamous slanders of the damned Jewish press" and wrote "poor Stoecker" had been "covered with insults, slanders and defamation". He went on, "Now, after

2619-519: The "shame of the century" and promised that if he became Emperor, he would fire Stoecker as court chaplain, leading to enthusiastic cheers from the audience. In 1880, Stoecker attacked the Chancellor, Prince Otto von Bismarck indirectly when he singled out Gerson von Bleichröder , the Orthodox Jew who served as Bismarck's banker, though not by name as the author of the problem of poverty in Germany. In

2716-472: The 12th century. The town is also a stop on the scenic German Timber-Frame Road . The town of Halberstadt consists of Halberstadt proper and the following Ortschaften or municipal divisions: These are all formerly independent municipalities: Emersleben was absorbed into Halberstadt in 1995, Klein Quenstedt in 1996 and Aspenstedt, Athenstedt, Langenstein, Sargstedt and Schachdorf Ströbeck in 2010. In 814

2813-469: The 1648 Peace of Westphalia the prince-bishopric was finally secularized to the Principality of Halberstadt held by Brandenburg-Prussia . The first secular governor was Joachim Friedrich von Blumenthal . Halberstadt became part of the newly established Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. From 1747 Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim worked here as a government official and made his home an intellectual centre of

2910-523: The 1876 work, Die Bastille am Plötzensee: Blätter aus meinem Gefängniss-Tagebuch (The Bastille on Plötzensee: Pages from my Prison Diary). After advocating violent action, including the use of explosives, as a mechanism to bring about revolutionary change, Most was forced into exile by the government. He first traveled to France but was forced to leave at the end of 1878, settling in London instead. There he founded his own newspaper, Freiheit (Freedom), with

3007-513: The Aryan race was doomed. Stoecker seems to have regarded Jews as both a race and a religion as he stated in a speech: "Race is, without a doubt, an important element in the Jewish Question. The Semitic-Punic type is, in all areas, in work as well in profit, in business as well in earnings, in the life of the state as well in worldview, in its spiritual as well as its ethical effects—so different from

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3104-553: The CSP was to win over the working classes to a Christian conservatism in which ordinary people would learn to accept that God had created an ordered society with the Junkers on top, and that to challenge the ordered society was to challenge God. Stoecker believed that the capitalist system alienated workers from the proper, God-intended course, and what was needed were social reforms to hold off revolution. Through Stoecker advocated social reforms,

3201-474: The Church of Our Lady ( Liebfrauenkirche ) and St Martin's, churches built in the 12th and 13th centuries. Halberstadt is the site of the first documented large, permanent pipe organ installation in 1361. The cathedral is notable among those in northern European towns in having retained its medieval treasury in virtually complete condition. Among its treasures are the oldest surviving tapestries in Europe, dating from

3298-550: The Crown Prince Frederich attacked anti-Semitism in an 1880 speech as a "shameful blot on our time" and said on behalf of himself and his wife Victoria with clear reference to Stoecker: "We are ashamed of the Judenhetze which has broken all bounds of decency in Berlin, but which seems to flourish under the protection of court clerics". The British-born Crown Princess Victoria in a public letter said that Stoecker belonged in

3395-459: The Germanic morals and philosophy of life, that reconciliation or amalgamation is impossible, unless it takes the form of a sincere rebirth from the depths of the conscience from the upright Israelites". In another speech, Stoecker stated: "The Jewish Question, insofar as it is a religious question, belongs to science and the missionaries; as a racial question, it belongs anthropology and history. In

3492-456: The Germans. Levy wrote that Stoecker understood the resentments and fears, the sense of victimization held by the "little people" of the mittelstand , as he explained that the "Jewish Press" and "Jewish capital" caused all their problems. Typical of the sense of victimization that Stoecker encouraged was a speech from 1879 where he declared: "If modern Jewry continues to use the power of capital and

