Enlightenment and Emancipation

Enlightenment and Emancipation

Richard Wagner's essays, "Judaism in Music" and "What is German" does not just cast aside the ideology of Jewish emancipation as stated by Christian Wilhelm von Dohm in "On the Civic Improvement of the Jews". Instead, Richard Wagner's essays outline the struggles with the legacy of the Enlightenment and lead him to promote theories of culture and regeneration that would rewrite those of prior Enlightenment visionaries, making those people of Jewish descent seen as humans before Jews.

One of the more noticeable themes surrounding Jewish culture is perhaps their dealings with money. As a result of being forced out of the trades and regular channels of commerce during the 12th and 13th centuries, money lending became the main livelihood of the Jews in Germany in the 18th century. Dohm argued that "the true reasons for [the Jews'] shortcomings" could be traced to the "oppression from which [they] still suffer" and the restrictions and limitations placed upon them throughout their history. He proposed that better treatment would reform them and their