Scattered People, Shared Identity: an Examination of Music and Identity Among Jewish Populations in Germany, France, and Israel During the Holocaust

Abstract

This thesis is an examination of music’s role in identity formation, specifically focusing on Jewish identity in Germany, France, and Israel before and during World War II. This thesis is an examination of how societal changes function as a catalyst for identity negotiations, how said negotiations function within cultural context, and, above all, how music functioned on all sides of these arguments. The following sections will discuss the current trends in Jewish identity research, the historical events of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century with particular focus on Jewish life before and after the Napoleonic era, the role of Jews in the modernism movement, German nationalism in music during the interwar period, the role of music in German- Jewish identity formation during the Holocaust, and the development of a national style and German-Jewish culture in Israel.