A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: School of Arts and Crafts or S chool of Applied Arts ) was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for these schools. From the 1920s and after World War II , most of them either merged into universities or closed, although some continued until the 1970s.
127-587: Students generally started at these schools from the ages of 16 to 20 years old, although sometimes as young as 14, and undertook a four-year course, in which they were given a general education and also learnt specific arts and craft skills such as weaving, metalwork, painting, sculpting, etc. Some of the most well known artists of the period had been Kunstgewerbeschule students, including Anni Albers , Peter Behrens , René Burri , Otto Dix , Karl Duldig , Horst P. Horst , Gustav Klimt , Oskar Kokoschka , Egon Schiele and Oskar Schlemmer . Many students accepted into
254-497: A German, belong to a society that was under French leadership. German Jews supported German colonial ambitions in Africa and Eastern Europe, out of the desire to increase German power and to rescue Eastern European Jews from Tsarist rule. The eastern advance became important for German Jews because it combined German military superiority with rescuing Eastern Jews from Russian brutality; Russian antisemitism and pogroms had only worsened as
381-547: A German-Jewish newspaper reported that all the young Jewish males in the Franconian towns of Hagenbach , Ottingen , and Warnbach had emigrated or were about to emigrate. The United States was the primary destination for emigrating German Jews. The Revolutions of 1848 swung the pendulum back towards freedom for the Jews. A noted reform rabbi of that time was Leopold Zunz , a contemporary and friend of Heinrich Heine . In 1871, with
508-773: A building on what is now the Straße des 17. Juni, which now belongs to the Berlin University of the Arts. In 1964 the art school was called the Staatliche Werkkunstschule , and from 1966 the Staatliche Akademie für Werkkunst und Mode (State academy for applied arts and fashion). In 1971, it was integrated into the Hochschule für Bildende Künste . In 1975, this became the Hochschule der Künste Berlin , which since 2001 has been
635-509: A consequence of the fictitious confessions extracted under torture from the Jews of Trent , the populace of many cities, especially of Regensburg, fell upon the Jews and massacred them. The end of the 15th century, which brought a new epoch for the Christian world , brought no relief to the Jews. Jews in Germany remained the victims of a religious hatred that ascribed to them all possible evils. When
762-514: A few men came forward to promote their cause, foremost among them being Gabriel Riesser (d. 1863), a Jewish lawyer from Hamburg , who demanded full civic equality for his people. He won over public opinion to such an extent that this equality was granted in Prussia on 6 April 1848, in Hanover and Nassau on 5 September and on 12 December, respectively, and also in his home state of Hamburg , then home to
889-976: A handful of exhibitions of her design work, over the next two decades, receiving a half-dozen honorary doctorates and lifetime achievement awards during this time as well, including the second American Craft Council Gold Medal for "uncompromising excellence" in 1981. In 2018, the Tate Modern Gallery in London paired with the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen , in Düsseldorf (Germany) for a retrospective exhibition and book of Albers's work. Albers continued to travel to Latin America and Europe, to design and make prints, and lecture until her death on May 9, 1994, in Orange, Connecticut . Josef Albers, who had served as
1016-470: A key role in keeping the Jewish communities in tune with the changing society that was evoked by the Jews being emancipated. Jewish women were the catalyst of modernization within the Jewish community. The years 1870–1918 marked the shift in the women's role in society. Their job in the past had been housekeeping and raising children. Now, however, they began to contribute to the home financially. Jewish mothers were
1143-708: A large and well-organized Jewish community in these regions dates from 321 CE and refers to Cologne on the Rhine . It indicates that the legal status of the Jews there was the same as elsewhere in the Roman Empire . They enjoyed some civil liberties, but were restricted regarding the dissemination of their culture, the keeping of non-Jewish slaves, and the holding of office under the government. Jews were otherwise free to follow any occupation open to indigenous Germans and were engaged in agriculture, trade, industry, and gradually money-lending. These conditions at first continued in
1270-769: A new generation of Jews. He maintained a leading role in the German Haskalah , is one of the founding editors of Ha-Me/assef . Euchel was exposed to European languages and culture while living in Prussian centers: Berlin and Koenigsberg. His interests turned towards promoting the educational interests of the Enlightenment with other Jews. Moses Mendelssohn as another enlightenment thinker was the first Jew to bring secular culture to those living an Orthodox Jewish life. He valued reason and felt that anyone could arrive logically at religious truths while arguing that what makes Judaism unique
1397-450: A new material, cellophane , to design a sound-absorbing and light-reflecting wallcovering. When Gunta Stölzl left the Bauhaus in 1931, Albers took over her role as head of the weaving workshop, making her one of the few women to hold such a senior role at the school. Besides surface qualities, such as rough and smooth, dull and shiny, hard and soft, textiles also includes colour, and, as
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#17330857698031524-679: A number of former students and teachers from the Bauhaus went to work at the school, including: Gerhard Marcks , the Rector from 1928-1933; Hans Wittwer , who ran the Architecture department; Benita Koch-Otte , who ran the weaving workshop; Marguerite Friedländer and Erich Consemüller . When the Nazis came to power in 1933, these people and other staff considered to be avant-garde were dismissed. The Painting, Graphic Design, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography and Carpentry workshops were all closed. In 1938 it
1651-515: A number of incidents have occurred in recent years. Jewish migration from Roman Italy is considered the most likely source of the first Jews on German territory. There were Jews in Rome as early as 139 BCE. While the date of the first settlement of Jews in the regions which the Romans called Germania Superior , Germania Inferior , and Magna Germania is not known, the first authentic document relating to
1778-433: A registration certificate, known as a Matrikel , proving he was in a "respectable" trade or profession. A Matrikel , which could cost up to 1,000 florins, was usually restricted to firstborn sons. As a result, most Jewish men were unable to legally marry. Throughout Germany, Jews were heavily taxed, and were sometimes discriminated against by gentile craftsmen. As a result, many German Jews began to emigrate. The emigration
1905-425: A result, many German Jews began to emigrate. From the time of Moses Mendelssohn until the 20th century, the community gradually achieved emancipation , and then prospered. In January 1933, some 522,000 Jews lived in Germany. After the Nazis took power and implemented their antisemitic ideology and policies, the Jewish community was increasingly persecuted. About 60% (numbering around 304,000) emigrated during
