SPIEGEL: In Germany there are always anti-Semitic attacks on the open street, in schools or subway stations. In October, the Jewish community in Halle narrowly escaped a massacre. How can this hostility to Jews be explained?
Lipstadt: This is radical anti-Semitism, an ancient form of hatred that dates back to antiquity. He was initially motivated by Christian religion, but has become secularized over the centuries and adapted to the current circumstances. Anti-Semites, for example, think that all Jews are wealthy, dangerously smart, and overwhelmingly powerful. They are deep-seated, irrational stereotypes.
SPIEGEL: The Halle assassin revealed his belief in a Jewish world conspiracy after the arrest.
Lipstadt: Such right-wing extremists are often conspiracy theorists. Among other things, they believe in a large-scale plan that the white population of Europe should be replaced by non-white migrants and thus eliminated. Behind them you see Jewish string pullers, for example the American billionaire George Soros.
SPIEGEL: What other forms of hatred of Jews are there?
Lipstadt: Anti-Semitism also exists on the left. Here he expresses himself through an obsessive criticism of Israel. I don't mean that one shouldn't criticize Israel's politics. Left-wing anti-Semitism also contains strong anti-Jewish components, for example the idea of Jews as a rich, socially superior class. Another form of hatred of Jews is radical Islamism. And there is also anti-Semitism in parts of the moderate Muslim community in Germany, but it is not necessarily extremist.
SPIEGEL: Around 200,000 Jews live in Germany today. What do you advise Jewish people who are exposed to the threat of anti-Semitic attacks?
Lipstadt: I hope the Jews in Germany will not be intimidated and will not dive. Acquaintances came to me and said that they had asked their children not to wear a necklace with a Star of David anymore. I would give them the advice: show your Jewishness! But it's easy for me to talk, I don't run a kippa down the street. And besides, I can fly home by plane tomorrow.
SPIEGEL: Does anti-Semitism change the Jewish self-image?
Lipstadt: Nowadays it is one of the greatest challenges for Jews not to make anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews a kind of leitmotif for their Jewish identity - that is, not to define themselves by opposing others, but rather based on their own beliefs.
SPIEGEL: What can politics do to improve the situation for Jewish life in Germany?
Lipstadt: Politicians have to take hatred of Jews very seriously, not only in Germany, but also in other countries such as the USA, Great Britain or France. Anti-Semitism is a conspiracy theory and as such not only a threat to the Jewish population but also to the democratic system as a whole. You might as well say that the judiciary is bribed, the press is corrupt, and the government can be bought. That is not healthy for democracy.
SPIEGEL: According to statistics, Jewish hatred has increased internationally since the turn of the millennium. What explanations are there for this?
Lipstadt: One of the main reasons is the internet. When I started studying the Holocaust denial phenomenon scientifically in the late 1980s, it was difficult to get material from the scene. Today I just have to turn on the computer and enter the keywords Auschwitz, Gas or Anne Frank into a search engine. You can quickly find sites where the Holocaust is denied. It's easier than ever.
SPIEGEL: In 2000, you won a highly regarded lawsuit against British Holocaust denier David Irving. What are the motives of such people?
Lipstadt: If you ask a Holocaust denier why the Jews should invent something like the Shoah, he will answer, among other things, that the Jews would have received a lot of money from Germany in this way. They were also given a state in the Middle East. You can also hear classic anti-Semitic clichés, such as that all Jews are manipulative and greedy. Holocaust deniers are, on the one hand, anti-Semites in the classic sense. On the other hand, they are great supporters of Nazi ideology, Hitler and Nazi Germany.
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Lipstadt, Deborah
The new anti-Semitism
Publishing company:
Berlin publishing house
Pages:
304
Price:
€ 24.00
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SPIEGEL: The relativization of German guilt has been experiencing a renaissance in Germany for some time. Did the Germans learn enough lessons from their history?
Lipstadt: I am convinced that the current Chancellor Angela Merkel fully understood history and learned her lessons from it. But there are also many people in Germany who say: Enough of it, we have heard it all and paid for it. But if your country was the source of such a mass murder, that's a pretty serious thing to deal with.