Moses Hess

Preface

The Central Committee of the German Zionist Federation [Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland] asked me to collect the Jewish essays by Moses Hess and to edit them on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of his death. The task was fraught with difficulties, which, in general, I hope to have overcome. In recent Jewish journalism there are three M. Hess: Apart from Moses Hess, the socialist and creator of the modern idea of Zionism, we encounter the brothers Mendel Hess, the “Lengsfeld” rabbi of the crassest Reformism, and Michael Hess, a teacher at the Philanthropin in Frankfurt. They usually signed their works M. Hess. This explains the confusion in the bibliographies, affecting also M[oïse] Schwab’s Répertoire and the information presented in the Jewish Encyclopedia.—The essays collected in this volume were definitely written by our Hess. More essays could not be found. The editor did not consider himself entitled to make a selection, although the literary value is quite varied. The translations from the French are largely by Hulda Thomaschewsky, several are by Rahel Goldberg.—Corrections are necessary on p. 25, line 17 “pretended” [vorgeschoben] instead of “prescribed” [vorgeschrieben], and on p. 37, line 10 from the bottom read “also one of our own” which makes the editor’s question mark unnecessary.

In the biographical study, the focus is on the discussion of “Rome and Jerusalem” since all phases of Hess’s development move radially toward it. While working out a profile of the intellectual and cultural milieu of his time, the task was to explain Hess on the basis of himself. But not as an autochthonous individuality. Hess is presented as a specifically Jewish racial type. His descent is the source of his strengths, his struggles, his sufferings, and his hopes. Thus he could become the creator of an ethical and higher racial theory than the one developed by Gobineau.¹ It has a future!

It is a pleasant duty to thank Messrs. A. Meyrowitz, Dr. H. Loewe, and Attorney Dr. Wilhelm Pappenheim (Vienna) for suggestions, information, and other support; Messrs. Ed. Bernstein and Grunwald, in particular, made it possible for me to use the archival library of the social democratic party and the Hess papers.