Editing Theodor Mommsen (section)

== Mommsen as politician ==

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Mommsen was a delegate to the [[Prussian House of Representatives]] from 1863 to 1866 and again from 1873 to 1879, and delegate to the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]] from 1881 to 1884, at first for the liberal [[German Progress Party]] (''Deutsche Fortschrittspartei''), later for the [[National Liberal Party (Germany)|National Liberal Party]], and finally for the [[Liberal Union (Germany)|Secessionists]]. He was very concerned with questions about academic and educational policies and held national positions. Although he had supported [[German Unification]], he was disappointed with the politics of the [[German Empire]] and he was quite pessimistic about its future. Mommsen strongly disagreed with [[Otto von Bismarck]] about social policies in 1881, advising collaboration between Liberals and Social Democrats and using such strong language that he narrowly avoided prosecution.

As a Liberal nationalist Mommsen favored assimilation of ethnic minorities into German society, not exclusion.<ref>{{cite book|author=Daniel Ziblatt|title=Structuring the State: The Formation of Italy and Germany and the Puzzle of Federalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1dlob9r5TH0C&pg=PA54|year=2008|publisher=Princeton U.P.|page=54|isbn=978-1400827244}}</ref> In 1879, his colleague [[Heinrich von Treitschke]] began a political campaign against Jews (the so-called ''Berliner Antisemitismusstreit''). Mommsen strongly opposed [[antisemitism]] and wrote a harsh pamphlet in which he denounced von Treitschke's views. Mommsen viewed a solution to antisemitism in voluntary [[cultural assimilation]], suggesting that the Jews could follow the example of the people of [[Schleswig-Holstein]], [[Hannover|Hanover]] and other German states, which gave up some of their special customs when integrating into [[Prussia]].<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9906E1D61630EE3ABC4053DFB766838A699FDE "Prof. Mommsen and the Jews"], from ''[[The Times]]'', reprinted in ''[[The New York Times]]'', 8 January 1881.</ref>
Mommsen was a vehement spokesman for German nationalism, maintaining a militant attitude towards the [[Slavic peoples|Slavic nations]], to the point of advocating the use of violence against them. In an 1897 letter to the ''[[Neue Freie Presse]]'' of [[Vienna]], Mommsen called [[Czechs]] "apostles of barbarism" and wrote that "the Czech skull is impervious to reason, but it is susceptible to blows".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://media.hoover.org/documents/0817944915_146.pdf |title=10 Fin-de-Siècle and Empire's End |access-date=28 March 2007 |archive-date=21 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621172106/http://media.hoover.org/documents/0817944915_146.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><!--What publication is this from?--><ref>{{cite web |url=http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?apm=0&aid=nfp&datum=18971031&seite=1&zoom=2 |title=An die Deutschen in Oesterreich |publisher=Neue Freie Presse – issue 11923 |date=31 October 1897}}</ref>