The politics of hate : anti-Semitism, history, and the Holocaust in modern Europe / John Weiss.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weiss, John, 1927-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Antisemitism--Europe--History--20th century.

Antisemitism.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Causes.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).

History.

Europe--Ethnic relations.

Europe.

Ethnic relations.

Physical Description:

ix, 245 pages ; 23 cm

Other Title:

Anti-semitism, history, and the Holocaust in modern Europe

Place of Publication:

Chicago : Ivan R. Dee, [2003]

Summary:

For educated and tolerant Westerners, it is extremely difficult to imagine the dangerous power that anti-Semitism has enjoyed in modern Europe and impossible to grasp how it could have led to the unique horrors of the Holocaust. To study the origins and history of anti-Semitism by itself helps little. To fully comprehend the dangerous potential of racism we must also understand the relationships between the fantasies of the anti-Semites and the long-term historical development of various nations. In The Politics of Hate, John Weiss shows how anti-Semitism and racism developed as a major element in the European political process from the late nineteenth century to the Holocaust. Concentrating on the experience of Germany, Austria, France, and Poland, Mr. Weiss traces the combination of ideas and national cultures that brought venomous consequences to political life and spelled difficulty and then doom for Jews. In a separate and contrasting chapter on Italy, he explains why anti-Semitism never took hold there, and why even during World War II, under Nazi control, Jews in Italy were relatively protected. The reasons for these developments -- why Germany initiated the Holocaust, why the Austrians supplied so many killers, why a million French fascists could not damage the Jews until the Vichy government came to power, why anti-Semitism was far stronger in Eastern than in Western Europe -- help us understand why the politics of racial hate succeed and what can be done about it.

Contents:

1 The Origins of European Anti-Semitism 3

2 Germany to 1914 16

3 Germany: Hitler, the Elites, and the Holocaust 38

4 The Austrian Empire Through 1918 61

5 Austria, 1918-1945 83

6 France Before 1914 105

7 France, 1914-1945 127

8 Anti-Semitism in Poland to 1918 149

9 Poland, 1919-1947 168

10 The Italian Exception 193

11 Concluding Speculations 217.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 226-232) and index.

ISBN:

156663492X

OCLC:

50441628