Jewish identities in German popular entertainment, 1890-1930

grantor: University of TorontoMy thesis evaluates how the political and cultural spheres intersected in the realm of German popular entertainment. I explore the ways in which Jewish artists were able to reveal their ethnic identities in public performance, and I examine the nature and aesthetics of the various dialogues between spectators and performers. Investigating an arena that has received only marginal attention in both German and German-Jewish historiography, I focus on three distinct entertainment genres in my dissertation: the mass medium of the circus, middle-class entertainment in Yiddish theaters, and upper-class revue theaters. My thesis demonstrates that by forming new spheres of sociability and enterprise, all three aesthetic genres created grey areas of Gentile-Jewish relations, blurring the boundaries between insiders and outsiders. This ambivalence is captured and evaluated by reconstructing the everyday in Germany's booming entertainment industry. In particular, I analyze how Jewish entertainers were able to capture and inform the aspirations of mass audiences. My study demonstrates that the evolution of German popular entertainment between 1890 and the late 1920s was strongly conditioned by Jewish entertainers and entrepreneurs. Drawing upon recent debates in German history, Cultural Studies and German-Jewish history, my study reevaluates the way contemporary Germans--Gentiles and Jews--thought about ethnic and cultural diversity in a time of rising nationalism.Ph.D