Full Description
Antisemitism is generally thought to derive from chimerical images of Jews, who became the victims of these projections. Some scholars, however, allege that the Jews' own conduct was the main cause of the hatred directed toward them in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Olaf Blaschke takes up this provocative question by considering the tensions between German Catholicism and Judaism in the period of the Kulturkämpfe. Did Catholic resentments merely construct "their" secular Jew? Or did their antisemitism in fact derive from their perceptions of the conduct of liberal Jewish "offenders" during a period of social stress? Blaschke's deeper look at this crucial period of German history, particularly as revealed in the Catholic and Jewish presses, provides new and sometimes surprising insights.
Contents
Preface and AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Catholic Attitudes toward Jews-Challenging Explanations of Catholic Antisemitism-The Nature of Catholic Antisemitism2. Jewish Attitudes towards Catholics-Explaining Antisemitism with Regard to "Jewish Offenders"-Explaining Catholic Antisemitism without Jews3. Jewish Views of Catholic Antisemitism-Emphasizing Good Relations between Jews and Catholics-Presenting Catholic Antisemites as Exceptions-Referring to Antisemitism DirectlyConclusion: Explaining Antisemitism without Reference to JewsSources and LiteratureIndex
