Max Liebermann von Sonnenberg (21 August 1848 – 17 November 1911) was a German

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

who became noted as an

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

politician and publisher. He was part of a wider campaign against

German Jews 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 ...

that became a central feature of nationalist politics in

Imperial Germany The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

in the late nineteenth century.

Early politics

The foundation of the Christian Social Party by

Adolf Stoecker Adolf Stoecker (December 11, 1835 – February 2, 1909) was a German court chaplain to Kaiser Wilhelm I, a politician, leading antisemite, and a Lutheran theologian who founded the Christian Social Party to lure members away from the S ...

in 1878 helped to galvanise anti-Semitic activity in Germany and brought Liebermann von Sonnenberg, then an officer in the

German Imperial Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...

, to politics. He came to the fore in 1880 when he was central to the organisation of a petition calling for the removal of the Jews from all public positions. The petition attracted as many as 225,000 signatories.Jack Wertheimer (1991) ''Unwelcome Strangers: East European Jews in Imperial Germany'', Oxford University Press, p. 31, Joining with

Bernhard Förster Ludwig Bernhard Förster (31 March 1843 – 3 June 1889) was a German teacher. He was married to Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, the sister of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Life Förster became a leading figure in the anti-Semitic ...

, the brother-in-law of

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

, he set up the ''Deutscher Volksverein'' (German People's League) in 1881 to support the anti-Semitic agenda. The group struggled for support as it focused on a single issue that spawned a number of movements at the time and it declined further when Förster left for

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

in 1886 to set up his ill-fated

Nueva Germania Nueva Germania (New Germania, german: Neugermanien) is a district of San Pedro Department in Paraguay. It was founded as a German settlement on 23 August 1887 by Bernhard Förster, a German nationalist, who was married to Elisabeth Förster-Niet ...

project.

Leadership

Following a June 1889 conference of anti-Semites in

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

Liebermann von Sonnenberg set up his own political party, the '' Deutsch-Soziale Partei'', which became the ''

Deutschsoziale Reformpartei The German Social Reform Party (german: Deutschsoziale Reformpartei or DSRP) was a German Empire antisemitic political party active from 1894 to 1900. It was a merger between the German Reform Party (DRP) and the German Social Party (DSP). For ...

'' when it merged with

Otto Böckel Otto Böckel (2 July 1859, Frankfurt am Main – 17 September 1923, Michendorf) was a German populist politician who became one of the first to successfully exploit anti-Semitism as a political issue in the country. Path to politics A native of t ...

's '' Deutsche Reformpartei'' in 1894. Active co-operation had actually started at the 1890 election when a joint list captured five seats in the Reichstag. The two leaders however often found themselves in disagreement as Liebermann von Sonnenberg was basically a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

whilst Böckel held a more radical world-view beyond his anti-Semitism, including a desire for land reform. Liebermann von Sonnenberg also undertook anti-Semitic lecture tours although in 1892 he was forced to abandon one such tour after his credibility suffered a blow at the hands of Rabbi

Benno Jacob Benno Jacob (7 September 1862 – 24 January 1945) was a liberal rabbi and Bible scholar. Biography Jacob studied in the Rabbinical Seminary and University of his native Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland). He served as a rabbi between the years 18 ...

. Delivering a two and a half hour lecture on the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

he was confronted at its conclusion by Jacob, bearing a copy of the Talmud and demanding Liebermann von Sonnenberg read out the passages he had referred to in his lecture. When Liebermann von Sonnenberg admitted that he could not read even a letter of the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, Jacob chided him for speaking about a book which he could not even read and delivered an impromptu lecture of his own refuting the arguments previously advanced. After this pattern was repeated a few more times Liebermann von Sonnenberg was forced to cancel his tour.

Conservatism

His conservatism proved a problem for Liebermann von Sonnenberg when he purchased the newspaper ''Antisemitic Correspondence'' from

Theodor Fritsch Theodor Fritsch (born Emil Theodor Fritsche; 28 October 1852 – 8 September 1933), was a German publisher and journalist. His antisemitic writings did much to influence popular German opinion against Jews in the late 19th and early 20th c ...

and promptly lost most of the readership after he dispensed with Fritsch's attacks on leading German figures and organised

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. Liebermann von Sonnenberg's only rhetoric in this vein was directed against Germany's

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

population when he questioned their

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

by suggesting that every Catholic had "his feet in Germany but his head in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Reichstag

Liebermann von Sonnenberg was one of the candidates elected and he soon became noted for his attempts to introduce a bill to ban all Jewish immigration during every session of the Reichstag. His 1897 bill that sought to reintroduce denominational oaths in court cases was passed and represented the only occasion when a bill introduced by one of the anti-Semites was successful. He continued to represent his constituency of

Fritzlar Fritzlar () is a small town (pop. 15,000) in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany, north of Frankfurt, with a storied history. The town has a medieval center ringed by a wall with numerous watch towers. Thirty-eight meters (125& ...

until his death in 1911.Herbert Arthur Strauss (1993) ''Hostages of Modernization: Studies on Modern Antisemitism 1870-1933/39'', Walter de Gruyter, p. 147,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liebermann Von Sonnenberg, Max 1848 births 1911 deaths People from Tuchola County People from the Province of Prussia German Protestants German Social Party (German Empire) politicians German Social Reform Party politicians Members of the 8th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 9th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 10th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 11th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 12th Reichstag of the German Empire Prussian Army personnel German military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War Burials at the Invalids' Cemetery