Resources

These short educational videos introduce students, faculty, and staff to the origins of antisemitism, how it manifests today, and how students can confront antisemitism when they encounter it.

Chief Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIoZvHU3wwg

Ruth Wisse lecture: “The Dark Side of Holocaust Education”:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=external&v=246395073085863

Interview between Elie Wiesel and Oprah Winfrey:

https://www.schooltube.com/media/Winfrey+%26+Wiesel+-+Auschwitz+%28Part+1%29/1_zyggjsr4

Eva Heyman’s Diaries on Instagram:

An Instagram account that recounts the real-life story of a Jewish girl murdered in a concentration camp, by imagining she had documented her days on a smartphone.

Podcasts:

We Share the Same Sky

http://sharethesamesky.com/podcast

Ezra Klein Show: Antisemitism Now; Antisemitism Then

https://www.vox.com/2020/1/27/21083571/ezra-klein-international-holocaust-remembrance-day-antisemitism-deborah-lipstadt

Combating Rising Jew Hatred with Dr. Rachel Fish: Jewish Boston

https://www.jewishboston.com/read/combating-rising-jew-hatred-with-dr-rachel-fish/

Responding to Antisemitism in a post Colleyville World: Jewish Education Project

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/responding-to-antisemitism-in-a-post-colleyville-world/id1541392566?i=1000548571389

Articles:

The Forward: “Debating Labels: Stop Calling it Antisemitism” by Stephen Smith

https://forward.com/opinion/450209/since-were-debating-labels-stop-calling-it-anti-semitism-its-jew-hatred/

“Palestine Isn’t Ferguson” by Susie Linfield

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/israeli-palestinian-conflict-ferguson/620471/

“Is Holocaust Education Making Antisemitism Worse?”

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/05/holocaust-student-education-jewish-anti-semitism/673488/

“Monuments to the Unthinkable,” by Clint Smith

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/12/holocaust-remembrance-lessons-america/671893/

Sapir Journal

A collection of essays about antisemitism.
https://sapirjournal.org/issues/antisemitism/

Proof Magazine by PJ Library: “Taking a Stand Against Antisemitism”

https://pjlibrary.org/proof/taking-a-stand-against-antisemitism

Ray Allen: “Why I Went to Auschwitz”:

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/ray-allen-why-i-went-to-auschwitz

https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/06/15/ray-allen-nba-holocaust-poland

Books:

David Baddiel, Jews Don’t Count

Jews Don’t Count is a book for people who consider themselves on the right side of history. People fighting the good fight against homophobia, disablism, transphobia and, particularly, racism. People, possibly, like you. It is the comedian and writer David Baddiel’s contention that one type of racism has been left out of this fight. In his unique combination of close reasoning, polemic, personal experience and jokes, Baddiel argues that those who think of themselves as on the right side of history have often ignored the history of antisemitism. He outlines why and how, in a time of intensely heightened awareness of minorities, Jews don’t count as a real minority: and why they should.

Gabriel Simon Edgcomb, From Swastika to Jim Crow: Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges

Dismissed from their posts as victims of Nazi racist policies, or for their opposition to the regime, many scholars from Germany and Austria came to the United States where they learned to reassemble the pieces of their lives and careers. This book concerns the stories of these exiled scholars who came to hold faculty positions in historically black colleges. Illustrative stories, anecdotes and observations of the developments between two diverse groups of people, both victims of racist oppression and persecution, are presented to contribute to cross-cultural understanding in American society. Historians and others interested in minority and immigration history and cross-cultural encounters will gain a new perspective on race relations.

Phyllis Goldstein, A Convenient Hatred: A History of Antisemitism

A Convenient Hatred chronicles a very particular hatred through powerful stories that allow readers to see themselves in the tarnished mirror of history. It raises important questions about the consequences of our assumptions and beliefs and the ways we, as individuals and as members of a society, make distinctions between us and them, right and wrong, good and evil. These questions are both universal and particular.

