English translation: with today's nonsectarian view
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15:22 Dec 14, 2011
German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - History / Berlin
German term or phrase:Mit voreingenommenen Augen von heute
I can't quite understand what this phrase is getting at:
Moritz Manheimer starb im Frühjahr 1916. Seine Frau Bertha zwei Jahre später. **Mit voreingenommenen Augen von heute** liest sich ihr Nachsatz zum Testament, den sie am 26. November schrieb und »besonderen Wert« darauf legt, »daß meine Brillantbrosche in eine glaubenstreue Familie kommt« in ihrer Verwandtschaft, in der sich manche hatten taufen lassen. Der nächste Zusatz vom Juni 1917: »In Folge des Aufrufs der Reichsbank, Schmuckgegenstände der deutschen Kriegsführung zu opfern, habe ich meine einzige noch besitzende Brillantbrosche vergeben gegen einen größeren Betrag für die U-Boot-Spende.«
All suggestions gratefully received! Thank you again.
or poorly written. One would rather expect "mit den voreingenommenen Augen". Yes, "liest sich" requires a complement which is missing. There may be more missing, just before "in ihrer Verwandtschaft". And one would expect "Brilliantbrosche in meinem Besitz"; "besitzende" strikes me as a solecism. Then one can deal with the poignant inner conflict that shows up in the passage.
"with today's secular hindsight" came to mind. Interesting piece of governmental robbery you have described there. Glaubenstreu is not a very common word and has not been lexicalized in the period dics I have access to. And i can agree with Thayenga's characterization, even extend it to the late 50s.
seems to be missing: I would expect "seltsam/befremdlich": Mit voreingenommenen Augen von heute liest sich [dies, d.h. der betreffende Satz im Testament] eigenartig= uns erscheint dieser Satz (heute) seltsam
During the First World War it was very important to people that whatever type of valuables they had gathered/inherited was to be passed on to people (family, friends) of the same faith.
In today's world this might seem to be a little odd because today (in the 21st century) people can be friends with others regardless of their religous faith.
The "Mit voreingenommenen Augen von heute" (in the light of modern day bias/looking through the eyes of today's bias) might mean that modern humanity has lost the values of inner-religious relationships.
During the First World War it was very important to people that whatever type of valuables they had gathered/inherited was to be passed on to people (family, friends) of the same faith.
In today's world this might seem to be a little odd because today (in the 21st century) people can be friends with others regardless of their religous faith.
The "Mit voreingenommenen Augen von heute" (in the light of modern day bias/looking through the eyes of today's bias) might mean that modern humanity has lost the values of inner-religious relationships.
I don't think you necessarily have to translate "voreingenommen", because by definition if you look at the past from a present-day perspective, you will have biases and preconceptions. But how do we know she's Jewish? Couldn't she just be saying she wants it to go to a family of believers?
Looks like this was a Jewish family where some members got baptised; i.e. became Christians. I would go with philgoddards suggetion. A more literal translation could be something like "in the eyes and the prejudice of today's world"
The translation workplace 
