The New International Encyclopædia/Bernstein, Aaron

BERNSTEIN, bẽrn'stḯn, Aaron (1812-84). A German publicist and author. He was born at Danzig, of Jewish parentage. His admirable translation of the Song of Songs (published under the pseudonym of A. Rebenstein, 1834) and his publication of the work entitled Das junge Deutschland established his fame as a writer among the literary critics of Berlin. In 1849 he founded the Urwählerzeitung, in which (in 1851) he published some ultra-democratic articles which brought about his imprisonment. The paper was finally suppressed in 1853, when Bernstein established the Volkszeitung, a journal devoted, like its predecessor, largely to the dissemination of democratic views. His numerous and varied publications include Revolutions- und Reaktionsgeschichte Preussens und Deutschlands von den Märztagen bis zur neuesten Zeit (3 vols., 1883); and Aus dem Reiche der Naturwissenschaft (1856), later republished under the title Naturwissenschaftliche Volksbücher (1880, and frequently reprinted), a valuable work, which has been translated into nearly all the languages of Europe.