SOURCE: Sagarra, Eda. “Jewish Emancipation in Nineteenth-Century Germany and the Stereotyping of the Jew in Gustav Freytag's Soll und Haben (1855).” In The Writer as Witness: Literature as Historical Evidence, edited by Tom Dunne, pp. 160–76. Cork, Ireland: Cork University Press, 1987.

In the following essay, Sagarra examines Freytag's treatment of the Jew in Soll und Haben, suggesting that the author was influential in the formation of German anti-Semitism in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Gustav Freytag's best-selling novel has frequently been the object of critical attention both in Germany and abroad, particularly since George Mosse's brief article in an early number of the Leo Baeck Yearbook drew attention to its significance as a formative influence on popular attitudes to the Jew in nineteenth-century Germany.¹ The text of Soll und Haben can still serve as a useful introduction to background courses for students of both German literature and history...