Interpreting Antisemitism

Being a historian of Germany and of the German-Jews in modern times, the author has written numerous essays on the history and historiography of Antisemitism in this country. Some of them are rather well-known, such as the essay on 'Antisemitism as a Cultural Code', and others were printed in peripheral journals and Festschrifts or were never published in English. Since the phenomenon of Jew-hating is now once again an issue discussed by scholars and non-scholars alike, both in Europe and in the United States, and especially since it now arouses particular interest in the context of the Palestinian fight against Israel, it seems timely to re-publish these essays in a slightly revised form, and attach to them an extended introduction as well as a follow-up essay at the end, updating old notions, reformulating some and adding commentary on controversies that are being conducted today regarding the term Antisemitism, its various contexts and the phenomenon it signifies. Freshly looking at Antisemitism in Germany before, during and after National-Socialism seems to be needed at this point in time.

Shulamit Volkov, Tel Aviv University, Israel.