Language:
English
Year of publication:
1989
Titel der Quelle:
Commentary
Angaben zur Quelle:
88,5 (1989) 35-40
Keywords:
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Jews Identity
Abstract:
Since the Enlightenment, antisemitism has had ambiguous and opposite effects on Jewish identity, sometimes leading to its attenuation and at other times to a reaffirmation of Jewishness. When Jews began to adopt the values of gentile society and sought social acceptance, they also adopted anti-Jewish charges of exclusiveness or immorality. As a result, they often denied their Jewishness by changing their names or by converting and some, including Karl Marx and Otto Weininger, were affected by self-hatred. But this period also saw the first organized attempts at self-defense and the beginnings of Jewish nationalism. Nazi antisemitism in the 1930s led assimilated Jews to rediscover their Jewish identity. After 1945, the Holocaust became a major factor in sustaining Jewish identity, especially in the USA. Apparently, fear of antisemitism no longer leads to assimilation.
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