2032-581: A silk factory, after beginning his publications of philosophical essays in German. Mendelssohn conceived of God as a perfect Being and had faith in "God's wisdom, righteousness, mercy, and goodness." He argued, "the world results from a creative act through which the divine will seeks to realize the highest good," and accepted the existence of miracles and revelation as long as belief in God did not depend on them. He also believed that revelation could not contradict reason. Like
2159-505: A spurt of growth was fueled by immigration from the former Soviet Union , so that at the turn of the 21st century, Germany had the only growing Jewish community in Europe, and the majority of German Jews were Russian -speaking. By 2018, the Jewish population of Germany had leveled off at 116,000, not including non-Jewish members of households; the total estimated enlarged population of Jews living in Germany, including non-Jewish household members,
2286-610: A time, Albers was a student of Paul Klee , and after Walter Gropius left Dessau in 1928 the Alberses moved into the teaching quarters next to both the Klees and the Kandinskys . During this time, the Alberses began their lifelong habit of traveling extensively: first through Italy , Spain , and the Canary Islands . In 1930, Albers received her Bauhaus diploma for innovative work: her use of
2413-673: A traveling exhibition on jewellery from household with one of the Black Mountain students, Alex Reed, that opened in the Willard Gallery in New York City. In 1949, Albers became the first textile designer to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Albers's design exhibition at MoMA began in the fall and then toured the US from 1951 until 1953, establishing her as one of
2540-548: A way that their right to observe religious laws is granted, while also recognizing the needs for respect, and multiplicity of religions. He campaigned for emancipation and instructed Jews to form bonds with the gentile governments, attempting to improve the relationship between Jews and Christians while arguing for tolerance and humanity. He became the symbol of the Jewish Enlightenment, the Haskalah. Early 19th century In
2667-542: A well-organized system of Jewish charity for needy Talmud students. Mendelssohn read this book and found proof of the existence of God – his first meeting with a sample of European letters. This was only the beginning to Mendelssohn's inquiries about the knowledge of life. Mendelssohn learned many new languages, and with his whole education consisting of Talmud lessons, he thought in Hebrew and translated for himself every new piece of work he met into this language. The divide between
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#17330857698032794-503: Is its divine revelation of a code of law. Mendelssohn's commitment to Judaism leads to tensions even with some of those who subscribed to Enlightenment philosophy. Faithful Christians who were less opposed to his rationalistic ideas than to his adherence to Judaism found it difficult to accept this Juif de Berlin. In most of Western Europe, the Haskalah ended with large numbers of Jews assimilating. Many Jews stopped adhering to Jewish law, and
2921-1188: Is located in Bethany, Connecticut , and "includes a central research and archival storage center to accommodate the Foundation's art collections, library and archives, and offices, as well as residence studios for visiting artists." Albers was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 1994. Albers was a designer who worked primarily in textiles and, late in life, with printmaking. She worked with multiple techniques, primarily lithography , embossing , silk-screening , and photo-offset. She produced numerous designs in ink washes for her textiles, and occasionally experimented with jewellery design. Her woven works include many wall hangings, curtains and bedspreads, mounted "pictorial" images, and mass-produced yard material. Her weavings are often constructed of both traditional and industrial materials, not hesitating to combine jute , paper, horse hair, and cellophane . Albers's early works, such as Drapery material (1923–26) and Design for Smyrna Rug (1925), display some of
3048-587: The Black Death (1346–53) led to mass slaughter of German Jews, while others fled in large numbers to Poland . The Jewish communities of the cities of Mainz , Speyer and Worms became the center of Jewish life during medieval times. "This was a golden age as area bishops protected the Jews, resulting in increased trade and prosperity." The First Crusade began an era of persecution of Jews in Germany. Entire communities, like those of Trier , Worms, Mainz and Cologne , were slaughtered. The Hussite Wars became
3175-549: The Black Death swept over Europe in 1348–49, some Christian communities accused Jews of poisoning wells . Compared to the south and west of the Holy Roman Empire, the persecutions appear to have brought less drastic effects in the eastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Nonetheless, in the Erfurt Massacre of 1349 , the members of the entire Jewish community were murdered or expelled from the city, due to superstitions about
3302-927: The Free City of Frankfurt , only 12 Jewish couples were allowed to marry each year, and the 400,000 florins the city's Jewish community had paid in 1811 for its emancipation was forfeited. After the Rhineland reverted to Prussian control, Jews lost the rights Napoleon had granted them, were banned from certain professions, and the few who had been appointed to public office before the Napoleonic Wars were dismissed. Throughout numerous German states, Jews had their rights to work, settle, and marry restricted. Without special letters of protection, Jews were banned from many different professions, and often had to resort to jobs considered unrespectable, such as peddling or cattle dealing, to survive. A Jewish man who wanted to marry had to purchase
3429-551: The Fürstliche freie Zeichenschule Weimar ( Weimar Princely Free Drawing School ), which existed from 1776-1930, and the Staatliche Bauschule Weimar (State Architecture / Building Trades School). After various mergers, restructurings and renamings, the present day Bauhaus-Universität Weimar , founded in 1996 after German reunification , operates on the former Bauhaus site, teaching art and design related courses. Quite
3556-560: The Hebrew prayers and the Bible in the original text. Halakhic studies began to flourish about 1000. At that time, Rav Gershom ben Judah was teaching at Metz and Mainz, gathering about him pupils from far and near. He is described in Jewish historiography as a model of wisdom, humility, and piety, and became known to succeeding generations as the "Light of the Exile ". In highlighting his role in
3683-581: The Napoleonic era and its aftermath, citizenship was established as a new franchise generally applying to all former subjects of the monarchs. Prussia conferred citizenship on the Prussian Jews in 1812, though this by no means resulted in full equality with other citizens. Jewish emancipation did not eliminate all forms of discrimination against Jews, who often remained barred from holding official state positions. The German federal edicts of 1815 merely held out
