Gabriel Riesser (1806–1863), champion of Jewish emancipation in Germany. Born in Hamburg, Riesser studied law at the universities of Kiel and Heidelberg. After trying in vain to become lecturer in one of the universities, and after being refused permission to practice as a notary in Hamburg because of his faith (1830), Riesser decided to devote his life to the struggle of the Jews to achieve emancipation. In so doing he took a different path from some of his Jewish contemporaries who converted to Christianity in order to surmount the difficulties facing Jewish intellectuals in the German society of that time. Riesser returned to Hamburg, where he published in 1831 a pamphlet, Ueber die Stellung der Bekenner des Mosaischen Glaubens in Deutschland. Addressed to Germans of all religious persuasions, it marked a turning point in the struggle for emancipation. Riesser purposely refrained from being apologetic, demanding emancipation for the Jews in the name of honor and justice. In his view the claim that the Jews must convert in order to obtain full civil rights was evidence of contempt for religion. The Jews themselves must fight for their own rights, and for that purpose they must organize themselves in special associations, since only by a common effort and not as individuals do they have a chance of success. His call struck a responsive chord and the pamphlet soon had to be reprinted. Riesser and his ideas were severely criticized, especially by the rationalist theologian and professor, H. E. G. Paulus from Heidelberg. Paulus maintained that the adherence of the Jews to their religion made them a different nation, and therefore they did not have the right to be citizens (Staatsbuerger) but only protected subjects (Schutzbuerger). In the controversy with Paulus, Riesser tried to prove that the Jews had ceased to be a nation. He held that their religion was a private matter and therefore they were equal to all other German citizens in a country in which they had lived for many generations. Riesser vigorously rejected Paulus' claim that the Jewish identification with Germany, which he regarded as delusive, would lead to their expulsion and even their extermination. He argued that the long-awaited political union of Germany could be achieved only in a state built on the principles of justice, liberty, and equality, and these principles also necessitated the granting of emancipation to the Jews. He propagated his views in comprehensive essays about the problem of Jewish emancipation in the constitutional debates of his time, which he published in his periodical Der Jude, Periodische Blaetter fuer Religion und Gewissensfreiheit (1831–1833). Its very name indicated Riesser's self-consciousness at a time when German Jewry was seeking to substitute the word "Jew" by "Mosaic." From 1833 Riesser was on the editorial board of the Hamburger Abendzeitung. In 1836 he left Hamburg after failing to achieve emancipation for the Jews of that city.