Jeffrey Herf, Three Faces of Antisemitism

Three Faces of Antisemitism examines the three primary forms of antisemitism as they emerged in modern and contemporary Germany, and then in other countries. The chapters draw on the author’s historical scholarship over the years on the form antisemitism assumed on the far right in Weimar and Nazi Germany, in the Communist regime in East Germany, and in the West German radical left, and in Islamist organizations during World War II and the Holocaust, and afterward in the Middle East.

Dara Horn, People Love Dead Jews

Renowned and beloved as a prizewinning novelist, Dara Horn has also been publishing penetrating essays since she was a teenager. Often asked by major publications to write on subjects related to Jewish culture―and increasingly in response to a recent wave of deadly antisemitic attacks―Horn was troubled to realize what all of these assignments had in common: she was being asked to write about dead Jews, never about living ones. In these essays, Horn reflects on subjects as far-flung as the international veneration of Anne Frank, the mythology that Jewish family names were changed at Ellis Island, the blockbuster traveling exhibition Auschwitz, the marketing of the Jewish history of Harbin, China, and the little-known life of the “righteous Gentile” Varian Fry. Throughout, she challenges us to confront the reasons why there might be so much fascination with Jewish deaths, and so little respect for Jewish lives unfolding in the present.

Walter Laqueur, The Changing Face of Antisemitism

Walter Laqueur offers both a comprehensive history of antisemitism as well as an illuminating look at the newest wave of this phenomenon.
Laqueur begins with an invaluable historical account of this pernicious problem, tracing the evolution from a predominantly religious antisemitism–stretching back to the middle ages–to a racial antisemitism that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The author then uses this historical account as backdrop to a brilliant analysis of the newest species of antisemitism, explaining its origins and rationale, how it manifests itself, in what ways and why it is different from antisemitism in past ages, and what forms it may take in the future. The book reveals that what was historically a preoccupation of Christian and right-wing movements has become in our time even more frequent among Muslims and left-wing groups.

Bernard Lewis, Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice

The Arab-Israeli conflict has unsettled the Middle East for over half a century. This conflict is primarily political, a clash between states and peoples over territory and history. But it is also a conflict that has affected and been affected by prejudice. For a long time this was simply the “normal” prejudice between neighboring people of different religions and ethnic origins. In the present age, however, hostility toward Israel and its people has taken the form of anti-Semitism-a pernicious world view that goes beyond prejudice and ascribes to Jews a quality of cosmic evil. First published in the 1980s to universal acclaim, Semites and Anti-Semites traces the development of anti-Semitism from its beginnings as a poison in the bloodstream of Christianity to its modern entrance into mainstream Islam. Bernard Lewis, one of the world’s foremost scholars of the Middle East, takes us through the history of the Semitic peoples to the emergence of the Jews and their virulent enemies, and dissects the region’s recent tragic developments in a moving new afterword.

Deborah Lipstadt, Antisemitism: Here and Now

The award-winning author of The Eichmann Trial and Denial: Holocaust History on Trial gives us a penetrating and provocative analysis of the hate that will not die, focusing on its current, virulent incarnations on both the political right and left: from white supremacist demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia, to mainstream enablers of antisemitism such as political figures, to a gay pride march in Chicago that expelled a group of women for carrying a Star of David banner.

Robert Satloff, Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands

Thousands of people have been honored for saving Jews during the Holocaust—but not a single Arab. Looking for a hopeful response to the plague of Holocaust denial sweeping across the Arab and Muslim worlds, Robert Satloff sets off on a quest to find the Arab hero whose story will change the way Arabs view Jews, themselves, and their own history.

The story of the Holocaust’s long reach into the Arab world is difficult to uncover, covered up by desert sands and desert politics. We follow Satloff over four years, through eleven countries, from the barren wasteland of the Sahara, where thousands of Jews were imprisoned in labor camps; through the archways of the Mosque in Paris, which may once have hidden 1700 Jews; to the living rooms of octogenarians in London, Paris and Tunis. The story is very cinematic; the characters are rich and handsome, brave and cowardly; there are heroes and villains. The most surprising story of all is why, more than sixty years after the end of the war, so few people— Arab and Jew—want this story told.

