Transformations in French Anti-Semitism?

The increase in the number of anti-Semitic acts since the start of the Second Intifada has sparked off a broad debate on the return of anti-Semitism in France. This article focuses on the question whether this anti-Semitism is still based on the alleged superiority of the Aryan race as in the time of Nazism, or if it represents the birth of a “new Judeophobia” that is more based on anti-Zionism and the polemical mixing of “Jews,” “Israelis,” and “Zionists.” One supposed effect of this transformation is that anti-Semitism is in the process of changing camps and migrating from the extreme right to the extreme left of the political arena, to the “altermondialistes,” the communists, and the “neo-Trotskyists.” The article provides answers to the following questions: Are anti-Jewish views on the increase in France today? Do these opinions correlate with negative opinions of other minorities, notably Maghrebians and Muslims? Do they tend to develop among voters and sympathizers with the extreme right or on the extreme left of the political spectrum? And how are they related to opinions concerning Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? My evaluation of the transformations in French anti-Semitism relies on two types of data. The first is police and gendarmerie statistics published by the National Consultative Committee on Human Rights (CNCDH), which is charged with presenting the prime minister with an annual report on the struggle against racism and xenophobia in France. The other is data from surveys, notably surveys commissioned by CNCDH for its annual report and surveys conducted at the Center for Political Research (CEVIPOF) at Sciences Po (Paris Institute for Political Research). The data show that anti-Semitic opinions follow a different logic from acts, that the social, cultural, and political profile of anti-Semites remains very close to that of other types of racists, and that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism do not overlap exactly.

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 670 - "Treatise on Antisemitism" und zugehörige Dokumente (p. IX 124-IX 134)

"Treatise on Antisemitism", Unterlagen zur Buchveröffentlichung, 1945-1946; "Tentative Outline of Contens", a) Typoskript, 6 Blatt; b) Typoskript, 2 Blatt; c) Typoskript, 2 Blatt; "Section 2: Modern European Antisemitism". Typoskript, 5 Blatt; "Section 4: Political Antisemitism in America". Typoskript, 5 Blatt; "Section 5: Religious and Social Ideologies". Typoskript, 7 Blatt; "The Nature of Anti-Semitism. Psychologocal Topics to be Surveyed", a) Typoskript, 2 Blatt; b) Typoskript, 2 Blatt; "Proposed Project for a Treatise on Antisemitism" und "Tentative Outline of Contents". Typoskript mit handschriftlichen Ergänzungen, 8 Blatt; "Notes on the Content for Sections on American Antisemitism for the proposed book". Typoskript, 9 Blatt; Über den Aufbau des Buchs, eigenhändige Notiz von Max Horkheimer, 1 Blatt; Löwenthal, Leo: "Memorandum to Max Horkheimer, re: books", 25.11.1946. Typoskript, 6 Blatt; Memoranden über Besprechungen betreffend "Traetise", 28.05-10.10.1945, Typoskript, 6 Blatt; Jaeger, Werner: 1 Brief mit Unterschrift an Gordon W. Allport, Cambridge, Mass., 21.06.1945, 1 Blatt; Statements for AJC on account 'Treatise', Juli 1945 - Mai 1947, 19 Blatt; Unterlagen zur deutschen Ausgabe der "Studies in Prejudice", 1950-1952; "German Version of the Series 'Studies in Prejudice'". Typoskript, 3 Blatt; "Bericht über den Plan zur Herstellung einer deutschen Fassung der Studies in Prejudice". Typoskript, 4 Blatt; Memoranden zur Arbeit an der deutschen Ausgabe, 15.01.1951- 05.12.1952, Typoskript, 7 Blatt; Record of Meeting Commentary and Institute of Social Research", 29.05.1946; Diskussionsteilnehmer: Cohen, Elliot; Glazer, Nathan; Greenberg, Clement; Warshow, Robert; Löwenthal, Leo; Massing, Paul; Pollock, Friedrich; Weil, Felix; Gurland, A.R.L.; Jahoda, Marie; Löwe, Adolf; Typoskript, 19 Blatt; "Some Notes to the 'tentative draft discussed with R.'", Datierung unklar, um 1943? Typoskript mit handschriftlichen Korrekturen, 4 Blatt; "Re: Antisemitism in occupied Europe", Datierung unklar, etwa 1945-1948?; Typsokript, 3 Blatt; "Studies Undertaken in the Project on Political Antisemitism", Tabellarische Aufzählung, Datierung unklar, Typoskript, 1 Blatt; Institut of Social Research: "Instructions", Anweisungen für Interviewer, Fragebogen, Datierung unklar, Entwurf, Typoskript, 4 Blatt; Über Forschungsunternehmungen zu ethischen Vorurteilesstrukturen in den USA zwischen 1928 und 1939, Datierung unklar, Typoskript, 2 Blatt; Institut of Social Research: "Section I: Protestantism and Antisemitism. Section II: Report on the General Body of Protestant Antisemitic Feeling", Datierung unklar, Typoskript, 29 Blatt; Horkheimer, Max: "Re: Anti-Semitism- Spearhead of Nazism", Datierung unklar, Typoskript, 6 Blatt; Adorno, Theodor W.: "Re: Questionaire on Anti-Semitism", Datierung unklar. Typoskript, 5 Blatt; Adorno, Theodor W.: "Outline of a socio-psychological study", Datierung unklar. Typoskript mit eigenhändigen Korrekturen, 4 Blatt; "Sample: Responsiveness of Types of Anti-Semites to Anti-Semitic Propaganda", 2 handschriftliche Tabellen-Schemata, Datierung unklar, 2 Blatt;

