As the civil rights of Jews underwent reform in Prussia, Prussian officers argued against compulsory military service for Jews. As they saw it, assimilation was a prerequisite for legal emancipation. The author examines the officers' ideas on Judaism and emancipation based upon the writings of five influential officers who spoke of their encounters with Prussian and Polish Jews.

Marion Schulte, Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien, Potsdam.