Ein deutscher Revolutionär im Amt

Carl Schurz (1829-1906), who rose to prominence as a democratic revolutionary in Germany in 1848/49 and made a career in the USA during the Civil War era as an abolitionist and Republican politician, is still celebrated today as an advocate of equality for all humans. This German monograph uses many previously unknown sources to paint a more nuanced picture of his later political activism. Starting in 1870, as a US senator, Schurz opposed civil rights protection for formerly enslaved African Americans in the southern states. From 1877, as US Secretary of the Interior, he initiated harsh forced assimilation policies against Indigenous peoples. The book follows Schurz's departure from the universalism of earlier years. It places his proposals in the larger debate on the proper shape and extent of democracy in the 1870s United States. Although Schurz's proposals anticipated government policies of later decades, his efforts to reduce the rights of African Americans and Indigenous peoples still met with broad resistance.

Julius Wilm, Leipzig University, Germany.

"Ein deutscher Revolutionär im Amt will Mythen korrigieren und auch die Diskussion um das deutsche Schurz-Gedenken mit Fakten versorgen." – Frauke Steffens, in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 5. August 2024

"Wilm gelingt eine präzise Rekonstruktion von Schurzʼ politischer und intellektueller Biografie in den zwei Jahrzehnten nach dem Ende des Bürgerkriegs. Wer mehr über die Limitationen liberaler weißer Freiheitsideale in einem Jahrhundert der Nationsbildungen und imperialen Landnahmen erfahren möchte, sollte unbedingt zugreifen." – Mischa Honeck, in H-Soz-Kult, 3.9.2024, www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/reb-143297 (12.09.2024)