3810-672: The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK) ( Berlin University of the Arts ). A separate school, on a neighbouring site, the Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunstschule Weimar ( Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School, Weimar ), was founded in 1860 and 1910 it became a higher education institute named the Großherzoglich Sächsische Hochschule für Bildende Kunst (Grand-Ducal Saxon School for Fine Arts). In 1919
3937-755: The weaving workshop after Gunta Stölzl's departure in 1931. The political pressures of Nazi Germany forced the Albers to relocate to the United States in 1933, where Anni Albers took up a teaching position at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. In 1949, Albers became the first textile designer to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. After leaving Black Mountain College, she continued to create textile designs and ventured into printmaking . In
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4064-496: The 18th century, some Jews and their families (such as Daniel Itzig in Berlin) gained equal status with their Christian fellow city dwellers, but had a different status from noblemen, Huguenots, or serfs. They often did not enjoy the right to freedom of movement across territorial or even municipal boundaries, let alone the same status in any new place as in their previous location. With the abolition of differences in legal status during
4191-400: The Bauhaus. Women were barred from certain disciplines taught at the school and during her second year, unable to gain admission to a glass workshop with future husband Josef Albers , Fleischmann deferred reluctantly to weaving , the only workshop available to women. Fleischmann had never tried weaving and believed it to be too "sissy" of a craft. However, with her instructor Gunta Stölzl ,
4318-617: The Black Death. Many persecutions were clearly favoured by a royal throne crisis and the Wittelsbach - Luxembourg dualism, therefore recent German research proposed the term “Thronkrisenverfolgungen” (throne crisis persecutions). Royal policy and public ambivalence towards Jews helped the persecuted Jews fleeing to the East from the German-speaking lands to form the foundations of what would become
4445-640: The German humanist, who was the first one in Germany to include the Hebrew language among the humanities. His opinion, though strongly opposed by the Dominicans and their followers, finally prevailed when the humanistic Pope Leo X permitted the Talmud to be printed in Italy. Though reading German books was forbidden in the 1700s by Jewish inspectors who had a measure of police power in Germany, Moses Mendelson found his first German book, an edition of Protestant theology , at
4572-561: The German or Berlin Haskalah offered many effects to the challenges of German society. As early as the 1740s, many German Jews and some individual Polish and Lithuanian Jews had a desire for secular education . The German-Jewish Enlightenment of the late 18th century, the Haskalah , marks the political, social, and intellectual transition of European Jewry to modernity. Some of the elite members of Jewish society knew European languages. Absolutist governments in Germany, Austria, and Russia deprived
4699-672: The Hamburg pamphleteer Wilhelm Marr introduced the term 'antisemitism' into the political vocabulary by founding the Antisemitic League . Antisemites of the völkisch movement were the first to describe themselves as such, because they viewed Jews as part of a Semitic race that could never be properly assimilated into German society. Such was the ferocity of the anti-Jewish feeling of the völkisch movement that by 1900, antisemitic had entered German to describe anyone who had anti-Jewish feelings. However, despite massive protests and petitions,
4826-509: The Holy Roman Empire, its inhabitants were subject to varying estate regulations. In different ways from one territory of the empire to another, these regulations classified inhabitants into different groups, such as dynasts, members of the court entourage, other aristocrats , city dwellers ( burghers ), Jews, Huguenots (in Prussia a special estate until 1810), free peasants , serfs , peddlers and Gypsies , with different privileges and burdens attached to each classification. Legal inequality
4953-659: The Hussites made peace with the Church, the Pope sent the Franciscan friar John of Capistrano to win the renegades back into the fold and inspire them with loathing for heresy and unbelief; 41 martyrs were burned in Wrocław alone, and all Jews were forever banished from Silesia. The Franciscan friar Bernardine of Feltre brought a similar fate upon the communities in southern and western Germany. As
5080-465: The Jewish community was the cultivation of Jewish literature and associations created with teachers, rabbis, and leaders of congregations. Another vital part of the reorganization of the Jewish-German community was the heavy involvement of Jewish women in the community and their new tendencies to assimilate their families into a different lifestyle. Jewish women were contradicting their view points in
5207-523: The Jewish community's leadership of its authority and many Jews became 'Court Jews' . Using their connections with Jewish businessmen to serve as military contractors, managers of mints, founders of new industries and providers to the court of precious stones and clothing, they gave economic assistance to the local rulers. Court Jews were protected by the rulers and acted as did everyone else in society in their speech, manners, and awareness of European literature and ideas. Isaac Euchel , for example, represented
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5334-548: The Jewish lifestyle inside their homes. During the history of the German Empire, there were various divisions within the German Jewish community over its future; in religious terms, Orthodox Jews sought to keep to Jewish religious tradition, while liberal Jews sought to "modernise" their communities by shifting from liturgical traditions to organ music and German-language prayers. Many immigrants travelled through Germany on
5461-473: The Jewish people throughout the generation. Napoleon I emancipated the Jews across Europe, but with Napoleon's fall in 1815, growing nationalism resulted in increasing repression. From August to October 1819, pogroms that came to be known as the Hep-Hep riots took place throughout Germany. Jewish property was destroyed in large number. During this time, many German states stripped Jews of their civil rights. In
5588-535: The Jewish unbelievers. This feeling, among both princes and people, was further stimulated by the attacks on the civic equality of the Jews. Beginning with the 10th century, Holy Week became more and more a period of antisemitic activities, yet the Saxon emperors did not treat the Jews badly, exacting from them merely the taxes levied upon all other merchants. Although the Jews in Germany were as ignorant as their contemporaries in secular studies, they could read and understand
5715-451: The Jews and the rest of society was caused by a lack of translation between these two languages, and Mendelssohn translated the Torah into German, bridging the gap between the two; this book allowed Jews to speak and write in German, preparing them for participation in German culture and secular science. In 1750, Mendelssohn began to serve as a teacher in the house of Isaac Bernhard, the owner of