3589-586: The Jewish Progressives and Social Democrats in Berlin!...O dear Grandpa, it is disgusting to observe how in our Christian-German, good Prussian land, the Judenthum , twisting and corrupting everything, has the cheek to attack such men, and in the most shameless, insolent way to seek their downfall"." Impressed with his grandson's arguments, the Emperor kept Stoecker on. In November 1887, at a Christian Social event at

3686-521: The Jews and stated in a speech: "Already a hatred for the Jews—which the Evangelical Church resists—begins to blaze up here and there. If modern Judaism continues, as it thus far has, to use the force of capital as well the power of the press, to ruin the nation, it will be impossible to avoid a catastrophe in the end". Though Stoecker professed to be speaking with "full Christian love" for the Jews, it

3783-556: The Jews did not begin to "show respect" to the Germans, which they allegedly did not. Stoecker fed the sense of victimization as with his speech "The Lousy Press" in which he argued to his supporters that the media was controlled by rich Jewish capitalists who disliked people like them and that the economic decline of the Mittelstand was being ignored because of the "lousy press". Stoecker's speeches usually consisted of reading various out-of-context statements from Social Democratic newspapers, to be followed by statements like "Gentleman, that

3880-477: The Mansion House under the grounds his speech was going to be a threat to public order. When Stoecker spoke at an alternative venue, Social Democratic emigres showed up to disturb the speech, forcing Stoecker to flee from the stage and to sneak out via the backdoor, behavior that led many to condemn the "second Luther" as a coward. In 1884, Stoecker sued a Jewish newspaper publisher, Heinrich Bäcker for libel after

3977-551: The Nazi regime. Halberstadt Halberstadt ( Eastphalian : Halverstidde ) is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt , the capital of Harz district . Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center, which was largely destroyed by Allied bombings in the late stages of World War II after local Nazi leaders refused to surrender. The town was rebuilt in

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4074-634: The annihilation of its exponents. Therefore, massacres of the enemies of the people must be set in motion." Most is best known for a pamphlet published in 1885: The Science of Revolutionary Warfare, a how-to manual on the subject of bomb-making which earned the author the moniker "Dynamost." A gifted orator, Most propagated these ideas throughout Marxist and anarchist circles in the United States and attracted many adherents, most notably Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman . Inspired by Most's theories of Attentat, Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, enraged by

4171-587: The capitalist system under the guise of very nationalist and anti-Semitic message appealed to the Mittelstand , which was suffering very badly from the economic changes caused by the Industrial Revolution and felt their interests to be ignored by all of the existing parties. Traditionally, for over 1000 years, Jews were despised social outcasts, a people living in poverty and seen as accursed forever, and Jewish emancipation in Prussia in 1869 had been followed by

4268-430: The condition. His condition worsened and Most was diagnosed with terminal cancer . As a last-gasp measure a surgeon was called in. A two-inch section of his jawbone was removed, resulting in permanent disfigurement. At the age of twelve, Most organized a strike of students against a particularly hated teacher, resulting in his expulsion from school. This ended Most's brief period of formal education, forcing him into

4365-565: The deaths of workers during the Homestead strike , put words into action with Berkman's attempted assassination of Homestead factory manager Henry Clay Frick in 1892. Berkman and Goldman were soon disillusioned as Most became one of Berkman's most outspoken critics. In Freiheit , Most attacked both Goldman and Berkman, implying Berkman's act was designed to arouse sympathy for Frick. Goldman's biographer Alice Wexler suggests that Most's criticisms may have been inspired by jealousy of Berkman. Goldman

4462-585: The defeat of Napoleon the town was restored to Prussia and subsequently administered within the Province of Saxony . From 1815 Halberstadt was home to the Prussian 7th (Magdeburg) Cuirassiers "von Seydlitz" regiment, with Otto von Bismarck in the rank of an officer à la suite from 1868. The town's economy was decisively promoted by the opening of the Magdeburg–Halberstadt Railway in 1843. The tramway

