Hans-Joachim Schoeps (30 January 1909 Berlin - 8 July 1980 Erlangen) was a
German-Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, 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 ...
historian of religion and religious philosophy. He was professor of religions and religious history at the
University of Erlangen
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
. Prior to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Schoeps was leader of the German Vanguard (''Der deutsche Vortrupp''), an organization of 150 Jewish students,
national conservative
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, fa ...
anti-Zionists who sought total assimilation into the German nation.
German Vanguard
The German Vanguard (''Der deutsche Vortrupp''), also referred to as "Nazi Jews", was a group of German-Jewish followers of Hitler led by Schoeps.
Schoeps wanted to integrate the German Jews into the
Nazi Reich. His activities were tolerated by the Nazi regime until the year 1938 when increasing pressure forced him into exile. He fled to
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
where he spent the remainder of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Exile
Schoeps went into exile in Falun/Sweden at the end of 1938, seven weeks after the Nazi
Kristallnacht
() or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...
mobs destroyed most German Jewish businesses and places of worship, just before the organized persecutions of the Jewish people began in earnest. There his two sons were born. His parents were deported to
Theresienstadt concentration camp
Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Schutzstaffel, SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstad ...
on 4 June 1942. His father died there six months later.
Return to Germany
Schoeps returned to
Western Germany
The old states of Germany (german: die alten Länder) is a jargon referring to the ten of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) that were part of West Germany and that unified with the eastern German Democratic Republic' ...
after World War II in Autumn 1946. In 1950, he was made a professor of religious history at the University of Erlangen in northern
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. He remained a monarchist and wanted to re-introduce the monarchy in
post-war West Germany. He was firmly opposed to the
West German student movement
The West German student movement or sometimes called the 1968 movement in West Germany was a social movement that consisted of mass student protests in West Germany in 1968; participants in the movement would later come to be known as 68ers. Th ...
after
1967
Events
January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 5
** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
, and published a book in 1972 in which he claimed that Germany was threatened by
anarchy
Anarchy is a society without a government. It may also refer to a society or group of people that entirely rejects a set hierarchy. ''Anarchy'' was first used in English in 1539, meaning "an absence of government". Pierre-Joseph Proudhon adopted ...
.
In 1963, after the Adenauer government rejected a proposal to discard the Nazi-era version of
Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175 (known formally a§175 StGB also known as Section 175 in English) was a provision of the German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It made homosexual acts between males a crime, and in early revisions the provision ...
criminalizing sexual activity between men, Schoeps commented: "For the homosexuals the Third Reich has not yet ended." writes that although not fully accurate, this statement corresponded to the beliefs of homosexual men at the time.
[Endete der Nationalsozialismus für die
Homosexuellen mit der Bundesrepublik? Über einen Beitrag zur bundesdeutschen Reformdebatte um das Strafrecht der 1960er Jahre Von Kirsten Plötz Bulletin des Fritz Bauer Instituts 2020 https://www.fritz-bauer-institut.de/fileadmin/editorial/publikationen/einsicht/Einsicht-2020_Einzelseiten.pdf]
His involvement in the ''Vortrupp'' and his personal engagement for the success of the Nazi movement did not become known at Erlangen until 1970. Schoeps was also member of the
Deutschland-Stiftung, in which former Nazis were active.
See also
*
Association of German National Jews The Association of German National Jews (German: ''Verband nationaldeutscher Juden'') was a German Jewish organization during the Weimar Republic and the early years of Nazi Germany that eventually came out in support of Adolf Hitler.
History, goal ...
*
Max Naumann
Max Naumann (12 January 1875 – 18 May 1939) was the founder of ''Verband nationaldeutscher Juden'' ( League of National German Jews), which called for the elimination of Jewish ethnic identity through Jewish assimilation. The league was outl ...
References
External links
Digitized editions of Der Deutsche Vortrupp 1933-1935, B386 a youth publication edited by Schoeps, at the
Leo Baeck Institute, New York
The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...
1909 births
1980 deaths
20th-century German historians
German monarchists
German nationalists
Jewish German writers
Academic staff of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Jewish collaborators with Nazi Germany
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