5842-509: The Jews considered life without their religion not worth living; but they did not realize this clearly until the time of the Crusades, when they were often compelled to choose between life and faith. The Jewish communities of the cities of Speyer , Worms , and Mainz formed the league of cities which became the center of Jewish life during Medieval times. These are referred to as the ShUM cities, after
5969-630: The Jews in Germany The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages ( circa 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish community . The community survived under Charlemagne , but suffered during the Crusades . Accusations of well poisoning during
6096-408: The Jews in return for a certain sum paid to him. Emperor Wenceslaus declared that anyone helping Jews with the collection of their debts, in spite of this annulment, would be dealt with as a robber and peacebreaker, and be forced to make restitution. This decree, which is believed to have impaired the public availability of credit was also reported to have impoverished thousands of Jewish families near
6223-451: The Jews resulting in increased trade and prosperity." The First Crusade began an era of persecution of Jews in Germany, especially in the Rhineland . The communities of Trier , Worms, Mainz, and Cologne, were attacked. The Jewish community of Speyer was saved by the bishop, but 800 were slain in Worms . About 12,000 Jews are said to have perished in the Rhenish cities alone between May and July 1096. Alleged crimes, like desecration of
6350-459: The Jews secured the remunerative monopoly of money-lending . This decree caused a mixed reaction of people in general in the Carolingian Empire (including Germany) to the Jews: Jewish people were sought everywhere, as well as avoided. This ambivalence about Jews occurred because their capital was indispensable, while their business was viewed as disreputable. This curious combination of circumstances increased Jewish influence, and Jews went about
6477-565: The Jews were now invited, with the promise of full protection, to return to those districts and cities from which they had shortly before been expelled. However, as soon as Jewish people acquired some property, they were again plundered and driven away. These episodes thenceforth constituted a large portion of the medieval history of the German Jews. Emperor Wenceslaus was particularly skilled at transferring gold from wealthier Jews to his own coffers. He entered compacts with many cities, estates, and princes whereby he annulled all outstanding debts to
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#17330857698036604-415: The Jews. Charles IV , via the Golden Bull of 1356 , granted this privilege to the seven electors of the empire when the empire was reorganized in 1356. From this time onward, for reasons that also apparently concerned taxes, the Jews of Germany gradually passed in increasing numbers from the authority of the emperor to that of both the lesser sovereigns and the cities. For the sake of sorely needed revenue,
6731-409: The MoMA exhibition, Albers was approached by Florence Knoll to design textiles for the Knoll furniture company. For the next thirty years she worked on mass-producible fabric patterns, creating the majority of her "pictorial" weavings, some of which are still in production over fifty years later. She also published a half-dozen articles and a collection of her writings, On Designing . In 1961, she
6858-453: The Night of Broken Glass ( Kristallnacht ), in which the storefronts of Jewish shops and offices were smashed and vandalized, and many synagogues were destroyed by fire. Only roughly 214,000 Jews were left in Germany proper (1937 borders) on the eve of World War II . Beginning in late 1941, the remaining community was subjected to systematic deportations to ghettos and, ultimately, to death camps in Eastern Europe . In May 1943, Germany
6985-439: The Rhine into world-wide prominence. Their fame spread, rivaling that of other post- Diaspora cities such as Baghdad . Western European – Ashkenazic or Germanic – Judaism became centered in Mainz, breaking free of the Babylonian traditions. A Yeshiva was founded in the 10th century by Gershom ben Judah . Historian John Man describes Mainz as "the capital of European Jewry ", noting that Gershom ben Judah "was
7112-496: The buildings used by the former Kunstgewerbeschule and the neighbouring Hochschule für Bildende Kunst became the base of the newly founded Bauhaus art school. The buildings, designed by Henry van de Velde between 1904 and 1911, are now part of the Bauhaus World Heritage Site . The Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau in 1925. The buildings in Weimar were used by successor arts related educational institutions. There were also other art schools, at other sites, in Weimar, including
7239-542: The chair of the design department at Yale University after the couple had moved from Black Mountain to Connecticut in 1949, predeceased her in 1976. In 1971, the Alberses founded the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, a not-for-profit organization they hoped would further "the revelation and evocation of vision through art." Today, this organization not only serves as the office Estate of both Josef Albers and Anni Albers, but also supports exhibitions and publications focused on Albers works. The official Foundation building
7366-480: The challenges for art students were often great and the living conditions harsh. Such a lifestyle sharply contrasted with the affluent and comfortable living that she had been used to. She attended the Kunstgewerbeschule in Hamburg for only two months in 1919, then in April 1922 began her studies at the Bauhaus at Weimar . At the Bauhaus she began her first year under Georg Muche and then Johannes Itten . Fleischmann struggled to find her particular workshop at
7493-457: The characteristics that lasted throughout her career, notably her experimentation with colour, shape, scale and rhythm with abstract, crisscrossing geometric patterns. Her work in printmaking was also experimental as she would "print lines multiple times, first positive then negative, [and print] off-register...She would explore the limits and possibilities of her tools." To Albers, "there is no medium that cannot serve art." History of
7620-399: The close of the 14th century. The 15th century did not bring any amelioration. What happened in the time of the Crusades happened again. The war upon the Hussites became the signal for renewed persecution of Jews. The Jews of Austria, Bohemia , Moravia , and Silesia passed through all the terrors of death, forced baptism , or voluntary self-immolation for the sake of their faith. When
7747-431: The conservative movement in modern Judaism who accepted the modern spirit of liberalism . Samson Raphael Hirsch defended traditional customs, denying the modern "spirit". Neither of these beliefs was followed by the faithful Jews. Zecharias Frankel created a moderate reform movement in assurance with German communities. Public worships were reorganized, reduction of medieval additions to the prayer, congregational singing
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#17330857698037874-410: The country freely, settling also in the eastern portions ( Old Saxony and Duchy of Thuringia ). Aside from Cologne , the earliest communities were established in Mainz, Worms , Speyer , Regensburg , and Aachen . The status of the German Jews remained unchanged under Charlemagne's successor, Louis the Pious . Jews were unrestricted in their commerce; however, they paid somewhat higher taxes into