4559-543: The diocese was administered by the Archbishops of Magdeburg . While the Halberstadt citizens turned Protestant around 1540, the cathedral chapter elected Prince Henry Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel first Lutheran bishop in 1566. During the Thirty Years' War the town was occupied by the troops of Albrecht von Wallenstein in 1629 and temporarily re-Catholicized according to the imperial Edict of Restitution . According to

4656-409: The doing of God, and in 1874, Emperor Wilhelm I, who had been moved by Stoecker's sermons, had him appointed court chaplain in Berlin. Stoecker's position as a court chaplain gave him more power and prominence than his title of pastor would indicate, as everything Stoecker said was seen as expressing the opinion of Wilhelm. As early as 1875, Stoecker began to attack Jews in racial terms in his sermons. As

4753-533: The emperor only attracted more attention to Stoecker, and more people continued to join the CSP. Teachers and army officers were overrepresented in the CSP, and in 1881, Stoecker renamed his party the Christian Social Party, as very few workers had joined his movement, and the Worker's part of the title was offputting to his mostly lower middle-class supporters. Bismarck ended his support for Stoecker in 1881 after

4850-594: The ethical disruption of the peoples among who the Jews have lived". In another speech, Stoecker linked his Christian work with his political work, saying: "I found Berlin in the hands of the Progressives—who were hostile to the Church—and the Social Democrats—who were hostile to God; Judaism ruled in both parties. The Reich' s capital city was in danger of being de-Christanized and de-Germanized. Christianity

4947-464: The evangelical clergy taken together". Bleichröder complained to Bismarck that Stoecker's attack might lead him to leave Germany for another nation that would be more welcoming to him, and as Bleichröder's skills at banking had made both him and Bismarck very rich men, Bismarck was worried about losing his banker. Bismarck saw the attack on Bleichröder as an attack on himself and seriously considered banning Stoecker from speaking, but he declined as Stoecker

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5044-457: The extent to which the German poor and working classes had become estranged from Lutheranism and later wrote with horror: "During the years 1874–78, eighty percent of all marriages took place outside the church and forty-five percent of all children were not baptized". Furthermore, the staunchly-conservative Stoecker was worried about the way that the poor and the working class were voting for the "godless" Social Democratic Party (SPD), and to counter

5141-617: The extermination of one of them" and it was the responsibility of "the Germanentum ...to settle once and for all with the Semites". Like everybody else in the völkisch movement, Stoecker was deeply influenced by the claim of the French writer Arthur de Gobineau that there was an ancient Aryan master race responsible for everything good in the world, of which the modern Germans were the best representatives, but Stoecker rejected Gobineau's conclusion that

5238-558: The first issue coming off the press on January 4, 1879. Convinced by his own experiences of the futility of parliamentary action , Most began to espouse the doctrine of anarchism , which led to his expulsion from the German Social Democratic Party in 1880. In March 1881, Most expressed his delight in the pages of the Freiheit over the assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and advocated its emulation; for this Most

5335-506: The first of the Anti-Socialist Laws later in 1878 with the aim of crushing the SPD, and Stoecker's foray into politics was secretly supported by the government, which hoped that Stoecker might be able to win the working class from the Social Democrats. In 1879, Stoecker gave speeches blaming all of Germany's problems on the Jewish minority. In his speech "Our Demands on Modern Jewry", delivered in Berlin on 19 September 1879, Stoecker in

5432-569: The following decades. In World War I Halberstadt was the site of a German military airbase and aircraft-manufacturing facilities. In World War II Halberstadt was a regional production center for Junkers aircraft, which also housed an SS forced labor camp . Halberstadt now includes the area where the Langenstein-Zwieberge concentration camp was situated. Today the city has around 450 timber framed houses in its city centre and timber framed old villages like Langenstein . Halberstadt