La reconstrucción histórica en el "Revisionismo" de David Irving

En este trabajo se plantea, más allá de examinar las tesis principales del "revisionismo", la propia naturaleza del conocimiento histórico. ¿Son válidas todas las interpretaciones de un hecho histórico? ¿Se trata en tales casos de "otra lectura", de una "versión alternativa", es decir, de otra apreciación de los datos disponibles? ¿Cómo saber cuando hay mala interpretación deliberada o falsificación de la evidencia? ¿Puede detectarse si la argumentación tendenciosa es deshonesta? El "revisionismo histórico" se ha definido a sí mismo como una corriente historiográfica que ofrece otra versión de Hitler y su régimen. Cerca de una veintena de autores, desde los años cuarenta del siglo XX, se adscriben en esta tendencia, algunos de los cuales han desplegado una sostenida actividad y han logrado una llamativa repercusión en los medios de difusión. Este es el caso de David Irving. Autor de más de treinta libros, artículos, conferencias y discursos dedicados al III Reich, ha pasado largos años de su vida rastreando y estudiando archivos alemanes. Pero muy lejos de constituir un nuevo enfoque historiográfico del nazismo, el "revisionismo" de David Irving está imbuido de política e ideología y sus métodos de trabajo incluyen la adulteración y la distorsión intencional de la historia.

An Evening with Tim Wise, an Anti-Racist Essayist, Author and Educator.

Wise, who began his career as Youth Coordinator and Associate Director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism, now tours the country speaking to students on over 1,000 college and high school campuses. He also speaks to professional institutions on ways to remove racism from within their ranks. Wise's memoir White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, is widely regarded for its depiction of how racism creates privilege for Whites, while negatively impacting persons of color. His five other works, including Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority, have also earned critical acclaimed. His seventh work Culture of Cruelty: How America's Elite Demonize the Poor, Valorize the Rich and Jeopardize the Future, is scheduled for release in early 2015.

The Berlin Republic. Evolution of Germany's politics of memory and German patriotism. OSW Point of View, August 2009

Important changes have occurred in recent years in the attitude of a majority of the German elite towards the history of the 20th century and the political identity built on collective memory. Until recently, the sense of guilt for the crimes of the Third Reich and the obligation to remember were prevalent. While these two elements of Germany's memory of World War II are still important, currently the focus increasingly shifts to the German resistance against Nazism and the fate of the Germans who suffered in the war. Positive references to Germany's post-war history also occupy more and more space in the German memory. In 2009, i.e. the year of the 60th anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany and the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism, the efforts of German public institutions concentrate on promoting a new canon of history built around the successful democratisation and Germany's post-war economic success. The purpose behind these measures is to build a common historical memory that could be shared by the eastern and western parts of Germany and appeal to Germany's immigrants, who account for a growing proportion of the society.

