Rise Of anti-Semitism Research Articles

New Challenges, Old Hatred: The Role of Super-diversity, Immigration, and Political Polarization in the Rise of Antisemitism in Contemporary Canada

New Challenges, Old Hatred: The Role of Super-diversity, Immigration, and Political Polarization in the Rise of Antisemitism in Contemporary Canada

Study shows antisemitism surge driving much of Jewish philanthropy

New research shows that the rise in antisemitism across the United States has spurred an increase in charitable giving within the Jewish community—most notably, among those who have personally been affected.

Singing Like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms by Kira Thurman

Reviewed by: Singing Like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms by Kira Thurman Kathryn Agnes Huether Singing Like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. By Kira Thurman. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2021. Pp. 368. Hardcover $32.95. ISBN 978-1501759840. In the field of musicology, several key studies have examined how categories of “Germanness” and “Otherness” have been constructed and negotiated in musical discourse, ranging from such topics as the musical practice of Martin Luther’s aesthetic reform, or the revival of J. S. Bach’s work under the auspices of the Enlightenment-era German Jewish patron Sarah Levy. The rise in antisemitism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries found its way into music criticism, with composers and music critics—such as Rudolf Louis and Richard Wagner—frequently attacking German Jewish composers such as Felix Mendelssohn and Gustav Mahler for the supposed aural “tainting” and eastern “accents” of their music. The Third Reich escalated racist musical stereotypes by defaming certain music as “entartet,” including Jewish composers, African American jazz, and Roma traditions. Now, musicologist [End Page 326] Kira Thurman brings attention to another important but heretofore overlooked topic in the history of the construction and policing of “Germanness” in German classical music, specifically the prominent role that Black classical musicians have played in the performance of that music from the late nineteenth century to the recent past. In Singing Like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, Thurman follows a chronological three-part trajectory: Part I: 1870–1914; Part II: 1918–1945; and Part III: 1945–1961. In Part I, Thurman conveys that the “music of Reinecke and other German composers floated freely out of the windows of chapels [and] concert halls in the 1890s [America]” (22). Black Americans’ drive to educate themselves in the music of Reineke and others, in addition to other academic approaches, was a mass movement that “promised to cultivate new generations of politically minded, culturally sophisticated, and socially aware Black citizens to advance their rights in a nation that still refused to recognize them” (23). German classical music, in its own immigrant journey to America, found a place in the lives of African Americans. But there was also movement in the other direction. Thurman presents a series of case studies on Black migration to, and venture within Germany— including Will Marion Cook, William H. Tyers, J. Elmer Spyglass, and Portia Washington— to name a few. Thurman is careful to explain the unique components of each individual’s transatlantic travel. Even across the ocean, Thurman unveils how Jim Crow still haunted African American lives in Germany, predominantly at the hands of white Americans who also found themselves in Germany. Thurman dedicates an entire chapter to a discussion of how transatlantic notions of race influenced white listening experiences of Black classical musicians in German, emphasizing the aesthetic component of this construction, which forced white listeners to confront the juxtaposition of the visual and aural. In Part II, Thurman emphasizes the heightening of racial propaganda that led toward starker forms of discrimination in the 1920s, specifically the “Black Horror on the Rhine” campaign. The author tracks how these racial slurs then impacted the reception of Black musicians in Germany. Despite the exceptional mastering of the German Lieder by Black musicians in this period, Thurman finds, in her scrutiny of the archive of German music reviews, that critics “revisited their definitions of Blackness and whiteness in response to Black performers’ musical erasures of the Black-white binary” (158). Part III focuses largely on the process of denazification and the role that Black musicians played in it. Thurman shows that the US State Department saw in them the “best asset in the reorientation of Germans” (196), a role that I view as far more nuanced and difficult than Leonard Bernstein’s “Mahler revival” in Vienna. In her closing chapters, the author demonstrates the continuation of racial discrimination and the push for Black musicians to carry an agency that was simultaneously denied to them by their own government. [End Page 327] As a scholar of the Holocaust and contemporary antisemitism, I personally see a...

