Preface Daniela F. Eisenstein [...] “It is in vain to live for them and die for them. They say: he is a Jew.” The Fürth-born author Jakob Wassermann wrote these lines in 1921 in his autobiographical essay “My Life As German and Jew”. Twelve years before the beginning of the National Socialist regime, he unsparingly described in this work the antisemitism he experienced. Jakob Wassermann (1873-1934) was one of the most widely read authors of his era. He initially viewed the success of his books as proof of the successful German-Jewish symbi- osis. However, growing antisemitism and the beginning of National Socialism forced him back into the “spiritual ghetto” from which he had once set out. Throughout his life, Was- sermann suffered, believing his attempt to be accepted by the German society as a Jew had failed. His almost manic preoccupation with German-Jewish identity in his writings is shocking; in terms of language and content, they reflect Wassermann‘s time and are yet still current. [...]
