Susannah Heschel on Theories of Racial Antisemitism
The New School - The New School
Antisemitism is a central problem in Western civilization. Its emergence in the late nineteenth century and horrific consequences in the Holocaust cast doubt on the very foundations of the modern Western world and values.Using Steven Beller's new book on anti-Semitism, we look at the main theoretical debates of the daunting and often ironic complexities of the subject.Was prejudice only part of a complicated historical context that enabled the discrimination, persecution, and extermination of Jews in the Holocaust?We examine developments since 1945: anti-Semitism's diminution in the Holocaust's aftermath, the emergence of new forms of anti-Semitism, and the question of whether "anti-Zionism" is the "new anti-Semitism" - The New School