Anti-Semitism

A History and Psychoanalysis of Contemporary Hatred

Avner Falk

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780313353840
• eBook ISBN: 9780313353857
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

In the summer of 2006, the author received a message that read, Love the Nazis, and KILL THE JEWS DEAD. And that was the trigger that launched internationally known scholar Falk into work on this book. Anti-Semitism has once again become a worldwide phenomenon, growing largely during the last decade of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st. Among the spurs for this are the migration of Muslim populations and the ongoing Israeli-Arab wars. In this far-reaching and comprehensive volume, Falk delves deeply into the current events, history, and literature on anti-Semitism, integrating insights from psychology, sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis, and political science. The result is an absorbing exploration of one of the oldest scourges of humanity, spotlighting the irrational and unconscious causes of anti-Semitism. In the summer of 2006, the author received a message that read, Love the Nazis, and KILL THE JEWS DEAD. And that was the trigger that launched internationally known scholar Avner Falk into work on this book. Anti-Semitism has once again become a worldwide phenomenon, growing largely during the last decade of the twentieth century and the early years of the twenty-first. Among the spurs for this are migration of Muslim populations and the ongoing Israeli-Arab wars. In this far-reaching and comprehensive volume, Falk delves deeply into the current events, history and literature on anti-Semitism, integrating insights from psychology, sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis, and political science. The result is an absorbing exploration of one of the oldest scourges of humanity, spotlighting the irrational and unconscious causes of anti-Semitism. This book also features chapters on the psychodynamics of racism, fascism, Nazism, and the dark, tragic, and unconscious processes, both individual and collective, that led to the Shoah. Holocaust denial and its psychological motives, as well as insights into the physical and psychological survival strategies of Holocaust survivors, are explored in depth. There are also chapters on scientific anti-Semitism including eugenics.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Jew-hatred, Judeophobia, and Anti-Judaism
• Eugenics, Racism, and Genocide
• Some Aspects of the History of Anti-Semitism
• Modern Judeophobia
• Modern and Contemporary Anti-Semitism
• Sigmund Freud and Anti-Semitism
• Evil, Racism, and Anti-Semitism
• ‘‘Psychological’’ Anti-Semitism
• ‘‘Psychoanalytic’’ Anti-Semitism
• Nazi Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust
• Psychoanalytic Studies of Nazism
• Holocaust Denial Disguised as ‘‘Historical Revision’’
• Jewish Scholars and the Holocaust
• Contemporary Anti-Semitism
• Holocaust Survivors: ‘‘Jean Améry,’’ Simon Wiesenthal, Leon Wieslicer
• Related Issues
• Conclusion
• References and Bibliography
• Index