Sidney Shachnow, Hope and Honor

General Sid Shachnow’s amazing memoir of his survival against all odds through the Holocaust, the Vietnam war, Special Forces assignments in the world’s trouble spots, and his eventual rise to US Army Major General, in charge of all US Special Forces.

Bari Weiss, How to Fight Anti-Semitism

On October 27, 2018, eleven Jews were gunned down as they prayed at their synagogue in Pittsburgh. It was the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. For most Americans, the massacre at Tree of Life, the synagogue where Bari Weiss became a bat mitzvah, came as a total shock. But anti-Semitism is the oldest hatred, commonplace across the Middle East and on the rise for years in Europe. So that terrible morning in Pittsburgh raised a question Americans can no longer avoid: Could it happen here?

Elie Wiesel, Night

Night is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Wiesel’s wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author’s original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhumanity to man. Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald; it also eloquently addresses many of the philosophical as well as personal questions implicit in any serious consideration of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is and will be.

Robert Wistrich, The Longest Hatred

Provides a country-by-country look at antisemitism, from its pagan beginnings to its recent reemergence in Europe.

Supplemental Resources:

Translate Hate Glossary by American Jewish Committee:

https://www.ajc.org/translatehateglossary

A Guide to Old Myths in a New Era by Anti-Defamation League:

https://antisemitism.adl.org/?_ga=2.68696983.727648646.1635779883-966660655.1634137551

Working Definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance:

https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/working-definition-antisemitism

Educational Materials from IHRA:

https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/educational-materials

Jewish on Campus:

https://www.jewishoncampus.org/

Jewish on Campus is the movement of the Jewish future seeking to revive pride in Judaism by emboldening a new generation of Jews through education, social media campaigning, and grassroots organizing. As a movement of young Jewish people, we seek to end antisemitism on college campuses and beyond.

Israel on Campus Coalition:

https://israelcc.org/

We envision the American college campus as a place where supporters of Israel feel confident about openly celebrating the Jewish state, where dialogue and ideas about Israel are exchanged freely, where the anti-Israel movement is marginalized, and where the entire campus community appreciates Israel’s contributions to the world. Our vision is long-term. What happens on campus today will shape the next generation of American leaders. We must all work together to create a positive atmosphere for Israel on campus today so that we can ensure a thriving U.S.-Israel relationship in the future.

Educational Materials from the Shine A Light Campaign:

https://shinealighton.com/resources/

Chabad on Campus:

https://chabadoncampus.org/on-campus/

Boundless

https://boundlessisrael.org/reports

Social media platforms have become incubators for ugly content that normalizes Jew-hatred to millions of people. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Hate Crime Statistics reported that Jews comprised 55% of all religious bias crimes despite being only 2% of the United States’ population. Exacerbating the danger, Jew-hatred is proliferating online and circulating anti-Jewish conspiracies. Addressing the harms demands a deep understanding of how antisemitism originates and manifests online, the ways in which messages become trapped in an echo chamber, how online algorithms exacerbate the challenges, and the ways in which online hate morphs into real-world harm.

The Louis D. Brandeis Center:

https://brandeiscenter.com/

In the twenty-first century, the leading civil and human rights challenge facing North American Jewry is the resurgent problem of antisemitism and anti-Israelism on university campuses. This social problem requires an immediate, effective, and coordinated legal response. LDB will provide the research resources, public policy education, and legal advocacy needed to fight this battle within the broader context of the pursuit of universal principles of justice. While LDB’s primary focus is on the North American college campus, we approach this problem as inseparable from certain global forms of hate and bias and from new media forms of communication and dissemination.

The civil and human rights of the Jewish people are inextricably bound to the pursuit of justice for all peoples. The Louis D. Brandeis Center, Inc., promotes justice for all as a means of securing the rights of the Jewish people and secures the rights of the Jewish people as a means of advancing justice for all.

Hillel International’s Campus Climate Initiative:

https://www.hillel.org/campus-climate-initiative/

The Campus Climate Initiative (CCI) collaborates with higher education administrators to ensure a positive campus climate in which Jewish students feel comfortable expressing their identity and values, free of antisemitism, harassment, or marginalization. CCI recognizes that key administrative leaders play an essential role in effecting broad-based educational and policy change on campus, and that partnerships between campuses and Hillels can catalyze positive changes that benefit Jewish students and all students. The CCI model involves partnership between the college or university administration, local Hillel, and the CCI team.

