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Der veränderbare Körper: Jüdische Turner, Männlichkeit und das Wiedergewinnen von Geschichte in Deutschland um 1900

Wildmann’s monograph is the first comprehensive study of the Jewish gymnastic movement in Germany and equally the first in the field of research that analyses, in a comparative way, modern Jewish conceptions of Jewish masculinities and femininities. The monograph is based on an extensive amount of sources from German and Israeli archives. These sources enabled Wildmann also to compile the first ever complete collection of empirical data available on these gymnastic associations. Many of these sources were difficult to access, being either in private hands or part of archival collections, which were not yet made available to the public.

Daniel Wildmann looks at modern German Jewish history in a new light. He explores alternative strategies pursued by Jews in the search for self-affirmation, which did not rely wholly on assimilationist or Zionist ways of life. He demonstrates how these efforts laid bare fault-lines in Jewish integration in Germany. Through a detailed analysis of the history, ideas and practise of Jewish gymnastic associations he shows that explosive tensions arose around the question of Jewish identity in the German Kaiserreich when prescribed pathways were abandoned. The book breaks new ground by integrating recent historical approaches, such as the history of the body, of masculinity and visual history, into German-Jewish History.