8001-411: The couple was invited by Philip Johnson to teach at the experimental Black Mountain College , arriving stateside in November 1933. Albers served as an assistant professor of art. The school was focused on "learning by doing" or "hands-on learning." In the early 1940s when Albers moved classrooms and the looms were not yet set up, she had her students go outside and find their own weaving materials. This
8128-431: The deists, Mendelssohn claimed that reason could discover the reality of God, divine providence, and immortality of the soul . He was the first to speak out against the use of excommunication as a religious threat. At the height of his career, in 1769, Mendelssohn was publicly challenged by a Christian apologist , a Zurich pastor named John Lavater , to defend the superiority of Judaism over Christianity. From then on, he
8255-465: The doctor and author of Ma'aseh Tuviyyah , Tobias b. Moses Cohn , appreciated the secular culture. The most important feature during this time was the German Aufklärung , which was able to boast of native figures who competed with the finest Western European writers, scholars, and intellectuals. Aside from the externalities of language and dress, the Jews internalized the cultural and intellectual norms of German society. The movement, becoming known as
8382-455: The dominating element, texture, which is the result of the construction of weaves. Like any craft it may end in producing useful objects, or it may rise to the level of art. The Bauhaus at Dessau was closed in 1932 under pressure from the Nazi party and moved briefly to Berlin, permanently closing a year later in August 1933. Albers, who was Jewish, made the move with her husband and the Bauhaus to Berlin, but then fled to North Carolina , where
8509-469: The east." War fervour was as common amongst Jewish communities as it was amongst ethnic Germans ones. The main Jewish organisation in Germany, the Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith, declared unconditional support for the war and when 5 August was declared by the Kaiser to be a day of patriotic prayer, synagogues across Germany surged with visitors and filled with patriotic prayers and nationalistic speeches. While going to war brought
8636-425: The emperor one kreutzer out of every florins of their property in addition to the taxes they were already paying to both the state and municipal authorities. The emperors of the House of Luxembourg devised other means of taxation. They turned their prerogatives in regard to the Jews to further account by selling at a high price to the princes and free towns of the empire the valuable privilege of taxing and fining
8763-567: The enemy was Russia also gave an additional reason for German Jews to support the war; Tsarist Russia was regarded as the oppressor in the eyes of German Jews for its pogroms and for many German Jews, the war against Russia would become a sort of holy war . While there was partially a desire for vengeance, for many Jews ensuring Russia's Jewish population was saved from a life of servitude was equally important – one German-Jewish publication stated "We are fighting to protect our holy fatherland, to rescue European culture and to liberate our brothers in
8890-400: The established Church, threatened in its spiritual power in Germany and elsewhere, prepared for its conflict with the culture of the German Renaissance , one of its most convenient points of attack was rabbinic literature . At this time, as once before in France, Jewish converts spread false reports in regard to the Talmud , but an advocate of the book arose in the person of Johann Reuchlin ,
9017-405: The fighting. Many German Jews supported the war out of patriotism; like many Germans, they viewed Germany's actions as defensive in nature and even left-liberal Jews believed Germany was responding to the actions of other countries, particularly Russia. For many Jews it was never a question as to whether or not they would stand behind Germany, it was simply a given that they would. The fact that
9144-465: The first letters of the Hebrew names: Shin for Speyer ( Shpira ), Waw for Worms ( Varmaisa ) and Mem for Mainz ( Magentza ). The Takkanot Shum ( Hebrew : תקנות שו"ם "Enactments of ShUM") were a set of decrees formulated and agreed upon over a period of decades by their Jewish community leaders. The official website for the city of Mainz states: One of the most glorious epochs in Mainz's long history
9271-461: The first six years of the Nazi dictatorship . In 1933, persecution of the Jews became an official Nazi policy. In 1935 and 1936, the pace of antisemitic persecution increased. In 1936, Jews were banned from all professional jobs, effectively preventing them from participating in education, politics, higher education and industry. On 10 November 1938, the state police and Nazi paramilitary forces orchestrated
9398-514: The first to bring copies of the Talmud to Western Europe" and that his directives "helped Jews adapt to European practices." Gershom's school attracted Jews from all over Europe, including the famous biblical scholar Rashi ; and "in the mid-14th century, it had the largest Jewish community in Europe: some 6,000." "In essence," states the City of Mainz web site, "this was a golden age as area bishops protected
9525-574: The host, ritual murder, poisoning of wells, and treason, brought hundreds to the stake and drove thousands into exile. Jews were alleged to have caused the inroads of the Mongols , though they suffered equally with the Christians. Jews suffered intense persecution during the Rintfleisch massacres of 1298. In 1336 Jews from Alsace were subjected to massacres by the outlaws of Arnold von Uissigheim . When
9652-520: The institution. Under the guidance of Gunta Stölzl , Fleischmann developed a passion for the tactile qualities of weaving, shifting her artistic focus from painting to textile art. In 1926, Fleischmann married fellow Bauhaus figure Josef Albers , taking on her husband's last name, and moved with the school to Dessau . The Bauhaus's emphasis on functional design led to innovations in materials that combined aesthetics with practical benefits like sound absorption and light reflection . She eventually headed
9779-598: The largest Jewish community in all of Europe. The legal and civic status of the Jews underwent a transformation under the Holy Roman Empire . Jewish people found a certain degree of protection with the Holy Roman Emperor , who claimed the right of possession and protection of all the Jews of the empire. A justification for this claim was that the Holy Roman Emperor was the successor of the emperor Titus , who
9906-459: The late 18th century, a youthful enthusiasm for new ideals of religious equality began to take hold in the western world. Austrian Emperor Joseph II was foremost in espousing these new ideals. As early as 1782, he issued the Patent of Toleration for the Jews of Lower Austria , thereby establishing civic equality for his Jewish subjects. Before 1806, when general citizenship was largely nonexistent in
10033-444: The latter having rapidly become a "Junior Master" at the Bauhaus. The school moved to Dessau in 1926, and a new focus on production rather than craft at the Bauhaus prompted Anni Albers to develop many functionally unique textiles combining properties of light reflection, sound absorption, durability, and minimized wrinkling and warping tendencies. She had several of her designs published and received contracts for wall hangings. For