5529-555: The forces of the Saxon duke Henry the Lion devastated the town in 1179. On Henry's downfall, the Halberstadt diocese was elevated to a prince-bishopric about 1180. Its cathedral was rebuilt from 1236 and consecrated in 1491. Halberstadt, Quedlinburg and Aschersleben joined a league of towns ( Halberstädter Dreistädtebund ) in 1326; from 1387 the city was also a member of the Hanse . From 1479

5626-427: The form of which this question appears before our eyes in public life, it is highly complicated social-ethical, political-economic phenomena.... This question has arisen and developed—under the influence of religion and race—differently in the Middle Ages from how it is today, different also in contemporary Russia from how it is with us. But the Jewish Question—always and everywhere—has to do with economic exploitation and

5723-503: The grounds that the publisher had been persistently attacked by Stoecker. Bäcker won a moral victory, as even through the court had convicted him, Stoecker had been exposed on the stand as a man who was caught up in so many lies as to destroy his reputation. The judges had given a convoluted and tortured ruling in the libel trial that seemed to suggest that they wanted to acquit Bäcker but had convicted him only because to acquit Bäcker would confirm his claims against Stoecker, which would damage

5820-429: The growth of the SPD, he founded the Christian Social Worker's Party (CSP) in 1878. Though strongly critical of capitalism and demanding some social reforms like an income tax and reducing working hours, Stoecker was hostile to unions and supported the existing social structure in which the Junkers dominated Prussian society. Stoecker was not a Junker, but he always had the most profound admiration for them. The purpose of

5917-492: The hand extended to you for reform and help; that you insist on saying "we will not settle for anything less than the Social State". This way makes you enemies of the other social classes. Yes, gentleman, you hate the Fatherland! Your press shockingly reflects this hatred... you also hate Christianity, you hate the gospel of God's mercy. They [the Social Democrats] teach you not to be believe. They teach you atheism and these false prophets". Stoecker followed his speech by presenting

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6014-513: The house of Field Marshal Alfred von Waldersee , Prince Wilhelm stood next to Stoecker, praised him as the "second Luther", declared his support for the CSP as bringing about the spiritual regeneration of Germany and urged men to vote for the CSP. In 1888, when the Emperor Wilhelm died, Frederick succeeded to the throne, but as he was already dying of throat cancer, he did not dismiss Stocker as he had promised. Bismarck threatened to resign if Stoecker were dismissed, but Frederick ordered that Stoecker

6111-412: The judgement of the court, which is unfortunately far too much under Jewish control, a veritable storm of indignation and anger has broken out in all the levels of the nation". Prince Wilhelm called Stoecker "...the most powerful pillar, the bravest, most fearless fighter for Your Monarchy and Your Throne among the people!.... He has personally and alone won over 60, 000 workers for you and your power from

6208-557: The latter had run an article, "Court Chaplain, Reichstag Candidate and Liar". Because Stoecker was a court chaplain, Bäcker was prosecuted by the Prussian state for libelling a public official but he waged such a vigorous defense that his claim that Stoecker was a dishonest man was true that he effectively put Stoecker on trial. As a witness, Stoecker was humiliated on a daily basis, as Bäcker's lawyers presented many examples from his speeches of him telling lies and having committed perjury in another court case when he testified that he never seen

6305-412: The main emphasis of the CSP was on winning workers over to loyalty to "the throne and altar", as Stoecker argued that misery of the workers was caused by a materialistic, atheist world view that had torn the working class from its proper reverence for God and the social order created. The message was rejected by most German workers as not addressing their main concerns. The German working class mostly wanted

6402-406: The most autocratic monarch in the world, the Russian Emperor and the least authoritarian President of a Republic, the American Chief of State had been assassinated, that authority was in terrible danger everywhere and it necessary to be fully aware of this." In 1883, Stoecker attended a conference of evangelical Protestants in London, where the Lord Mayor forbade the "second Luther" from speaking at

