The “Jewish Spirit” And The Cultural, Scientific And Political Revolutions Of The 20th Century
The “Jewish Spirit” And The Cultural, Scientific And Political Revolutions Of The 20th Century

Summary/Abstract: Have the Jews invented the avant-garde?; “Defeated Judea gave its laws to the defeater”; The absence of Judaism; A double identity crisis; A “new Israel” or a non-Israel?; “Have the Jews invented the avant-garde? The Jewish presence in the intellectual and artistic renovation of early 20th century is an extremely visible phenomenon. We could refer, as an example, to the artistic or literary avant-garde, to the innovation in science or philosophy, to the artists grouped around such trends as Dada, surrealism, or Bauhaus, to the Vienna Circle, and even to independent figures, hardly classifiable, such as Kafka, Freud, Martin Buber or Franz Rosenzweig. Of course, we must also recall the sometimes much less agreeable topic of the Jews’ involvement in politics. Theodor Herzl and Leon Trotzki are just two of the most famous names, though somehow in opposition. It is not, however, our intention to draw lists of names. Certainly, the notion of “Jew” is complex and equivocal in this period, when most of the Jews who became famous were profoundly assimilated, like Theodore Herzl himself; or, moreover, completely atheists, like Freud, or even set to redefine Judaism, like Franz Rosenzweig. Furthermore, we should also speak in this context of the Jews who were baptized, such as Mahler, or came from Christianized families, as”[…]

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