ISBN: 3883504599 9783883504599

Category: Unavailable

Page count: 388

Describes German attitudes to Jews from the last years of the Nazi regime to the first years of the Federal Republic, in the context of the occupying powers' efforts at denazification, re-education, and democratization. In the first months of the Allied occupation, philosemitism was "good form"; soon, however, Germans expressed resentment against the DPs, voiced Holocaust denial, or claimed that German suffering equalled that of the Jews. Antisemitism amongst the occupying forces seemed to justify German attitudes. Summarizes opinion polls showing the persistence of antisemitism in a large percentage of the population. Analyzes the insensitivity in the conduct of the universities and Churches, and unreflective perceptions of Nazi persecution of Jews among working-class Germans of the Ruhr. Discusses the development of "philosemitism" in the FRG - a stereotyped, superficially positive attitude to Jews - from a social norm to a touchstone of legitimacy that was to gain Germany re-admittance to the family of democratic nations.