Die Familie Bondi und das 'Judische'

Between 1790 and 1870, members of the Bondi family network established themselves in the urban bourgeoisie of Dresden, Mainz and Hamburg. They presented themselves as exemplary educated citizens, but continued to belong to their Jewish communities, in which they championed both the reform-oriented and the neo-Orthodox trend. Daniel Ristau examines the bonding and disentanglement processes of the Bondis, who entered networks of relationships, defined affiliations and broke connections. Above all, her letters reveal the contemporary relevance of the 'Jewish', which was not only interpreted differently depending on the situation and perspective, but was also able to take a back seat to other modes of description, localization and demarcation. Not defining the family members as 'Jewish' in their presuppositions opens up interpretation options beyond the juxtaposition of 'Jews' and 'non-Jews', which has remained awkward to this day.