Jewish National Autonomy in Europe

The Eastern European historian Simon Dubnow insisted that Jews were “native Europeans,” integral to the continent through their long residence and cultural contributions. Yet Dubnow rejected the widespread view among Western Jews that civic equality should come only at the expense of Jewish collective identity—a “national suicide,” as he called it. Although Dubnow was aware of the fragility of Jewish rights even in liberal societies, as revealed by the Dreyfus Affair, his thinking was also shaped by the context of a multiethnic empire. In an essay published in 1907, he argued that Jews were a distinct and legitimate national minority entitled to legal, social, and cultural autonomy.