This thesis places intermarriage within the larger frameworks of German-Jewish relations and German-Jewish history. It develops a new interpretation of the evolution and legalization of intermarriage, which took place within the framework of the Kulturkampf and civil marriage debates of the early 1870s.
Abstract:
> In 1875, citizens throughout the recently formed German nation were for the first time allowed to intermarry without conversion. Over the course of the next fifty years, German Jews marriages to German non-Jews increased to such a level that German-Jewish intermarriage became one of the central issues in German-Jewish relations. This thesis places intermarriage within the larger frameworks of German-Jewish relations and German-Jewish history. It develops a new interpretation of the evolution and legalization of intermarriage. The legalization of intermarriage took place within the framework of the kulturkampf and civil marriage debates of the early 1870s. Though intermarriage between German Jews and German non-Jews would become far more frequent after the turn of the century, intermarriage during the late nineteenth century had far more important political, religious, and social implications than mere numbers would suggest.
Abstract:
> In 1875, citizens throughout the recently formed German nation were for the first time allowed to intermarry without conversion. Over the course of the next fifty years, German Jews marriages to German non-Jews increased to such a level that German-Jewish intermarriage became one of the central issues in German-Jewish relations. This thesis places intermarriage within the larger frameworks of German-Jewish relations and German-Jewish history. It develops a new interpretation of the evolution and legalization of intermarriage. The legalization of intermarriage took place within the framework of the kulturkampf and civil marriage debates of the early 1870s. Though intermarriage between German Jews and German non-Jews would become far more frequent after the turn of the century, intermarriage during the late nineteenth century had far more important political, religious, and social implications than mere numbers would suggest.