The menace of a 'brown' Russia: Ethnically motivated xenophobia - symptoms, causes and prospects for the future. OSW Study 29/2008

This paper focuses on the ethnic dimension of xenophobia, as understood as aversion, fear or hostility vis-a-vis members of other nationalities, as well as the related radical nationalist ideas founded on the concept of the dominant (and often discriminatory) role of the Russians in the Russian Federation, with reference to racism or neo-Nazism. This text primarily presents xenophobia as an enormous social problem in today's Russia, which is not being addressed at the moment, but is instead being exploited by both the authorities and radical nationalist groups. This paper attempts to describe and understand the causes of xenophobia and the reasons for the popularity of extremely nationalist views among ethnic Russians. It also seeks to estimate the scale of the problem and the potential threat it may create in the future. The first part describes the different manifestations of xenophobia in present-day Russia. It identifies the groups most exposed to ethnically motivated violence and persecution, as well as the most xenophobic communities, and discusses the scale of the problem and its specific characteristics in the context of Russian reality. The second part looks into the underlying causes of xenophobic sentiments among Russians, while the last chapters delve into the authorities' attitude towards the problem and seek to answer the question of whether radical nationalist ideas may in future come to dominate Russia's political scene.

One year of Ukraine’s De-communisation. A change in the historical narrative. OSW COMMENTARY NUMBER 211/16.05.2016

A year ago, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted four bills on the policy of national memory: on granting access to the archives of the repressive organs of the Communist totalitarian regime in the years 1917–1991, on the legal status and commemoration of Ukrainian independence fighters in the twentieth century, on the immortalisation of the victory over Nazism in the Second World War, 1939–1945, and on the condemnation of the Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes and the forbidding of their symbolism from being promoted. The laws came into force on 21 May 2015. After a year, it can be stated that only the latter two are being observed – the official narrative regarding World War II has been changed, mainly due to the activity of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINR), but also as a result of public statements by President Petro Poroshenko. The process of removing from public places the names and commemorations referring to the Soviet era is underway, and the fears that this may trigger serious conflicts have not proved true. From roughly a thousand placenames subject to de-communisation some two thirds have been changed so far (parliamentary bills regarding the remaining ones are awaiting approval) and most statues of Communist leaders have been removed. However, the law concerning independence fighters, which raised the most serious controversies, did not have any practical consequences. Moreover, nothing suggests that this could change. The implementation of the de-communisation laws is associated with a significant change in Ukrainian patriotic narrative: it is no longer focused on national martyrdom and it is beginning to emphasize heroic motives, which is in line with wartime needs. The fact that some of these motives are likely to trigger problems in Ukraine’s relations with Poland seems to be viewed as a marginal ‘by-product’.

The state of history and the empire of metaphysics [Review]

One of the curious things about this challenging book is that its ostensible subject— the Saxon medical and political scientist Hermann Conring (1606–1681)— is not mentioned in the title. Constantin Fasolt argues that we cannot know what Conring really thought or meant in his writings, which means that his topic cannot be Conring as such and must instead be that which occludes our knowledge of him, the titular limits of history. Given that we do in fact learn a good deal about Conring from Fasolt’s book, we can only hope that the decapitation of its subject will be rectified in a subsequent edition, or perhaps by the restorative work of librarians putting together subject headings. And yet Fasolt’s decision is understandable, for Conring is indeed a stalking-horse for a much bigger quarry: historiography and the historical consciousness. By “history” Fasolt understands a way of imposing intelligibility on the world, which is founded on the twin assumptions that the past is gone and unchangeable, and that the meaning of texts can be determined by placing them in their historical contexts (ix). In challenging this mode of intelligibility, Fasolt is not attempting to improve professiona history—it’s already as good as it can be—but to displace it. He regards his work as a declaration of “independence from historical consciousness” (32). At the same time, Fasolt insists that he is not simply jumping from historiography to philosophy, or attempting to preempt history with ontology (37-39). That has been tried by Nietzsche and Heidegger, who have been tainted by Nazism (Fasolt thinks unfairly). It has also been attempted by modern philosophers from Gadamer to Foucault and Charles Taylor who, in failing to address the “violence” that its mode of intelligibility does to the world, have not succeeded in outflanking history. Perhaps, Fasolt wonders, it is only the personal experience of those who have been subject to this violence—the experience of those who have been subject to historical examination—that can break the spell of history. Fasolt’s disclaimer notwithstanding, in the course of these remarks I shall argue that he is indeed jumping from history to philosophy, or attempting to outflank history by subjecting it to a particular metaphysical understanding. I shall do so in part by sketching the recent intellectual history of this move—a historical examination that I hope inflicts as little violence as possible on Fasolt’s argument.

