Graetz, Heinrich

(1817–91)

   German-Jewish historian. Graetz is chiefly famous for his History of the Jews, published in eleven volumes between 1853 and 1876. It remained the standard work on the subject for several decades. Its tone is often that of a passionate defence of the Jews and the last volume, dealing with modern times, produced a sharp attack on the author by the Prussian nationalist historian Heinrich von Treitschke. He accused Graetz of hating Christianity and of being a Jewish nationalist, and saw in the work proof that the Jews could never become true Germans. In the ensuing controversy many of Graetz’s fellow Jews felt it necessary to dissociate themselves from some of his views. Indeed, his clearly revealed prejudices against the Reform movement, Chassidism and Eastern European Jews in general, made the work the subject of strong criticism also by Jews. In spite of the controversial aspects of his history, Graetz was honoured by the Jewish public and by many learned societies; the work itself went into several editions and was translated into many languages from the original German.

   Graetz wrote a considerable amount of Bible criticism as well as history. He visited Palestine in 1872.