The Invisible Wall is one mans quest to understand the failure of the German-Jewish relationship and to explain the character and attitudes of Germanys assimilated Jews over a three hundred-year period.. The Invisible Wall is one mans quest to understand the failure of the German-Jewish relationship and to explain the character and attitudes of Germanys assimilated Jews over a 300-year period. Juxtaposing the broad picture of history and politics in Germany against the stories of six of his own ancestors, W. Michael Blumenthal explores the triumphs and tragedies of Jews of successive generations, seeking the sources and outcomes of the prejudices that separated them from other Germans. Juxtaposing the broad picture of an evolving Germany against the stories of six of his own ancestors, W. Michael Blumenthal seeks to show how the unrequited love affair of Germanys Jews with their native country contributed to the horrors of the Holocaust. Born in Germany in 1926, Blumenthal escaped the Nazis as a teenager with his family in 1939 and grew up with other Jewish refugees in a Shanghai ghetto. When he arrived in the United States in 1947, he had only sixty-five dollars in his pocket. From these modest beginnings, he went on to a remarkable professional life in business, government service, and education. Yet questions about his past haunted him, and as the years went by, they occupied his mind with greater urgency.Turning to his family tree for answers, Blumenthal spent the better part of a decade learning the history of his people. He found rich stories in the lives of six Blumenthal ancestors--all of whom happened to be major figures in German-Jewish history. *Jost Liebmann, an itinerant peddler of trinkets and cheap jewels who became court jeweler to the Brandenburg nobility; *Rahel Varnhagen von Ense, whose Berlin salon w as the meeting place of Prussias intellectual elite; *Giacomo Meyerbeer, a celebrated composer of grand opera who dealt with antisemitism by ceaselessly striving for success; *Louis Blumenthal, a respected businessman and founder of his towns bank; *Arthur Eloesser, a scholar and literary critic in the heyday of Weimar; *Ewald Blumenthal, the authors father. Once a decorated soldier in the Kaisers elite guards, he was later a prisoner at Buchenwald.. By recounting the stories of these remarkable individuals within the historical context of three centuries, Blumenthal presents a sweeping portrait of German Jews from the birth of Christianity to the eve of the Holocaust, revealing how Jews of various generations tried but failed to pierce the prejudice that separated them from other Germans. A work of tremendous scope and vision, The Invisible Wall presents a fascinating perspective on one of the most difficult questions of our time.
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
W. Michael Blumenthal, a German Jew who arrived in the U.S. with $65 in his pocket, went on to become President Jimmy Carter's Secretary of the Treasury. He comes by his over-achievement honestly: his ancestors include jewelers, composers, businessmen, and literati, whose stories he collects in The Invisible Wall: The Mystery of the Germans and Jews. These stories are the lens through which Blumenthal views the history of Christian-Jewish relations in Germany, and the means by which he answers the question of why Jews in that country experienced "such a promising beginning, so much hope and so much accomplishment--and so terrible an end." His answers to that question are both careful and controversial, and his book, as a whole, will convince many that it's finally impossible to separate personal and political responsibilities. --Michael Joseph Gross
From Library Journal
Blumenthal, former secretary of the Treasury (1977-79), diplomat, and distinguished businessman, explores why German Jews were historically treated so badly by German Christians. Blumenthal himself escaped the Nazi regime in 1939 and grew up with other Jewish refugees in Shanghai. He traces the Jews' history in Germany by looking at his own family tree and picking out six ancestors from 1671 to 1945: Jost Liebmann, a peddler who became one of Berlin's richest men; Rahel Varnhagen von Ense, owner of a salon where the intellectual elite gathered; Giacomo Meyerbeer, a celebrated composer; Louis Blumenthal, a businessman and bank founder; Arthur Eloesser, a scholar and literary critic; and Ewald Blumenthal, a decorated soldier (and the author's father). Blumenthal illustrates how politicians and rulers affected German society and how Jews could never change the prejudices against them. Blumenthal brings Jewish history in Germany alive by telling about his ancestors' lives. Recommended for academic libraries and larger public libraries. [For another view of German anti-Semitism, see Klaus P. Fischer's The History of an Obsession, reviewed below.?Ed.]?Mary F. Salony, West Virginia Northern Community Coll. Lib., Wheelin.
-?Mary F. Salony, West Virginia Northern Community Coll. Lib., Wheeling
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-?Mary F. Salony, West Virginia Northern Community Coll. Lib., Wheeling
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The first well balanced acount of German Jewish History,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Invisible Wall : The Mystery of the Germans and the Jews (Hardcover)
As a native of Germany born immediately after WWII, I can truly say that this is the first book which explains the role of the German Jews through German History.Michael Blumenthal does a great job in balancing his book between actual historical events and the lives of his main characters. His extraordinary objectivity does not cast blame but tries to make sense of what happened to his people A book well worth reading. I hope that it will make my daugher better understand her mother's struggle with her German past.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
brilliant, insightful well written book,
By A Customer
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Invisible Wall (Paperback)
After reading this fascinating account -- I loved the interweaving of biography with general history -- I feel I now understand why the Holocaust happened in Germany. Germany looked like a modern country, but was not really part of Western European culture -- it was dominated by a militarized aristocracy, had never developed true representative democracy, and had achieved a very late unification by rallying its people around racism -- the idealization of the German race, and the denigration of the Jews in their midst. The biography of their monarchs shows a line of really sick, sadistic, militarily obsessed rulers, suitable progenitors for Hitler. A veneer of high culture and a strong econmy made them look like a modern country, but underneath was a much more backward country, morally and politcally.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant history of the Jews in Germany,
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This review is from: The Invisible Wall (Paperback)
It's clear from the first page that researching and writing this book was a passion for W. Michael Blumenthal.
Blumenthal does a masterful job of creating an objective and insightful narration of the centruries-long and ultimately tragic saga of the Jews in Germany, and an equally remarkable job of interweaving the lives of some of his own ancestors as exemplars of the conditions and opportunities for Jews in Germany through the centuries. The result is an accurate, insightful, and poignant exploration of a terrible, but vitally important part of Western history. It's a book that's worth reading with the same care and attention that the author so clearly put into it. Robert Adler, author of _Medical Firsts: From Hippocrates to the Human Genome; and Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation.
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