A Fundamentally Singular Crime

ABSTRACT This article deals with the debate over Dirk Moses' essay “The German Catechism,” which sparked controversy after its publication in May 2021. In his piece, Moses argues that the Holocaust should be examined in unison with the genocides perpetrated during colonialism. This article criticizes Moses' interpretation that questions the singularity of the Holocaust, stressing instead that the Shoah is fundamentally different from other historical crimes. It reveals the inherent flaws in Moses' essay, while pointing to the potentially dangerous influence of the postcolonial thought advocated by Moses on anti-Israel sentiment and the rise of antisemitism.

Stefano Bottoni. Orbán: Un despota in Europa.

Stefano Bottoni. <i>Orbán: Un despota in Europa.</i>

Understanding perceptions of contemporary antisemitism among Orthodox Jews in London

ABSTRACT Communal statistics and media reports reflect that there has been a resurgence of antisemitism. This paper explores whether this evidenced rise of antisemitism is effecting the Jewish community, in particular the Orthodox Jewish community. It elucidates the perceptions of Orthodox Jews in North London about the scale and significance of antisemitism. The study, which was informed by sociological framework, employed a qualitative approach using 28 semi-structured interviews and 5 focus groups. This article is important because it explores whether the perceptions of antisemitism were accentuated among this prime target group. This paper will first consider the shift in the manifestation of antisemitism which has been noted by Orthodox Jews. Second, this paper will consider the various contributory factors which influenced the framing of those varied perceptions.

The Oldest Post-Truth? The Rise of Antisemitism in the United States and Beyond

The Oldest Post-Truth? The Rise of Antisemitism in the United States and Beyond

»Die angesteckten Juden«. Constantin Brunners Antizionismus

Abstract The article analyses Brunner’s attitude towards Zionism from the time when he conceived »Der Judenhass und die Juden«, focussing on his writings on Antisemitism and on questions of German-Jewish belonging. There is something remarkable about the historical moment when Brunner engaged with the question of Antisemitism. Whereas the rise of Antisemitism in the 1870 s prompted a number of Jewish public reactions and analyses, there was a visible decline in their number after the turn of the century. On the other hand, it was by no means extraordinary that Brunner connected his critical reflections on anti-Jewish sentiments with a negative attitude towards Zionism. The radicalism of his position becomes evident, however, in the fact that he treated both the hatred of Jews and Zionism as just two aspects of the same tragedy. While after 1912 his explicit anti-Zionism was, to a certain degree, shared by many members of the »Centralverein«, his position with respect to nation and nationhood tended towards the more radical views of Max Naumann, who associated Jewish identity with German nationalism.

Right-Wing Politics and the Rise of Antisemitism in Europe 1935–1941

Right-Wing Politics and the Rise of Antisemitism in Europe 1935–1941

The Re-Emergence of the Jewish Question

Major economic transformations over the past forty years have produced wrenching social changes. These have now generated a strong anti-globalist reaction that is expressing itself in extremist political movements throughout Europe, America, and other parts of the world. Antisemitism is an integral element of this reaction in its far-right, far-left, and Islamist instantiations. These developments have caused a re-emergence of the question of the place of Jews in the non-Jewish world. Both the anti-globalist reaction, and many of the Jewish responses to it, are backward looking. They are attempting to deal with new economic and political challenges by re-running ideologies from the past. The rise of antisemitism in this context is indicative of the failure of anti-globalist movements to cope effectively with these challenges. A new progressive politics is urgently needed to deal with them. To be effective, the Jewish response to the threat posed by widespread antisemitism must be informed by the lessons of recent Jewish history. Keywords: Jewish Question, anti-globalism, rightwing antisemitism, leftwing antisemitism, new diasporism, economic dislocation

Antisemitic Acts and Attitudes in Contemporary France: The Effects on French Jews

Threats and violence from radicalized Islamists have led to heightened security measures for Jewish organizations in France. French soldiers are protecting Jewish schools, kindergartens, community centers, and other Jewish institutions. In addition to terrorism, there are a number of other factors that have led to increased antisemitism in France. This article discusses data on antisemitic incidents and surveys on antisemitic attitudes in France. While there is a clear rise in antisemitic incidents, the trend in antisemitic attitudes is less clear. Levels of antisemitic attitudes are particularly high among Muslims, the far-right, and also the far-left, but not necessarily among the general French population. However, the rise of antisemitism has hit observant Jews more than non-observant Jews and it has led to changes in behavior, including in the display of religious signs and avoidance of places of worship. Many French Jews today question their future in France.

