Language:
English
Year of publication:
1990
Titel der Quelle:
Commentary
Angaben zur Quelle:
89,1 (1990) 23-28
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
Abstract:
Examines the impact of the destruction of European Jewry on the attitudes of contemporary Jewish communal leaders and intellectuals in the Western world. Surveys the traditional Jewish regard of the "ruling power" with grave suspicion, and the continuing difficulty of Jews in dealing with problems related to power - the Jews of Europe approached foreign powers with deference and a readiness to suffer afflictions. Modern Western Jewry is intrinsically optimistic, altruistic, principled, and generally conservative and complacent, believing the Holocaust to have been an event "specific to its era, " a time that has passed. Yet there are signs of hostility toward Jews today, but the object has changed - no longer the alien Jewish intruder, it is Israel and its people who are cast as the villain. But Western Jewry is broken up into ever less cohering communities, each subject to specific influences and needs, and lacks a power structure capable of combating renewed antisemitism.
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