New Money—“New Jew”? Economic Changes and the Reception of Jews in Nineteenth-Century Germany

Since the 2008 financial crisis we witness a rise of new monetary phenomena, mainly the flourishing of digital currencies such as the bitcoin. These changes eroded the experience of money and its` notion after nearly a century of a stable meaning, and lead the "what is money" back in the limelight. The new practical and theoretical tendencies open a window for reevaluation of money in history. My lecture focuses on the non-Jewish identification of Jews with money in 19^th century Germany. 20^th century historiography of the attitude towards Jews and money disregarded tremendous changes of the nature of money that characterized the 19^th century. Hannah Arendt, for instance, put the blame for Anti-semitism in respect with money to continuous character of Jewish activity from the court Jew to current bankers, while totally ignoring the fundamental change of money. My lecture shows how the practical changes of money and the theoretical approaches towards money in 19^thcentury Germany effected the perception of the connection between Jews and money.