Under one common banner: antisemitism and socialist strategy during the 1905–7 Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland

ABSTRACTMarzec investigates socialist strategies in relationship to antisemitism during the 1905–7 Revolution in the Russian-controlled Kingdom of Poland. An extensive, diachronic discourse analysis of political leaflets reveals a dialogical differentiation of political identities and ideological positions. Antisemitism was an important political device used by the National Democracy party (Endecja) to assist in the construction of a new national identity. It represented a certain discursive binary logic that ushered in a need for a negatively perceived and threatening ‘outside’. Jews easily became the focus of this mechanism due to the particular sociodemographic conjuncture of events as well as older, more established Judaeophobic tendencies. This antisemitism was, for the same structural reasons, questioned and rejected by the socialist parties that were struggling to maintain class unity. For socialists, the need to prevent the redirection of class anger into ethnic animosities and to secure the united struggle of Polish and Jewish workers were matters of life and death. While general antisemitic attitudes may be perceived as more common in Russian Poland than in Western Europe, nevertheless domestic socialists of all parties and denominations remained firmly against antisemitism and did not accept the ‘economic Jew’ stereotype that was often a hidden undercurrent of anti-capitalism at the time. A broader overview of the genealogy of divisions among Polish radicals from the 1880s and 1890s and afterwards, up until the tragic rise of antisemitism from 1910 onwards, demonstrates that an anti-antisemitic strategy was adopted, and subsequently kept in place, as the most viable political identity in the given social and political situation. It remained unsuccessful, however, and some socialist writers started to distance themselves from the earlier, virtually unanimous, anti-antisemitic stance.

The Left We Have and the Left We Need

The Left We Have and the Left We Need Barbara Epstein (bio) In this short piece I will explore the reasons why the American left failed to foresee and act to avert the rise of the right-wing movement that put Donald Trump in power. I will also make some comments on the related question of why enough people voted for Trump to put him in the White House, though this is an open question and will no doubt remain so for years. Much of the press's analysis has focused on economic deprivation, leaving out the cultural issues and the feelings that I suspect were involved for many of those who supported Trump and that the left needs to take into account. I will discuss the question of how the left could help to build a movement of resistance to Trump and also make some headway in undermining his support, and I will make some comments on the left and the rise of antisemitism. To put my argument about how the left missed the rise of a right-wing response to neoliberalism starkly, since the end of the movement against the Vietnam War the American left has revolved around a series of movements concerned with identity politics. This is not to question the importance of the civil rights movement and the movements for the rights of groups of color that have followed it, or the women's movement, or the LGBTQ rights movement, or other movements for the rights of vulnerable and disregarded groups. And this is not to argue that these issues should be subsumed by some broader organization of the left. Without particular movements and organizations addressing the concerns of particular racial and other groups, these concerns would likely fade into the background. [End Page 174] However, there are several problems posed by an overall movement of the left that consists very largely of movements and organizations of particular identity groups. The first is that white men are left out. This sends the message that, to the extent that there is a larger progressive project, white men are not part of it. Every other group is engaged in a project of self-liberation; white men are the problem, the obstacle. Many white men who identify with the left understand the reasons for this and do not take it personally. But on a larger scale it is a problem: it sends the message that leftist or progressive politics is not for white men. It writes off a significant sector of the population. And it is a conception of leftist politics that bases itself on race, gender, and sexuality—but that excludes class. The second problem posed by a left that revolves around identity-based groups is that it does not provide the basis for a common project beyond a commitment to multiculturalism and opposition to discrimination. A movement of the left requires a critique of capitalism, or at least of the present highly inegalitarian and mean-spirited form of capitalism, a conception of a better, more egalitarian society, and a strategy for moving in that direction, or at least a framework for discussion of such a strategy. A series of identity-based movements and organizations, even if each of them subscribes to a progressive outlook and endorses the efforts of other identity movements, does not provide this. The third problem posed by a left that consists overwhelmingly of identity-based groups and movements is that it does not provide the basis for challenging neoliberalism. The term neoliberalism is confusing because liberalism, in the context of American politics, evokes the New Deal with its social and welfare programs. But the classical economists of the eighteenth century used the term to mean a relative absence of regulations on economic activity, the operation of the market as far as possible without intervention by the government. In the United States, prior to the Great Depression in the 1930s, the federal government played very little role in the economy beyond encouraging industries such as the railroads, and it played virtually no role in the welfare of ordinary people; unions were discouraged by means of severe legal restrictions. During the Depression, popular struggles, many...