6499-451: The old town into some 1.5 million cubic meters of rubble, which American troops briefly occupied three days later. Around 450 of 1600 timber framed houses survived in the city centre. By June 1945, the town and its garrison was handed over to the 3rd Shock Army of the Soviet Red Army forces. Halberstadt was part of newly established Saxony-Anhalt from 1945 to 1952, after which it was within Bezirk Magdeburg in East Germany . During

6596-581: The pair did not believe the pamphlet represented a satisfactory summary of Marx's work. In the 1874 German federal election , Most was elected to represent the Chemnitz constituency as a Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany deputy in the Reichstag , in which he served until 1878. Most was repeatedly arrested for his verbal attacks on patriotism , religion, ethics and for his gospel of terrorism , preached in prose and in many songs such as those in his Proletarier-Liederbuch (Proletarian Songbook). Some of his experiences in prison were recounted in

6693-406: The performance is scheduled to take 639 years. The concert began on 5 September 2001 with a rest lasting 17 months. On the dates of the sound changes the church is usually well visited. Halberstadt is site of the Harz University of Applied Studies . The town can be reached via the Bundesstraße 6n (since 2019 called Bundesautobahn 36 ), 79, 81 , and 245 federal highways. Halberstadt station

6790-505: The power of the press to bring misfortune to the nation, a final catastrophe is unavoidable. Israel must renounce its ambition to become master of Germany. It should renounce its arrogant claim that Judaism is the religion of the future, when it is so clearly of the past...Every sensible person must realize the rule of this Semitic mentality means not only our spiritual, but also our economic impoverishment". Though Stoecker did not call for violence, he implied that violence would be acceptable if

6887-409: The prestige of the monarchy, as Stoecker was the court chaplain. By 1885, Emperor Wilhelm, though an anti-Semite himself, had wanted to fire Stoecker, who had become a liability to the monarchy after the Bäcker libel case but kept him only after his grandson, Prince Wilhelm (the future Wilhelm II) had written him a letter on 5 August 1885 praising Stoecker and claiming that had been attacked unjustly by

6984-412: The purpose of unions was to teach their members to be loyal to "throne and altar", not to improve the lives of their members. When Stoecker founded the Christian Social Party on 3 January 1878, he declared in his speech announcing his party: "I have in mind a peaceful organization of labor and the workers.... It is your misfortune, gentleman, that you only think of your Social State and scornfully reject

7081-569: The rise of a number of poor Jewish families to the middle class. At the same time that Jews were joining the middle class, the fortunes of the Mittelstand had gone into decline, and Stoecker's anti-Semitic speeches appealed to what he called the "little people", as the Mittelstand' s men and women who felt it was unfair and unjust that the traditionally-despised Jews were getting ahead both socially and economically while they were falling behind. Jews were seen as outsiders in Imperial Germany, and

7178-458: The rising generation of pastors and has put his mark on them for decades to come as he did". Stoecker's insistence that Jews were a race, not a religion, and that Jewish "racial traits" were so repulsive that no proper Christian could ever love a Jew and to love Christ was to hate Jews, had a major impact on the Lutheran church well into the 20th century, and helped to explain the Lutherans' support of

7275-401: The short-lived Harz pocket. They dropped leaflets instructing Halberstadt's Nazi ruler to fly a white flag on the town hall as a token of surrender. He refused, no white flag was raised and on 8 April 1945, 218 Flying Fortresses of the 8th Air Force , accompanied by 239 escort fighters, dropped 595 tons of bombs on the center of Halberstadt. This killed about 2,500 people and converted most of

7372-423: The socio-economic success of the Jews seemed to be turning the traditional social order upside down just as at the same moment that many Mittelstand families were sinking into poverty. Stoecker's speech "Our Demands on Modern Jewry" was full of a sense of victimization, as he accused Jews of behaving with outrageous arrogance to Germans, and he demanded that newly middle class Jewish families should "show respect" to

7469-620: The street. On 18 November 1938, the local building authority ordered the demolition of the synagogue and required the Jewish community to pay the cost of the work. Today the Moses Mendelssohn Academy is based in the "Klaus", providing exhibitions, presentations, and information about Jewish culture . A performance of John Cage 's organ piece As Slow As Possible began in the Burchardikirche in Halberstadt in September 2001;

