Albert S. Lindemann - Antisemitism: A History

ANTISEMITISM: A HISTORY

Edited by
ALBERT S. LINDEMANN
RICHARD S. LEVY

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Editorial matter and arrangement
Albert S. Lindemann and Richard S. Levy, 2010
Chapters the various contributors

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1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Albert S. Lindemann

Benjamin Isaac

Philip A. Cunningham

Alex Novikoff

Ralph Keen

Jonathan Karp

Adam Sutcliffe

Richard S. Levy

Richard J. Golsan

William D. Rubinstein

Heinz-Dietrich Lwe

Doris L. Bergen

Norman A. Stillman

Istvn Dek

Meir Litvak and Esther Webman

The central goal of this volume is to offer a readable overview of a daunting topic, trying to gain some distance from the polemics and apologetics that are in danger of becoming predictable and unproductive, especially on a popular level. As editors we sought out a wide selection of recognized scholars, asking them to include the most important new developments in their fields, as succinctly as possible. We have done our best to trim the familiar but at times off-putting conventions of scholarly apparatus and style, while striving to retain the accuracy, rigor, and open-mindedness of the best scholarly traditions.

While we have worked to assure thematic unities in the volume, we have by no means sought to enforce any one interpretive perspective. The scholars represented here do not agree with each other on all points, but they do recognize that conflicting viewpoints of a scholarly nature should get a fair hearing.

As editors we each contributed one of the articles. We collaborated on the Introduction and Conclusion, but they reflect differences of approach and contrasting nuances of interpretation, the Introduction being primarily the work of Albert Lindemann, the Conclusion of Richard Levy.

This work is affectionately dedicated to the memory of John Doyle Klier, who died on September 23, 2007, before he could make his contribution to this volume. The scholarly world is a sadder, poorer place without him.

ASL

RSL

Doris L. Bergen, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies, Department of History, University of Toronto

Philip A. Cunningham, Professor of Theology, Director of the Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations, Saint Josephs University, Philadelphia

Istvn Dek, Seth Low Professor of History, Emeritus, Columbia University

Richard J. Golsan, Distinguished Professor of French, Texas A&M University

Benjamin Isaac, Lessing Professor of Ancient History, Tel Aviv University

Jonathan Karp, Associate Professor of History and Judaic Studies, Binghamton University, SUNY

Ralph Keen, Associate Professor of Religious Studies University of Iowa

Richard S. Levy, Professor of History, University of Illinois at Chicago

Albert S. Lindemann, Professor of History, Emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara

Meir Litvak, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History, Tel Aviv University

Heinz-Dietrich Lwe, Professor of East European History, Heidelberg University

Alex J. Novikoff, Assistant Professor of Medieval History, Rhodes College, Memphis

William D. Rubinstein, Professor of History, University of Aberystwyth

Norman A. Stillman, Schusterman/Josey Chair of Judaic History, University of Oklahoma

Adam Sutcliffe, Senior Lecturer in European History, Kings College London

Esther Webman, Dr., Senior Research Fellow, Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, and Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism

Map 1. Europe and the Mediterannean from ancient times to the end of the Middle Ages

Map 2. Europe, 18711914

If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and all that was necessary would be to separate them from the rest of us, and then destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

The subheadings of this Introduction touch on themes that each of the volumes authors has been asked to address. The goal in this Introduction is to alert the reader to key concepts, thus serving as a general overview, posing productive questions without attempting to resolve them. They will be taken up again in the Conclusion in an ampler and less tentative form.

Antisemitism is a complex term, in many ways oddly so. Boundless difficulties arise in attempting a definition of it, especially one that is more than a redundancy (hatred of Jews) and that points to its causes and nature. Much the same may be said about the wider, related term racism. Those using the terms antisemite and racist today often have transparently political agendas and are typically innocent of the terms tangled histories. Problems of this sort are not uncommon with ideological termsfascism and liberalism are other obvious examplesbut it does seem that what is implied by antisemitism is even more elusive, perhaps uniquely so. It is instructive that even self-proclaimed antisemites have long differed with one another over what the term really means or should mean.