Nathans, Eli

PERSONAL:

Education: Johns Hopkins University, Ph.D., 2001.

ADDRESSES:

Office—University of Western Ontario, Department of History, Social Science Centre, Rm. 4328, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, assistant professor of history.

WRITINGS:

The Politics of Citizenship in Germany: Ethnicity, Utility and Nationalism, Berg (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

Eli Nathans received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University before becoming an assistant professor of history at the University of Western Ontario. His primary interest is the history of modern Germany, as is reflected in his first book, The Politics of Citizenship in Germany: Ethnicity, Utility and Nationalism. In a review of the book for Central European History, Andreas Fahrmeir declared: "Writ- ing a history of German citizenship law and naturalization practice between around 1800 and the present in just less than three hundred pages is a remarkable feat." Not only have the laws regarding immigration and naturalization during that time been almost incomprehensively complicated, but they have changed several times in response to the changing political philosophies and political boundaries surrounding events leading up to World War I, the advent of the Nazi state, and the aftermath of World War II.

As Nathans relates in his book, in the early part of the nineteenth century Germany consisted of many principalities and city states that each determined who could or could not be a citizen. Status was decided according to the economic needs of the town or local lord. Because citizenship was based on the needs of the area, people who did not own property could easily be denied citizenship and left with no legal residence. In 1842, however, Prussia changed its citizenship policies, making them more centralized and requiring citizenship be granted by a central governing body. This was done primarily to disenfranchise Polish immigrants and Jews, since it was difficult, if not impossible, for those groups to obtain citizenship. Otto von Bismarck, the first chancellor of Germany, under whom Germany became a unified state, used citizenship as a tool to solidify the idea of a German ethos and as a weapon against his political opponents. One way it supported ethnic homogeneity provided that a Prussian woman who married a non-citizen could be declared an alien and subject to deportation. Citizenship was also linked to emigration and military service.

During the Weimar Republic, the liberal democracy that emerged in Germany after World War I and before the rise of Adolf Hitler, citizenship laws were changed yet again. Although there were still many restrictions, Jews and other groups considered marginal were admitted to naturalization, and women's citizenship status was no longer linked to their husbands. After 1933 the Nazis once again changed the law, stripping immigrants of their citizenships and creating racial classifications for full citizens and for others. After World War II, the Federal Republic of Germany no longer required racial classification, but still determined eligibility by ethnicity until 1999. It is Nathans's contention that, national appeals to ethnic solidarity notwithstanding, the truth behind all these laws and the reason they were changed with each new governing power was less about ethnicity and nationalism than about maintaining and increasing the political power of the current German government.

The Politics of Citizenship in Germany was well received by critics. Fahrmeir continued: "Nathans provides the first comprehensive account in English, in a lucid style with telling quotations that make it ideal for classroom use…. [His] account provides not only a fascinating survey of a complex subject, but stimulates further thought as well." This praise was echoed by Tobias Brinkmann in German Politics and Society: "Nathans has succeeded in weaving rather complex developments into a concise and readable narrative…. [It is] well suited as a textbook and generally as an introduction to the subject." Calling the book a "fine study," David Imhoof wrote in the Canadian Journal of History that Nathans "draws artfully from broad archival evidence and published materials to paint a nuanced portrait of this important issue." He added that "Nathans demonstrates well the significance of policies toward citizenship and immigrants in modern Germany … [with] the effective use of individual voices."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Canadian Journal of History, September 22, 2006, David Imhoof, review of The Politics of Citizenship in Germany: Ethnicity, Utility and Nationalism, p. 368.

Central European History, June 22, 2005, Andreas Fahrmeir, review of The Politics of Citizenship in Germany, p. 480.

English Historical Review, September 1, 2007, Abigail Green, review of The Politics of Citizenship in Germany, p. 1098.

German Politics and Society, June 22, 2004, Tobias Brinkmann, review of The Politics of Citizenship in Germany, p. 65.

German Studies Review, May 1, 2006, Daniel Walther, review of The Politics of Citizenship in Germany, p. 436.

International History Review, December 1, 2006, Oliver Schmidtke, review of The Politics of Citizenship in Germany, p. 909.

Reference & Research Book News, November 1, 2005, review of Politics of Citizenship in Germany.

ONLINE

H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online,http://www.h-net.org/ (May, 2005), Jennifer E. Walcoff, review of The Politics of Citizenship in Germany.

University of Western Ontario History Department Web site,http://history.uwo.ca/ (May 22, 2008), faculty profile of Eli Nathans and summary of The Politics of Citizenship in Germany.