7566-400: The views expressed by Wilhelm Liebknecht in an 1869 speech where he had said; "Socialism cannot be realized within the present state. Socialism must overturn the present state." In 1873, Most wrote a summary of Karl Marx 's Das Kapital . At Liebknecht's request, Marx and Friedrich Engels made some corrections to Most's text for a second edition published in 1876, despite the fact that

7663-462: The words of the American historian Richard Levy "put antisemitism on the map in Germany", as his status as one of Germany most respected and best loved Lutheran clergymen made hatred for the Jews eminently respectable in a way that it never had been before. It was only after Stoecker started to attack the Jews that the meetings of the CSP began to be well attended, but most of Stoecker's followers came from

7760-405: The workforce as a youth. Most was apprenticed to a bookbinder, for whom he had to bind books from dawn until sunset, a condition which Most later likened to slavery. At the age of 17 he became a journeyman bookbinder and plied his trade from town to town and job to job, working in 50 cities in 6 countries from 1863 to 1868. In Vienna he was fired and placed on a blacklist for having staged

7857-576: The worship of the old gods) and too deferential to the Junkers , and some of the Christian Socials, led by Friedrich Naumann , broke away because of his anti-Semitism. Stoecker's position as court chaplain from 1874 to 1890 made him one of the most influential Lutheran clergymen of the entire 19th century, and in 1891, the theologian Reinhold Seeberg called Stoecker "the most powerful church leader for pastors". After his death in 1909, Pastor Johannes Haussleiter wrote, "Nobody has so lastingly influenced

7954-573: Was August Spies , one of the anarchists hanged for conspiracy in the Haymarket Square bombing, in whose desk police found an 1884 letter from Most promising a shipment of "medicine," his code word for dynamite. Most resumed the publication of the Freiheit in New York. He was imprisoned in 1886, again in 1887, and in 1902, the last time for two months for publishing after the assassination of President McKinley an editorial in which he argued that it

8051-498: Was a German-American Social Democratic and then anarchist politician, newspaper editor, and orator. He is credited with popularizing the concept of " propaganda of the deed ". According to biographer Frederic Trautmann, Johann Joseph Most was born out of wedlock to a governess and a clerk , in Augsburg , Bavaria . Most's mother died of cholera when he was very young. Most was subjected to physical abuse by his stepmother and

8148-489: Was a wish for murder!", "Gentleman that was truly murder!", or "That was mass murder!". As the crowd would become more and more angry, Stoecker would present his usual caveat, "Don't think I present all this out of hatred. I don't hate anyone!", which the American historian Jeffery Telman observed was "highly ironic" since Stoecker would whip up his supporters into a state of fury. Though Stoecker professed to be motivated only by "Christian love", he always blamed anti-Semitism on

8245-598: Was always counterbalanced with a violent attack on Judaism as when he warned in a speech that one should not allow "Jewish newspapers to attack our belief and for the Jewish spirit of Mammonism to sully our people". As one of the first leaders of the Völkisch movement , Stoecker attacked the Jews as a "race" and said in a speech at the Prussian Landtag in 1879 that all Jews were "parasites" and "leeches", an "alien drop in our blood" and stated that battle between Germans vs. Jews

8342-588: Was dead as a public force; with it went loyalty to the King and love of the Fatherland. It seemed as if the great war [with France] had been fought so that Judaism could rule in Berlin.... It was like the end of the world. Unrighteousness had won the upper hand; love had turned cold". Together with another völkisch leader, the historian Heinrich von Treitschke , Stoecker launched the Antisemitic Petition in 1880 that

8439-469: Was enraged, and demanded that Most prove his insinuations. When he refused to respond, she confronted him at next lecture. After he refused to speak to her, she lashed him across the face with a horsewhip, broke the whip over her knee, then threw the pieces at him. She later regretted her assault, confiding to a friend, "At the age of twenty-three, one does not reason." Most was in Cincinnati, Ohio , to give

