Germany's Prophet

He lived a reclusive scholar's life, but his antisemitic propaganda had effects far beyond his own circles. Ulrich Sieg describes the life and times of a dangerous seducer of minds.

Paul de Lagarde (1827-1891) was a genius. Very early in life he developed an enthusiasm for ancient languages, and as a professor in Göttingen he made pioneering discoveries on the textual history of the Bible. But Paul de Lagarde was also obsessed. Alongside his scientific work, he wrote the Deutsche Schriften, a bizarre attempt to found a German national religion which was accompanied by an aggressive antisemitism. His followers worshipped him like a prophet. Nietzsche and Richard Wagner were among his first readers, later Thomas Mann, Theodor Heuss and Adolf Hitler studied his writings. Now, for the first time, Ulrich Sieg systematically addresses the biography and ideology of Paul de Lagarde. He presents a forgotten chapter from the history of German antisemitism – and a character who embodies, like no other, the intellectual ambivalence of the 19th century, an epoch that laid the foundations for the disastrous events that were to follow.