10160-638: The locally dominant Christian denomination ( Calvinism , Roman Catholicism , or Lutheranism ). City dwellers of other denominations or religions and those who lacked the necessary wealth to qualify as citizens were considered to be mere inhabitants who lacked political rights, and were sometimes subject to revocable residence permits. Most Jews then living in those parts of Germany that allowed them to settle were automatically defined as mere indigenous inhabitants, depending on permits that were typically less generous than those granted to gentile indigenous inhabitants ( Einwohner , as opposed to Bürger , or citizen). In
10287-434: The military, the diplomatic service, judiciary or senior bureaucracy was very small. Some historians believe that with emancipation the Jewish people lost their roots in their culture and began only using German culture. However, other historians including Marion A. Kaplan, argue that it was the opposite and Jewish women were the initiators of balancing both Jewish and German culture during Imperial Germany. Jewish women played
10414-489: The most important designers of the day. During these years, she also made many trips to Mexico and throughout the Americas, becoming an avid collector of pre-Columbian artwork. After leaving Black Mountain in 1949, Albers moved with her husband to Connecticut where she set up a studio in her home. After being commissioned by Gropius to design a variety of bedspreads and other textiles for Harvard University , and following
10541-550: The neighborhood, sporting events, and other activities that would mold them into becoming more like their other German peers. For mothers to assimilate into German culture, they took pleasure in reading newspapers and magazines that focused on the fashion styles, as well as other trends that were up and coming for the time and that the Protestant, bourgeois Germans were exhibiting. Similar to this, German-Jewish mothers also urged their children to partake in music lessons, mainly because it
10668-521: The only tool families had to linking Judaism with German culture . They felt it was their job to raise children that would fit in with bourgeois Germany. Women had to balance enforcing German traditions while also preserving Jewish traditions. Women were in charge of keeping kosher and the Sabbath; as well as, teaching their children German speech and dressing them in German clothing. Jewish women attempted to create an exterior presence of German while maintaining
10795-493: The only woman 'master' at the school, Fleischmann soon learned to appreciate the challenges of tactile construction and began producing geometric designs. In her writing, titled Material as Metaphor , Albers mentions her Bauhaus beginnings: "In my case it was threads that caught me, really against my will. To work with threads seemed sissy to me. I wanted something to be conquered. But circumstances held me to threads and they won me over." In 1925, Fleischmann married Josef Albers,
10922-554: The patent of toleration. Some of the crown lands, such as Styria and Upper Austria , forbade any Jews to settle within their territory; in Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia many cities were closed to them. The Jews were also burdened with heavy taxes and imposts. In the German Kingdom of Prussia , the government materially modified the promises made in the disastrous year of 1813. The promised uniform regulation of Jewish affairs
11049-546: The pre-existing stereotype put on their children. In addition, Jewish mothers put a large emphasis on proper education for their children in hopes that this would help them grow up to be more respected by their communities and eventually lead to prosperous careers. While Jewish mothers worked tirelessly on ensuring the assimilation of their families, they also attempted to keep the familial aspect of Jewish traditions. They began to look at Shabbat and holidays as less of culturally Jewish days, but more as family reunions of sorts. What
11176-402: The prospect of full equality, but it was not genuinely implemented at that time, and even the promises which had been made were modified. However, such forms of discrimination were no longer the guiding principle for ordering society, but a violation of it. In Austria , many laws restricting the trade and traffic of Jewish subjects remained in force until the middle of the 19th century in spite of
11303-403: The purpose of infusing coherence into the loosely joined parts of his extensive empire, but was not by any means a blind tool of the canonical law . He employed Jews for diplomatic purposes, sending, for instance, a Jew as interpreter and guide with his embassy to Harun al-Rashid . Yet, even then, a gradual change occurred in the lives of the Jews. The Church forbade Christians to be usurers , so
11430-563: The religious development of Jews in the German lands, The Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906) draws a direct connection to the great spiritual fortitude later shown by the Jewish communities in the era of the Crusades: He first stimulated the German Jews to study the treasures of their religious literature. This continuous study of the Torah and the Talmud produced such a devotion to Judaism that
11557-534: The renowned Bauhaus art school had previously studied at Kunstgewerbeschulen. In order of date opened: During the Nazi period, in 1936, the school was renamed the Meisterschule des deutschen Handwerks der Reichshauptstadt (Master school of German trades of the imperial capital city). After the war it was again renamed as the Meisterschule für das Kunsthandwerk (Master school for arts and crafts). In 1952 it moved into
11684-578: The resulting political, economic, and social changes were overpowering. Many Jews felt a tension between Jewish tradition and the way they were now leading their lives – religiously – resulting in less tradition. As the insular religious society that reinforced such observance disintegrated, falling away from vigilant observance without deliberately breaking with Judaism was easy. Some tried to reconcile their religious heritage with their new social surroundings; they reformed traditional Judaism to meet their new needs and to express their spiritual desires. A movement
11811-407: The same in 1871. Historian Fritz Stern concludes that by 1900, what had emerged was a Jewish-German symbiosis, where German Jews had merged elements of German and Jewish culture into a unique new one. Marriages between Jews and non-Jews became somewhat common from the 19th century; for example, the wife of German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann was Jewish. However, opportunity for high appointments in
11938-619: The second-largest Jewish community in Germany. In Württemberg , equality was conceded on 3 December 1861; in Baden on 4 October 1862; in Holstein on 14 July 1863; and in Saxony on 3 December 1868. After the establishment of the North German Confederation by the law of 3 July 1869, all remaining statutory restrictions imposed on the followers of different religions were abolished; this decree
