Antisemitismus in Deutschland

Traces the development of antisemitism in public discourse in Germany since the Shoah, and especially since German reunification in 1990. Discusses, first, the concept of antisemitism in general, common theoretical explanations, and the history of antisemitism in Germany before the Shoah. Pp. 37-70 discuss antisemitism after 1945. Immediately after the war Nazi-style antisemitism could not persist under the new social conditions. Distinguishes four periods in the history of antisemitism in West Germany,noting a general decreasing trend. However, antisemitism still existed. While the first antisemitic scandals mainly concerned specific postwar conflicts, such as reparations payments, Displaced Persons, and black market trade, the conflicts of the 1980s mostly concerned the relationship to Germany's past, as in the Bitburg Affair and the "Historikerstreit". In the latter debates, revisionist and latently antisemitic tones were often heard. Pp. 71-106 deal with the period 1990 and after. Nationalism and antisemitism surged. Antisemitism began to play a role in public conflicts, such as the Goldhagen and Walser debates, the debate regarding the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, and the Möllermann and Hohmann affairs. Notes that antisemitic incitements increasingly target Israel and the U.S. Discusses connections between antisemitism and anti-Americanism, conspiracy theories, and hostility toward Israel in present-day German political debate. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)