State benevolence toward Jews deliberately preserved their felt separateness

Evidence

August Varnhagen comments on a remark made by Frederick William IV. “The king was asked what he intended to do with the Jews. He replied: ‘I wish them well in every respect, but I want them to feel that they are Jews.’ These words provide a key to many things.” Tagebücher, Leipzig, 1861, II, 113. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1995

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• DEFINE: Exemplifies the mechanism whereby a state claims goodwill while insisting the minority remain visibly, affectively distinct — a precise case for the reader’s toolkit on the construction of Otherness.

Related

• A Prussian king wanted Jews to feel perpetually Jewish (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• A stable state’s need for them kept Jews a separate protected group #corroborates (0.95) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 294