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Antisemitism: A History

Some books are good, and some are useful; this is both. In fifteen well-written, concise chapters, Albert Lindemann and Richard Levy cover the entire history of antisemitism, from the pre-Christian era to contemporary times. The chapters, though written by different authors, exhibit a rare uniformity of quality that is difficult to accomplish in a multi-authored collection. Rarer still, each author has stuck to his or her assignment, writing an essay deep enough to be of interest to scholars, broad enough to serve as a general introduction, and clear enough to serve as a classroom textbook, both for overview courses and for more specialized ones. The editors provide the bookends, with Lindemann’s important essay on the ‘Jewish Question’ and the persistence, duration and intensity of antisemitism, and a conclusion that is both a wrap-up/overview and a prognosis of what remains to be understood. Almost two decades ago, in what seems a distant memory following the Oslo Accords, it seemed as though antisemitism would prove a fringe phenomenon. Americans of my postwar generation know no barriers to advancement because we are Jews: none in higher education, none in the professions or in industry. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the demise of Communism, a major pillar of worldwide antisemitism fell. When some Arab countries sought normalization with Israel, a muting of antisemitic rhetoric, if not of antisemitic feeling, was required. It seemed as if more might follow. In Eastern Europe, the Jewish communities were small, and in some places there were advantages in being Jewish. Roman Catholicism and some significant segment of Protestant Christianity were changing their views on the Jews and knocking down another pillar of antisemitism. One could be optimistic that, a generation after the Holocaust, antisemitism was quarantined. The last decade has shattered those hopes. While one can argue how severe a problem antisemitism has proved in the second decade of the twenty first century, no one can dispute that there has been a resurgence of it in Europe. It is evident on both the left and the right; within the immigrant populations of major European countries; and most particularly in the Muslim world, where major themes of antisemitism that were endemic to Christianity—such as the blood libel—and to Europe—such as the Protocols of the elders of Zion—have reemerged with real ferocity. Holocaust denial, which should be a European phenomenon (after all, Germany and its allies killed the Jews), has migrated to the Arab world, where Jewish blood—excepting in Iraq—had not been shed. In some sort of distorted logic, Holocaust denial is used as a means of eliminating Israel. Deniers reason that if Israel is an outgrowth of the Holocaust, then if there was no Holocaust, Israel will cease to exist. At many universities, therefore, professors who never imagined they would teach a course on antisemitism have begun to teach it, and have returned to BOOK REVIEWS