Background
Lasker was born in Posen to a merchant family on the 14th of October, 1829.
Lasker was born in Posen to a merchant family on the 14th of October, 1829.
Eduard Lasker studied law and mathematics at the university of Breslau. During that time he also participated in the revolution of 1848, fighting against imperial troops. After graduating from the university in 1853, Lasker traveled to England to study the British system of parliamentary government. His studies in England led to his enthusiasm for the parliamentary system.
Eduard Lasker returned to Germany in 1856 and became an associate judge in Berlin, waiting for the opportunity to implement his ideas. In 1865 Lasker was elected to the Prussian parliament representing the Progressive party. However, two years later he broke from the party and founded the National Liberal party. He headed the Liberal party in the Reichstag after the formation of the German Empire in 1871.
Initially, Lasker was a friend of Otto Bismarck, aiding him in establishing Prussian leadership in Germany. He also contributed heavily to the passage of laws that were the foundation of the new German Empire. These included taxation laws, the codification of criminal law, and the revamping of the judicial system.
However, Lasker fell out of favor with Bismarck. His decline began in 1873 after he uncovered a financial scandal which caused the demise of one of Bismarck's closest associates. When Lasker died Bismarck refused to accept a message of condolence from the U.S. House of Representatives on behalf of the Reichstag. Bismarck claimed if he accepted the message it would be tantamount to criticizing German policy.
Lasker was visiting the United States when he died. He had traveled there in order to visit his brother and to study the republican form of government.
Born to Orthodox Jewish parents, Lasker maintained his commitment to Judaism and his Jewish roots throughout his life and was a champion of Jewish civil rights, he initiated a measure, passed by the Prussian parliament, which enabled ultra-Orthodox Jewish congregations to form independent communities.
An optimist and idealist, Eduard Lasker joined to a fervent belief in liberty an equal enthusiasm for German unity and the idea of the German state.
Eduard Lasker became a spokesman for liberalism and the leader of the left wing of the National Liberal party, which represented middle-class professionals and intellectuals. He promoted the unification of Germany during the 1860s and played a major role in codification of the German legal code. Lasker at first compromised with Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who later strenuously opposed Lasker regarding freedom of the press. In 1881, Lasker left the National Liberal party and helped form the new German Free Thought Party.
One of the things that impressed Lasker on his trip to the United States before his death was the generosity of the American Jews, even though he felt they had greatly assimilated. In his last speech, given at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, he said: “During my whole journey through America, the benevolent institutions of the Jews have made an especially acute and satisfactory impression on me. And the careful conservation of this holy duty induces me somewhat to overlook the fact that I have seen otherwise very little attempt among the Jews of America to preserve the traditions of the olden times.... lean recall nothing of all that I have seen in my journey in America which has had so refreshing and inspiring an effect upon me, as these evidences that the Jews, who are freer here than in any other land, devote themselves with all the more energy and devotion to the development of benevolence, and thus testify to the vast power for good which lies inherent in the Jewish race wherever they may be domiciled.”