12065-554: The sense that they were modernizing, but they also tried to keep some traditions alive. German Jewish mothers were shifting the way they raised their children in ways such as moving their families out of Jewish neighborhoods, thus changing who Jewish children grew up around and conversed with, all in all shifting the dynamic of the then close-knit Jewish community. Additionally, Jewish mothers wished to integrate themselves and their families into German society in other ways. Because of their mothers, Jewish children participated in walks around
12192-429: The signal for renewed persecution of Jews. The end of the 15th century was a period of religious hatred that ascribed to Jews all possible evils. With Napoleon's fall in 1815 , growing nationalism resulted in increasing repression. From August to October 1819, pogroms that came to be known as the Hep-Hep riots took place throughout Germany. During this time, many German states stripped Jews of their civil rights. As
12319-532: The six print portfolio titled, Line Involvements . Albers wrote an article for the Encyclopædia Britannica in 1963, and then expanded on it for her second book, On Weaving , published in 1965. The book was a powerful statement of the midcentury textile design movement in the United States. Her design work and writings on design helped establish Design History as a serious area of academic study. In 1976, Albers had two major exhibitions in Germany, and
12446-457: The state treasury than did the non-Jews. A special officer, the Judenmeister , was appointed by the government to protect Jewish privileges. The later Carolingians , however, followed the demands of the Church more and more. The bishops continually argued at the synods for including and enforcing decrees of the canonical law , with the consequence that the majority Christian populace mistrusted
12573-557: The struggle for emancipation in Germany awakened some doubts about the future of Jews in Europe and eventually led to both immigrations to America and Zionism . In Russia, antisemitism ended the Haskalah . Some Jews responded to this antisemitism by campaigning for emancipation, while others joined revolutionary movements and assimilated, and some turned to Jewish nationalism in the form of the Zionist Hibbat Zion movement. Abraham Geiger and Samuel Holdheim were two founders of
12700-564: The subsequent years, the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation was founded to "perpetuate the vision of Anni and Josef Albers through exhibitions, publications, education, and outreach concomitant with the Alberses’ personal values". Anni Albers was a textile artist born Annelise Elsa Frieda Fleischmann on June 12, 1899, in Berlin , Germany. Her mother was from a family in the publishing industry and her father
12827-568: The subsequently established Germanic kingdoms under the Burgundians and Franks , for ecclesiasticism took root slowly. The Merovingian rulers who succeeded to the Burgundian empire were devoid of fanaticism and gave scant support to the efforts of the Church to restrict the civic and social status of the Jews. Charlemagne (800–814) readily made use of the Roman Catholic Church for
12954-688: The total. About 15,000 Jews converted to Christianity between 1871 and 1909. The typical attitude of German liberals towards Jews was that they were in Germany to stay and were capable of being assimilated; anthropologist and politician Rudolf Virchow summarised this position, saying "The Jews are simply here. You cannot strike them dead." This position, however, did not tolerate cultural differences between Jews and non-Jews, advocating instead eliminating this difference. A higher percentage of German Jews fought in World War I than of any other ethnic, religious or political minority in Germany; around 12,000 died in
13081-452: The unification of Germany by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck , came their emancipation, but the growing mood of despair among assimilated Jews was reinforced by the antisemitic penetrations of politics. In the 1870s, antisemitism was fueled by the financial crisis and scandals; in the 1880s by the arrival of masses of Ostjuden , fleeing from Russian territories; by the 1890s it was a parliamentary presence, threatening anti-Jewish laws. In 1879
13208-520: The unsavoury prospect of fighting fellow Jews in Russia, France and Britain, for the majority of Jews this severing of ties with Jewish communities in the Entente was accepted part of their spiritual mobilisation for war. After all, the conflict also pitted German Catholics and Protestants against their fellow believers in the east and west. Indeed, for some Jews the fact that Jews were going to war with one another
13335-406: The völkisch movement failed to persuade the government to revoke Jewish emancipation, and in the 1912 Reichstag elections, the parties with völkisch-movement sympathies suffered a temporary defeat. Jews experienced a period of legal equality after 1848. Baden and Württemberg passed the legislation that gave the Jews complete equality before the law in 1861–64. The newly formed German Empire did
13462-461: The war dragged on. However, German Jews did not always feel a personal kinship with Russian Jews. Many were repelled by Eastern Jews, who dressed and behaved differently, as well as being much more religiously devout. Victor Klemperer, a German Jew working for military censors, stated "No, I did not belong to these people, even if one proved my blood relation to them a hundred times over...I belonged to Europe, to Germany, and I thanked my creator that I
13589-408: The way to other countries. By the outbreak of World War I, five million emigrants from Russia had passed through German territory. Around two million Jews passed through the eastern border of Germany between 1880 and 1914 with around 78,000 remaining in Germany. The Jewish population grew from 512,000 in 1871 to 615,000 in 1910, including 79,000 recent immigrants from Russia, just under one percent of
13716-909: Was a German-Jewish visual artist and printmaker . A leading textile artist of the 20th century, she is credited with blurring the lines between traditional craft and art. Born in Berlin in 1899, Fleischmann initially studied under impressionist painter Martin Brandenburg from 1916 to 1919 and briefly attended the Kunstgewerbeschule in Hamburg in 1919. She later enrolled at the Bauhaus , an avant-garde art and architecture school founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1922, where she began exploring weaving after facing restrictions in other disciplines due to gender biases at
13843-437: Was a furniture maker. Even in her childhood, she was intrigued by art and the visual world. She painted during her youth and studied under impressionist artist Martin Brandenburg , from 1916 to 1919, but was very discouraged from continuing after a meeting with artist Oskar Kokoschka , who upon seeing a portrait of hers asked her sharply "Why do you paint?" Fleischmann eventually decided to attend art school, even though
13970-442: Was a basic exercise on material and structure. Albers regularly experimented with different material in her work and this allowed the students to imagine what it might have been like for the ancient weavers. Anni and Josef Albers both taught at Black Mountain until 1949. During these years Albers's design work, including weavings, were shown throughout the US. She received her US citizenship in 1937. In 1940 and 1941, Albers co-curated