8536-580: Was imprisoned by British authorities for a year and a half. Anything that can tear up the side of a mountain should definitely be effective against a high society party attended by royalty or capitalist exploiters (monopolists). —Johann Most, Science of Revolutionary Warfare Encouraged by news of labor struggles and industrial disputes in the United States, Most emigrated to the US upon his release from prison in 1882. He promptly began agitating in his adopted land among other German émigrés. Among his associates

8633-634: Was inaugurated in 1903. In 1912 the Halberstädter Flugzeugwerke aircraft manufacturer was founded followed by the opening of a military airbase, providing the German Luftstreitkräfte in World War I . After the war it had to close down in accordance with the regulations of the Treaty of Versailles , until in the course of the German re-armament , it opened again in 1935 as a branch of

8730-523: Was known as a center of theology and learning after Berend Lehmann (1661–1730) founded a beth midrash there in 1703. The building, called the"Klaus", included a library and living quarters for scholars to study the Talmud . Lehmann also financed an impressive Baroque synagogue that was completed in 1712. Halberstadt's synagogue was ransacked and burned in the 9 November 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom . The synagogue's Torah scrolls were removed and burned in

8827-507: Was no crime to kill a ruler. "Whoever looks at America will see: the ship is powered by stupidity, corruption, or prejudice," Most said. Most initially advocated traditional collectivist anarchism , but later embraced anarchist communism . Most was famous for stating the concept of the Propaganda of the Deed ( Attentat ): "The existing system will be quickest and most radically overthrown by

8924-422: Was one of "race against race", as the Jews were "a nation unto themselves" with nothing in common with Germans, but instead were linked to the other Jewish communities around the world as "one mass of exploiters". Though Stoecker was very vague about the exact solution to the "Jewish Question" he wanted, in one of his pamphlets, he wrote "the ancient contradiction between Aryans and the Semites... can only end with

9021-411: Was signed by a quarter of million Germans asking for Jewish immigration to Germany to be banned, Jews to be forbidden to vote and hold public office and Jews to be forbidden to work as teachers or attend universities. The ultimate intention of Stoecker and Treitschke was the disemancipation of German Jews, and the Antisemitic Petition was only the planned first step. In response to the Antisemitic Petition,

9118-453: Was so badly damaged that despite the fact it was Bäcker who was on trial, the judge, in a revealing Freudian slip , opened a session of the court with the remark: "I hereby reopen the proceedings against the defendant Stoecker", only to be reminded that it was Bäcker who was on trial. The libel case attracted much media attention, and though Stoecker won the case, the judge gave Bäcker the lightest possible sentence of three weeks in prison, under

9215-534: Was to avoid speaking on political matters in public. After a reign of 99 days, Frederick died and was succeeded by his son, Wilhelm II, who kept Stoecker on as court chaplain. Stoecker had long attacked the National Liberal Party as a "Jewish" party, and in 1890, Wilhelm II was informed by the leaders of National Liberals that they would not vote for his bills in the Reichstag unless he were to sack Stoecker. It

9312-459: Was to win the support of the National Liberals, not objections to Stoecker's anti-Semitism, that caused Wilhelm II to dismiss Stoecker as court chaplain in 1890. The Christian Social Party failed, as many of the younger and more radical völkisch leaders from the Mittelstand found Stoecker too tame, too Christian (some of the völkisch activists rejected Christianity and wanted to bring back

9409-447: Was too popular and his position as court chaplain made him unassailable as he had the Emperor's support. Bismarck complained that Stoecker "was attacking the wrong Jews, the rich ones committed to the status quo rather than the propertyless Jews... who had nothing to lose and therefore joined every opposition movement". In December 1880, under pressure from Bismarck, Wilhelm I formally admonished Stoecker for his attack on Bleichröder in

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