This essay shows how Jewish identity in pre-1933 Germany defined itself and how the widely known concept of German-Jewish symbiosis came into question after the organized murder of the European Jews. The search for a German-Jewish legacy in postwar Germany as well as in the countries in which the Jewish émigrés found a new home will be explored. Moreover, the Eastern European cultural roots of Jews who migrated from Russia to Germany in the 1990s will also be discussed.

The following article aims at investigating the influence of the Haskalah on Wilhelm von Humboldt's reform plans. The argument is that Moses Mendelssohn and his student David Friedländer indeed had contact with Wilhelm von Humboldt. Nevertheless, their influence was not direct, but rather indirect. The article shows that Mendelssohn and Friedländer inspired some of Wilhelm von Humboldt's ideas.