History of the Jews (Volume III)

Heinrich Graetz (German ; October 31, 1817 – September 7, 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective.

Born Tzvi Hirsh Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (Książ Wielkopolski), Poznan, in Prussia (now in Poland), he obtained his doctorate from the University of Jena though he had attended Breslau University because Jews at the time were barred from receiving Ph.D.s at that institution. After 1845 he was principal of the Jewish Orthodox school of the Breslau community, and later taught history at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland). His magnum opus History of the Jews was quickly translated into other languages and ignited worldwide interest in Jewish history. In 1869 the University of Breslau granted him the title of Honorary Professor, in 1888 he was appointed an Honorary Member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences.

English readers, to whom the forefathers of the Jews of to-day—the patriarchs, heroes, and men of God—are familiar characters, will the better understand the miracle which is exhibited in the history of the Jews during three thousand years. The continuance of the Jewish race until the present day is a marvel not to be overlooked even by those who deny the existence of miracles, and who only see in the most astounding events, both natural and preternatural, the logical results of cause and effect. Here we observe a phenomenon, which has developed andvi asserted itself in spite of all laws of nature, and we behold a culture which, notwithstanding unspeakable hostility against its exponents, has nevertheless profoundly modified the organism of nations.