Georges Depping

Georges Bernard Depping (11 May 1784 – 5 September 1853), also known as Georg Bernhard Depping, was a German-French historian and writer.

Biography Depping was born in Münster, Westphalia, and moved to Paris in 1803, where he lived as a teacher and writer. He wrote books on a variety of subjects and prepared articles for various periodicals and encyclopedias.

Works

History of the Jews during the Middle Ages Depping wrote Les Juifs dans le moyen âge, essai historique sur leur état civil, commercial et littéraire (Paris, 1834; 2d ed., 1844; German transl., Stuttgart, 1834). He was especially attracted to the history of the Jews in Europe during the Middle Ages by “its wealth of instruction for us; one can see from this history how fanaticism has been able to root out kindness and neighborly love. . . and what misfortunes met those exiles who in barbaric times wished to preserve their national customs and a religion offensive to those among whom they lived.”

The book owed its origin to the offer of a prize, in 1821, by the Royal Academy for a work describing the condition of the Jews in France during the medieval period. Depping's work was given an honorable mention, but did not win the prize.

He later enlarged the work, extending its scope to the general history of the Jews in Europe. The medieval Christian sources—documents, letters, chronicles, and histories, especially those dealing with the history of the Jews in France—were studied by Depping with great diligence and not without critical acumen. This fact gives importance to the book.

It is to be regretted that those rabbinical sources which were not accessible in the form of translations were but seldom consulted. As a consequence the few passages relating to the literature of the Jews are of no value (compare, especially on Rashi, pp. 113 et seq.; Zunz, “Z. G.” pp. 151, 446). The introduction (pp. v.-xxiv.) contains a short but valueless review of the history of the Jews up to their appearance in Europe. Depping's style is pleasing.