Why is Werner Sombart not part of the core of classical sociologists? From fame to (near) oblivion:From Fame to (Near) Oblivion

The life and work of Werner Sombart poses an intellectual puzzle in the genealogy of modern social theorists. During his lifetime, Sombart was probably the most influential and prominent social scientist in Germany as well as in many other countries. Today he is among the least known social scientists. Why did he lose his status as one of the most brilliant and influential scholars and intellectuals of the 20th century? Why is his work almost forgotten today? While Weber's thesis about the influence of Protestantism on the development of capitalism is widely known, even beyond sociological circles, few sociologists today know that Sombart had an alternative explanation. An obvious explanation for Sombart's fall from grace is his embrace of Nazism. As Heidegger provides a counter-example, Sombart's fate requires a more complex explanation. In addition, we explore the different reception of his work in economic and sociological circles as compared to cultural theory and history. © 2001, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.

Contrary Voices: Heine, Holderlin, and Goethe in the music of Hanns Eisler

Contrary Voices examines composer Hanns Eisler’s settings of nineteenth-century poetry under changing political pressures from 1925 to 1962. The poets’ ideologically fraught reception histories, both under Nazism and in East Germany, led Eisler to intervene in this reception and voice dissent by radically fragmenting the texts. His musical settings both absorb and disturb the charisma of nineteenth-century sound materials, through formal parody, dissonance, and interruption. Eisler’s montage-like work foregrounds the difficult position of a modernist artist speaking both to and against political demands placed on art. Often the very charisma the composer seeks to expose for its power to sway the body politic exerts a force of its own. At the same time, his text-settings resist ideological rigidity in their polyphonic play. A dialogic approach to musical adaptation shows that, as Eisler seeks to resignify Heine’s problematic status in the Weimar Republic, Hölderlin’s appropriation under Nazism, and Goethe’s status as a nationalist symbol in the nascent German Democratic Republic, his music invests these poetic voices with surprising fragility and multivalence. It also destabilizes received gender tropes, in the masculine vulnerability of Eisler’s Heine choruses from 1925 and in the androgynous voices of his 1940s Hölderlin exile songs and later Goethe settings. Cross-reading the texts after hearing such musical treatment illuminates faultlines and complexities less obvious in text-only analysis. Ultimately Eisler’s music translates canonical material into a form as paradoxically faithful as it is violently fragmented.

Las edades de Hitler. De Satán a un ser de carne y hueso, y su representación en clave paródica

Adolf Hitler suscitó desde su entrada en la escena política alemana una fascinación perversa, un sentimiento que, con el tiempo, ha dado lugar a numerosas representaciones culturales sobre el Führer. La muestra, rica y variada tanto en el fondo como en la forma, nos permitirá trazar tres estadios en lo referente al proceso de construcción historiográfica del hitlerismo, iniciado con la caída del Tercer Reich. Estos responden en buena medida al devenir sociopolítico y cultural de la sociedad a escala global desde el final de la guerra y hasta nuestros días y pueden resumirse en tres: primero, la satanización; segundo, la humanización; tercero, el retrato caricaturesco. Proponemos un recorrido histórico por diversos productos culturales del dictador alemán cuyo propósito es desentrañar el retrato psicológico poliédrico que se ha construido en torno a la figura de Hitler.

