Language:
English
Year of publication:
2008
Titel der Quelle:
Yad Vashem Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
36,2 (2008) 153-187
Keywords:
Kristallnacht, 1938
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Jews Periodicals
Abstract:
Examines the reaction of the Swedish press to the "Kristallnacht" pogrom in Germany, as well as to some other anti-Jewish excesses of late 1938 in the Nazi Reich, especially those that accompanied the annexation of the Sudetenland. Due to political considerations, the Swedish government asked newspaper editors to show restraint when dealing with the excesses in Germany and to refrain from criticism. In the course of fall 1938, three attitudes in the Swedish press regarding the persecution of Jews can be discerned: "protest" in a minority of the newspapers; indifference, sometimes tinted with covert antisemitism, in the overwhelming majority; and compliance, which was openly antisemitic, in some. Among the major papers of the third tendency, "Stockholms-Tidningen" was prominent in its antisemitism. While not subscribing to acts of aggression, the newspaper depicted antisemitism as a legitimate political slogan, reported on events from the Nazi German perspective, published numerous items on a general worldwide dislike of Jews, and conducted a campaign against Jewish refugees. Notes that many newspapers espoused antisemitic views and the government was against Jewish immigration long before the "Kristallnacht" pogrom. Argues that anti-refugee attitudes were held in Sweden not because of a lack of information or its incredibility, but because of sheer antisemitism.
Note:
English and Hebrew.
URL:
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