A time of upheaval in an anti-Semitic environment – the representation of the Jewish population in Austria in the parliamentary debates from 1917–1919

The period of transition from the dynastically composed, multi-ethnic Habsburg monarchy to the Republic of German-Austria/Austria was marked by fundamental economic crises, social tensions, and traumas as a consequence of the harrowing experiences of the war. This situation led to extensive social and political radicalization, including a massive rise in anti-Semitism. The paper focuses on the reasons for this increase in anti-Semitism and describes the rhetoric of the politicians during the war and in the immediate post-war period. Based on the stenographic protocols of the meetings in the Austrian Imperial Assembly and the (Provisional) National Assembly, the politicians who used anti-Semitic speeches in order to achieve particular goals are identified and examples of how the situation and rights of the Austrian Jewish population was discussed in parliament are given.

We Did Not Recognize Our Country: The Rise of Antisemitism in Ukraine before and after the Second World War, 1937–1947

We Did Not Recognize Our Country: <i>The Rise of Antisemitism in Ukraine before and after the Second World War, 1937–1947</i>

Caucasian Phobias and the Rise of Antisemitism in the North Caucasus in the 1920s

Before 1917 the North Caucasus witnessed almost no Jewish pogroms. After the Revolution, traditional Armenophobia began to decline and was replaced by a growing Judeophobia. The first victims of the increasing anti-Semitism were the Mountain Jews. In the summer of 1926, there was a massive pogrom of Mountain Jews in Makhachkala and there were simultaneous pogroms in several other localities.

Invisible in Oxford: Medieval Jewish History in Modern England

Medieval Anglo-Jewish history has only very recently begun to be included in scholarly histories of England and is still relatively absent unless the history is specifically concerned with the Jews of England. Unfortunately, the relative invisibility of medieval Jewish history in British historical scholarship is mirrored in the semi-scholarly "public face" of British history as it is represented in historical and heritage materials, guidebooks, memorials, and other informational sources for travelers and history in England. While it is often the nature of heritage groups to sanitize and homogenize the past, the degree to which this is done with regard to the medieval Anglo-Jewish past requires response and action, particularly in the context of an alarming world-wide rise in antisemitism. If knowledge is an essential context for understanding and tolerance, more visible and accurate accounts of medieval Jewish history are a necessary first step towards effecting social change.

The context of antisemitism and Islamophobia in France

ABSTRACT Silverstein's essay explores the social drama surrounding the reported rise of a ‘new antisemitism’ in France in the context of a history of violence and present discrimination against French Muslims. Eschewing the essentializing approaches to Muslim antisemitism characteristic of many critics and pundits, the essay shows how current categories of ethnicity and religion in France (e.g. Jewish, Muslim, Arab and Berber) developed historically through colonial conquest, anti-colonial struggle and postcolonial racist violence. Focusing on the period of ‘Beur’ activism of the 1980s and more recent anti-police demonstrations by young men from suburban housing projects, Silverstein traces the formation of political subjectivity among Franco-Maghrebis in opposition to French state actors, police forces and those (including, more recently, assimilated French Jews) who appear to benefit disproportionately from the social, economic and political privileges of the national bourgeoisie. In the present period, many of these Franco-Maghrebis have increasingly identified as ‘French Muslims’ as their primary form of belonging, an identification bolstered by their ambivalent interpellation as, on the one hand, suspect members of the French nation under the policing and surveillance procedures of France's ‘war on terror’ and, on the other, objects of state dialogue via the creation of representative Islamic councils. Such politics of exclusion and incorporation, the essay argues, has played out in recent accusations of French Muslim antisemitism, accusations that challenge the right of French Muslims to recognition as a legitimate ‘community’ within France. Moreover, it critically examines statistical evidence for the reported rise in antisemitism and its attribution to French Muslims, paying close attention to schoolyard incidents of violence that constitute a large number of the reported incidents. Finally, Silverstein examines various minority voices among French Muslims—particularly Berber/Amazigh activists—who have enthusiastically adopted a secularist ideology and philosemitic discourse.