Erich Wenigers Militärpädagogik in später Wahrnehmung. Eine Zwischenbilanz

Der Autor legt dar, welches außergewöhnliche Gewicht den Schriften Wenigers zu Militär und Pädagogik in seinem Werk zukommt, und diskutiert den Forschungsstand. Wenigers Ansichten zum Krieg als Bildungserlebnis werden ebenso erörtert wie die Frage nach der Vereinbarkeit von Militärpädagogik und der Idee einer Autonomie der Erziehung. Ohne die Erschließung neuer Quellen wird die Debatte aber nicht weiterkommen. (DIPF/Orig.)

Emigration und Remigration in der Erziehungswissenschaft. Zur Einführung in den Themenschwerpunkt

Mit [dem] Themenschwerpunkt versuch[t die Redaktion], nicht nur ein Bewußtsein der Bedeutung von Emigration und Remigration für die Disziplinentwicklung zu wecken, sondern auch einen weiteren Schritt in der Forschung zu tun, mit Fallstudien über lokale Entwicklungen, mit Analysen subdisziplinärer Kontinuitäts- und Diskontinuitätsmuster und mit personenbezogenen Studien über die Disziplinentwicklung nach 1945 in SBZ und DDR. Für die Pädagogik an der Frankfurter Universität (Feidel-Mertz/Lingelbach) wird eine paradigmatische Kontroverse zwischen eher gesellschaftskritischen und eher affirmativen Theorien sichtbar, die durch die politischen Ereignisse 1933 entschieden wird und einem gesellschaftskritischen Paradigma erst nach 1968/1970 wieder eine Chance einräumt (und eher nebenher werden auch die Differenzen zwischen nationalsozialistischer und nationalkonservativer Pädagogik am Exempel H. Weinstocks herausgearbeitet). An der Nachkriegsgeschichte von Besetzungsprozeduren an der Hamburger Universität kann Ch. Kersting nicht nur die unterschiedlichen Formen der Aufmerksamkeit für die Emigranten belegen (die man angesichts der Verdrängungs-These nicht erwartet hätte), sondern auch den Bedeutungswandel der Verdrängungsannahme selbst. […] Konzentriert auf eine Subdisziplin behandeln G. Miller-Kipp und M. Kipp - mit der Frage nach Theoriewandel bei Personenkontinuität […] die Theorie-Geschichte der Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik […]. Die Beiträge von U. Wiegmann und G. Geissler erinnern schließlich daran, daß wir auch unsere bildungshistorischen Fragen an die Disziplin nicht mehr im Lichte der alten Ost-West-Trennung formulieren dürfen. Beide Beiträge zeigen aber, welche neuen Probleme und Schwierigkeiten sich damit stellen. (DIPF/Orig.)

Gewaltsame Verdrängung und prekäre Kontinuität. Zur Entwicklung der wissenschaftlichen Pädagogik in Frankfurt am Main vor und nach 1933

Die Autoren stellen für das Pädagogische Seminar an der Stiftungsuniversität in Frankfurt a. Main dar, wie durch die Entlassung und folgende Emigration von P. Tillich, C. Mennicke und H. Weil eine sozialwissenschaftliche Pädagogik in ihrer Entwicklung abgebrochen wurde, die dort schon seit Anfang des Jahrhunderts u.a. mit J. Ziehen begonnen hatte. Seit 1933 dominierte dann eine nationalpolitische Pädagogik und Erziehungsidee. (DIPF/Orig.)

Hans Siebert - zur erziehungsgeschichtlichen Spur eines emigrierten politischen Pädagogen

Hans Siebert war als exponierter SED-Funktionär der wirkungsstärkste Vertreter stalinistischer Erziehungsauffassungen in der SBZ und frühen DDR. Die nachstehende biographische Recherche erhellt insbesondere die Entstehungsgeschichte seiner Auffassungen im englischen Exil. Dabei wird den bislang kaum beachteten Erziehungs- und Schulungsunternehmungen der KPD nachgegangen. Es wird deutlich, daß Siebert, der besonders eng an sowjetische Vorbilder gebunden war, nur bis in die fünfziger Jahre tatsächlich Einfluß auf die Bildungspolitik hatte und danach in eine Außenseiterposition geriet. (DIPF/Orig.)