Language:
English
Year of publication:
2007
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of Genocide Research
Angaben zur Quelle:
9,4 (2007) 575-600
Keywords:
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Antisemitism History 1933-1945
;
Racism History
;
Racism History
;
African Americans History
;
Racism History 20th century
;
Conspiracy theories
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
National socialism Philosophy
;
Jews Persecutions 19th century
;
History
;
Jews Persecutions 20th century
;
History
Abstract:
Both white racism against African Americans throughout three centuries and racist antisemitism in 19th-20th century Europe focused on negative images of Blacks and Jews and were used to ideologically "justify" the enslavement and continued discrimination against the former and the persecution of the latter. Queries why the racial antisemitism led to mass murder of the Jews. The ideology of radical antisemitism added a new dimension - an alleged "international Jewish conspiracy", an idea taken up by Nazi Germany; the purpose of this antisemitism was to exterminate the Jews. Therefore, both in its ideological inspiration and implementation, the Holocaust was not comparable to Black slavery. While white racism imputed inferiority to Blacks, antisemitism viewed Jews as having a malevolent intelligence. Between 1939-45, Nazi propaganda repeated the accusation that the Jews, via "their" war, were attempting to exterminate the German people. Thus, the paranoid politics of radical antisemitism that was focused on conspiracy theory promoted the genocidal ideology of German "self defense". This radical antisemitism, rather than biological racism, was a causal factor of the Holocaust. A. Dirk Moses, in "The fate of Blacks and Jews; a response to Jeffrey Herf", warns about the risk involved in comparing genocides and suffering, and disagrees with Herf's emphasis on the manifest uniqueness of the Holocaust. Claims that Herf views the world in a Manichaean manner, with radical Islam seen as continuing the apocalyptic anti-Westernism and antisemitism of Nazi Germany, and that he does not distinguish between anti-Zionism and legitimate criticism of Israel. Suggests "more creative ways" of thinking about the relations between racism, colonialism, and Nazi genocide.
Note:
Moses, A. Dirk. The fate of Blacks and Jews: a response to Jeffrey Herf. Ibid. 10,2 (2008) 269-287.
DOI:
10.1080/14623520701644416
DOI:
10.1080/14623520802065503
URL:
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