In Defense of Christian Hungary: Religion, Nationalism, and Antisemitism 1890-1944 (review)

In Defense of Hungary: Religion, Nationalism, and Antisemitism 1890-1944. By Paul A. Hanebrink. (Ithaca and London: Cornell llniversity Press. 2006. Pp. x, 255. $39.95.) Rarely have I come across a more engaging, better composed study dealing with the relatively recent history of a small European country. Professor Paul A. Hanebrink earned my deepest admiration for his sharp discernment, transparent clarity, and elegant style in presenting a half-century history of the most turbulent times of modern-day Hungary. His numerous references, and an incredibly huge, comprehensive, up-to-date bibliography are indication of the massive research effort brought to fruition in this volume. True to Hanebrink's stated goal, the focus of his attention is on the role of religion, more particularly that of the leadership of the established churches - notably the majority Roman Catholic Church and the largest of the Protestant churches, the Reformed or Calvinist Church - in fostering Hungarian nationalism and also the rise of anti-Semitism. The starting point for Hanebrink is the closing decade of the nineteenth century, when Hungarian political culture was dominated by the ideas of western European Liberalism. It was the time when in the face of fierce opposition from the conservative Catholic hierarchy, but with the enthusiastic support from the Protestant leaders, clergy and lay alike, a number of laws were enacted by parliament, among them the law introducing civll marriage and the law on Jewish reception, granting the not only full civic rights, which they already had, but also to the Jewish religion nul equality with the established churches. The bright picture which Hanebrink paints of the modern, liberal, secularizing Hungary, soon underwent somber changes during the Great War, and the chaotic times that followed. The defeated country was forced to cede two-thirds of its historic lands with a third of its ethnic Hungarians to its enemies, the remaining rump being overwhelmed with refugees, whlle the government had been taken over in the fall of 1918 by well-meaning democrats, who were in March 1919 overthrown by doctrinaire Bolshevik communists. This dictatorship of the Proletariat led by BeIa Kun lasted only until August 1919, but it left in its wake an indelible memory of unfulfilled promises, misery, terror, and also outrage over the desecration of religious and national symbols dear to the majority of Hungarians. Little wonder that these events caused a 180-degree turn toward rightwing nationalism in the minds of many people who placed the blame for the erosion of the traditional mores of Hungarians squarely on the shoulders of the latssez-fatre Liberalism of the previous regimes and the Jews. The latter, compared to their small proportion in the overall population (5%), played an enormous role not only in the economy, but also in the cultural life and in politics. At no time was this more evident than during the 1919 Commune, when the political and cultural leadership, as well as the personnel of the terror squads, were almost totally of Jewish origin. The following twenty-five years had been the time of that which gave the title to this book. As Hanebrink rightly observed, a purified, spiritually reborn Hungary, which was the sincere desire of the leaders of the churches and their committed followers, remained just a slogan for the politicians, and a rallying cry for the various rightwing groups and parties, a convenient cover for their anti-Semitic feelings and activities. For these people Christian had nothing to do with being followers of Jesus of Nazareth; it simply meant non-Jewish at best, a hater of Jews at its worst. The author eloquently demonstrates how during World War II, especially in its last year when Hungary - despite being allied to Germany, in the spring of 1944 was mllitarlly occupied and politically subjugated by German troops - this anti-Semitic agitation culminated in the deportation and mass murder of over half a mlllion Jewish citizens (including converts to Christianity) of that much vaunted Hungary. …

Brjusov und die Zeitgeschichte. Eine Studie zur politischen Lyrik im russischen Symbolismus by Sabina s&gt; Siwczyk-Lammers (review)

