Volkov S. Interpreting Antisemitism: Studies and Essays on the German Case

De Gruyter, 2023. — 262 p.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.
Offering a critical review of historical writings on Antisemitism Describing and analyzing Jew-hating since the early 19th century Suggesting new ways of conceptualizing and thinking about Antisemitism todayPreface
Introduction
Preliminaries
What’s Wrong with the Historiography of Antisemitism? Two Reviews and Two Unanswered Questions
The Social and Political Function of Late Nineteenth Century Antisemitism: The Case of the Small Handicraft Masters
The Immunization of Social Democracy against Antisemitism in Imperial Germany
Cultural Code and its Derivatives
Antisemitism as a Cultural Code: Reflections on the History and Historiography of Antisemitism in Imperial Germany
The Written Matter and the Spoken Word: On the Gap Between Pre-1914 and Nazi Antisemitism
Antisemitism and Anti-Feminism: Cultural Code or Social Norm
Readjusting Cultural Codes: Reflections on Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism and the Critique of Israel
Revisions and Related Themes
Nationalism, Antisemitism and German Historiography
Language as a Locus of Confronting Jews and Judaism in Germany
German Jews: The Temptation of Racism
Interim Balance: Continuity and Discontinuity in the History of German Antisemitism
In the Context of National Socialism
Old and New Approaches to the History of National Socialism: The Double Perspective of Jews and Germans
Antisemitism as Explanation: For and against
A Comment on Brutal Antisemites and Brutal Antisemitism
Revisiting Friedländer on Nazi Antisemitism
Historiography in the Loop: Explaining Nazi Antisemitism
Epilogue
Germany after 1945 or the Return of Cultural Code
Acknowledgements