Generationserfahrung und Judentum

Conceived methodically as a cultural-sociological study, this book aims to describe the link between generational experience and thought, taking the example of the young Walter Benjamin. With the presentation of typical experiences of Benjamin’s generation of German-Jewish intellectuals, central motifs of this thought will be reconstructed from his writings as a youth.
In this manner, the significance particularly of Benjamin’s earliest texts is underlined. They show very clearly the precarious experiences of the German-Jewish milieu. In addition, the political, i.e. theocratic-anarchistic foundation of young Benjamin’s thought and that of the generation to which he belonged are also demonstrated. They refer back to the worldly background against which Jewish tradition experienced revival, characterised in particular by the emphasis on theocratic-anarchistic elements.