REVIEWS 723 the UK on the other?How similaris the responseof the studentseitherside of the Atlantic?This is not the place to debate such issues, but I was intrigued every so often to come across remarkswhich ostensibly point to differences, rather than similarities. We are told, for example, that 'In classrooms the world over, it has long been the practice to distilthe age of the great Russian novel into Dostoevsky versus Tolstoy' (p. I04). Not in my experience. And then, even more categorically, we learn that when students are asked 'what Raskolnikovstandsfor' they will be able to answer;when, however, the same question is posed of Levin or Anna Karenina, teachers will 'draw a blank' (P. I I2). My instinctstell me the opposite, but it might be worth testing. As Caryl Emerson states, 'Tolstoy probably would not have wished his novels to have been taught at all' (pp. II3-14). Indeed; he would almost certainlyhave regardedventures such as the present volume with the utmost disdain. Still,ifmankindhad followed allthe greatman'spreceptstherewould not have been anyone around to produce and write such books, let alone to reviewthem. Department ofRussian ROGER COCKRELL UniversityofExeter Siwczyk-Lammers,Sabina.Bdusov unddieZeitgeschichte. EineStudie zurpolitischen Lyrik imrussischen Symbolismus . Opera Slavica:Neue Folge,42. Harassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2002. xii + 353 pp. Notes. Appendices. Bibliography .Index. ?54.00 (paperback). INSoviet criticism Briusovis portrayed either as a decadent or a poet of the Revolution; Western scholarship by contrast has focused primarily on his Symbolist aesthetics. Acutely aware of these different critical approaches, Sabina Siwczyk-Lammersdeliberatelyconcentrateson those lyricsthatreflect Briusov'sreaction to contemporary historical events, firstdrawing attention to the publicationhistoryof the individualtextsbefore analysingtheirmetricrhythmicaland symbolicelements. Her aim is to demonstratethat, independently of his Symbolist aesthetical convictions, Briusov showed a constant, active interestin the social and political events of his day. Aftera brief introductorychapter that outlines the aestheticand ideational basis of Symbolism and the role political poetry played in the worksof poets such as Bal'mont or Blok, Siwczyk-Lammersexamines the impact of distinct political events on Briusov's lyrical output. She divides his work into seven separate historical periods, albeit acknowledging a certain overlap, for instance between the war poetry and the poetry on the 19I7 revolutions.The first period, from I899 to I903, treats 'forerunner texts', poems such as 'Kamenshik'or 'Na osuzhdenie Dreifusa',where a socio-politicalengagement is manifest and where specificproblems such as the rise of anti-Semitism are highlighted. Next, Siwczyk-Lammers investigates Briusov's lyrics on the Russo-Japanesewar, chartinghis changing attitudefrom nationalisticfervour to disillusionment. The I905 Revolution received a similarly ambivalent treatment, with poems such as 'Griadushchie gunny' or 'Lik Meduzy' emphasizing the barbaric, destructive power of the Revolution, and lyrics 724 SEER, 82, 3, 2004 such as 'Dovol'nym' criticizing Nikolai II's manifesto of I7 October. Briusov's poetry on the First World War, profoundly influenced by his experiences as a correspondent, also manifests a progression from enthusiasm to bitterness and regret. Whilst Briusov clearly recognized the historical significance of the February Revolution, he continued to regard literature as his main task. However, Siwczyk-Lammers remarks on his move away from poetry towards active participation as an editor, a translator, critic, and organizer of cultural events. The October Revolution sees Briusov in the camp of the new Bolshevik power; his lyrics chart the progress of the revolution and focus particularly on Lenin's role. After 1924, Siwczyk-Lammers finds his poetic output marked both by a certain denial of reality, as manifest in the work of other writers who did not emigrate, as well as a certain 'opportunism or a disguise or even an honest conversion through the social ideal of communist Russia' (p. 267). As this last statement shows, Briusov's political position is complex. At times, a more in-depth analysis of the tension between his Symbolist convictions and his political activism, notably his simultaneous insistence on artistic freedom and the engagement of the poet, would occasionally have been desirable. Siwczyk-Lammers's title promises an investigation of Briusov's lyrics within the context of the Symbolist movement as a whole. Occasionally she does focus on Briusov's relationship with his contemporaries, for instance when she highlights his ongoing literary dialogue with Bal...