14097-428: Was a popular activity among other Germans. Another effort German-Jewish mothers put into assimilating their families was enforcing the importance of manners on their children. It was noted that non-Jewish Germans saw Jews as disrespectful and unable to grasp the concept of time and place. Because of this, Jewish mothers tried to raise their kids having even better manners than the Protestant children in an effort to combat
14224-680: Was awarded the Craftmanship Medal by the American Institute of Architects . In 1963, while at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles with her husband for a lecture of his, Albers was invited to experiment with print media. She immediately grew fond of the technique, and thereafter gave up most of her time to lithography and screen printing . She was invited back as a fellow to Tamarind in 1964. Here she created
14351-641: Was close to 225,000. By German law, denial of the Holocaust or that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust (§ 130 StGB) is a criminal act; violations can be punished with up to five years of prison. In 2006, on the occasion of the World Cup held in Germany, the then- Interior Minister of Germany Wolfgang Schäuble , urged vigilance against far-right extremism , saying: "We will not tolerate any form of extremism, xenophobia , or antisemitism." In spite of Germany's measures against these groups and antisemites,
14478-511: Was declared judenrein (clean of Jews; also judenfrei : free of Jews). By the end of the war, an estimated 160,000 to 180,000 German Jews had been killed by the Nazi regime and their collaborators. A total of about six million European Jews were murdered under the direction of the Nazis, in the genocide that later came to be known as the Holocaust . After the war, the Jewish community in Germany started to slowly grow again. Beginning around 1990,
14605-404: Was encouraged by German-Jewish newspapers. At first, most emigrants were young, single men from small towns and villages. A smaller number of single women also emigrated. Individual family members would emigrate alone, and then send for family members once they had earned enough money. Emigration eventually swelled, with some German Jewish communities losing up to 70% of their members. At one point,
14732-482: Was extended to all the states of the German empire after the events of 1870. During the General Enlightenment (the 1600s to late 1700s), many Jewish women began to frequently visit non-Jewish salons and to campaign for emancipation . In Western Europe and the German states, observance of Jewish law, Halacha , started to be neglected. In the 18th century, some traditional German scholars and leaders, such as
14859-492: Was formed with a set of religious beliefs, and practices that were considered expected and tradition. Reform Judaism was the first modern response to the Jew's emancipation, though reform Judaism differing in all countries caused stresses of autonomy on both the congregation and individual. Some of the reforms were in the practices: circumcisions were abandoned, rabbis wore vests after Protestant ministers, and instrumental accompaniment
14986-402: Was introduced, and regular sermons required scientifically trained rabbis. Religious schools were enforced by the state due to a want for the addition of religious structure to secular education of Jewish children. Pulpit oratory started to thrive mainly due to German preachers, such as M. Sachs and M. Joel. Synagogal music was accepted with the help of Louis Lewandowski . Part of the evolution of
15113-474: Was involved in defending Judaism in print. In 1783, he published Jerusalem, or On Religious Power and Judaism . Speculating that no religious institution should use coercion and emphasized that Judaism does not coerce the mind through dogma, he argued that through reason, all people could discover religious philosophical truths, but what made Judaism unique was its revealed code of legal, ritual, and moral law. He said that Jews must live in civil society, but only in
15240-563: Was once viewed as a more religious event became more of a social gathering of relatives. The beginning of the Reform Movement in Judaism was emphasized by David Philipson , who was the rabbi at the largest Reform congregation. The increasing political centralization of the late 18th and early 19th centuries undermined the societal structure that perpetuated traditional Jewish life. Enlightenment ideas began to influence many intellectuals, and
15367-475: Was proof of the normality of German-Jewish life; they could no longer be considered a minority with transnational loyalties but loyal German citizens. German Jews often broke ties with Jews of other countries; the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a French organisation that was dedicated to protecting Jewish rights, saw a German Jewish member quit once the war started, declaring that he could not, as
15494-738: Was renamed the Meisterschule des Deutschen Handwerks auf Burg Giebichenstein Halle-Saale, Werkstätten der Stadt Halle (Master school of German Trades at Burg Giebichenstein Halle-Saale). "Meisterschule" was a term used by the Nazis; after World War II the school had a number of name changes. In 2011 it became the Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle [ de ] (Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design). Anni Albers Anni Albers (born Annelise Elsa Frieda Fleischmann ; June 12, 1899 – May 9, 1994)
15621-399: Was said to have acquired the Jews as his private property . The German emperors apparently claimed this right of possession more for the sake of taxing the Jews than of protecting them. A variety of such taxes existed. Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor , was a prolific creator of new taxes. In 1342, he instituted the "golden sacrificial penny" and decreed that every year all the Jews should pay
15748-516: Was the period from the beginning of the 900s and evidently much earlier. Following the barbaric Dark Ages , a relatively safe and enlightened Carolingian period brought peace and prosperity to Mainz and much of central–western Europe. For the next 400 years, Mainz attracted many Jews as trade flourished. The greatest Jewish teachers and rabbis flocked to the Rhine. Their teachings, dialogues, decisions, and influence propelled Mainz and neighboring towns along
15875-416: Was the principle. The concept of citizenship was mostly restricted to cities, especially Free Imperial Cities . No general franchise existed, which remained a privilege for the few, who had inherited the status or acquired it when they reached a certain level of taxed income or could afford the expense of the citizen's fee ( Bürgergeld ). Citizenship was often further restricted to city dwellers affiliated to
16002-424: Was time and again postponed. In the period between 1815 and 1847, no less than 21 territorial laws affecting Jews in the older eight provinces of the Prussian state were in effect, each having to be observed by part of the Jewish community. At that time, no official was authorized to speak in the name of all Prussian Jews, or Jewry in most of the other 41 German states , let alone for all German Jews. Nevertheless,
16129-460: Was used: pipe organs . In addition, the traditional Hebrew prayer book was replaced by German text, and reform synagogues began being called temples which were previously considered the Temple of Jerusalem. Reform communities composed of similar beliefs and Judaism changed at the same pace as the rest of society had. The Jewish people have adapted to religious beliefs and practices to the meet the needs of
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