Documentaries:

Shared Legacies:

The crucial historical lessons of Black-Jewish cooperation are revisited and revived in this utterly fascinating, urgent call to action. Common cause was found in the turbulent ‘60s Civil Rights era, as Jewish leaders backed Dr. King’s efforts at racial equality and harmony. Yet, the relationship has frayed in recent years, as a once mighty bond of support and respect has seemingly faded, been forgotten or ignored. Pivotal events come alive through a treasure trove of archival materials, narrated by eyewitnesses, activists, Holocaust survivors, and leaders of the movement, including prominent Atlantans such as Congressman John Lewis, Amb. Andrew Young, Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, Rabbi Peter S. Berg, Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr., members of the King family, and many others.

PBS Among the Righteous: a documentary movie to accompany the book by Satloff.

https://www.pbs.org/show/among-the-righteous/

The U.S. and the Holocaust:

The U.S. and the Holocaust is a three-part, six-hour series that tells the story of how the American people grappled with one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century, and how this struggle tested the ideals of our democracy. By examining the periods leading up to and during the Holocaust with fresh eyes, this film dispels competing myths that Americans either were ignorant of the unspeakable persecution that Jews faced in Europe, or that they looked on with callous indifference. It also takes a candid look at the roles that eugenics and racism, as well as xenophobia and antisemitism, played during this crisis and throughout American history. In the process, it grapples with questions that remain essential to our society today: Is America, truly, as it claims to be, a land of immigrants? Why did we fail to rescue a people at the time of their greatest need? How do the continued struggles over how we define our past shape our future as a country? https://kenburns.com/films/the-u-s-and-the-holocaust/

The Liberators:

Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II: This documentary examines the role of African American soldiers in the liberation of concentration camps in Europe, and the segregation that they concurrently faced at home in the United States. There are extensive interviews both with soldiers and survivors about the impact of their shared historical experience. Although there has been some controversy about the historical accuracy of this film, it is a valuable contribution to the oral history of this period, particularly about segregation in the United States.

Good Enough:

One Man’s Memoir on the Price of a Dream: Leon Bass, a retired educator who as a young African American soldier entered Buchenwald shortly after its liberation, has dedicated his life to fighting racism. In his memoir, Dr. Bass reflects on his experiences of being told he was not “good enough” as he faced segregation in the United States, chronicles his career in education, and describes how he awakened to new possibilities as he listened to Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech. The price to realize that dream, he explains, is to stand up and be counted by doing the right thing, whether large or small, every day.

Interview with Dr. Leon Bass: “I Had Come Face to Face with Evil: Leon Bass Talks about his Experiences of Racism” https://www.facinghistory.org/books-borrowing/good-enough-one-mans-memoir-price-dream

Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations:

Aired on PBSin 2020. Explore the recent rise in antisemitism, which is increasing in ways not seen since the 1930s, in the U.S. and Europe, and hear firsthand accounts from victims, witnesses and others who have experienced it. https://www.pbs.org/video/viral-antisemitism-in-four-mutations-1lwduo/

Who Will Write Our History:

Who Will Write Our History tells the story of Emanuel Ringelblum and the Oyneg Shabes Archive, the secret archive he created and led in the Warsaw Ghetto. With 30,000 pages of writing, photographs, posters, and more, the Oyneg Shabes Archive is the most important cache of in-the-moment, eyewitness accounts from the Holocaust. It documents not only how the Jews of the ghetto died, but how they lived. The film is based on the book of the same name by historian Samuel Kassow.

Movies:

#AnneFrank- Parallel Stories:

2019 production on Netflix. Through her diary, Anne Frank’s story is retold alongside those of five Holocaust survivors in this poignant documentary from Oscar winner Helen Mirren.

The Believer:

The Believer is a 2001 American drama film directed by Henry Bean and written by Bean and Mark Jacobson. It stars Ryan Gosling as Daniel Balint, a Jew who becomes a neo-Nazi. The film is loosely based on the true story of Dan Burros,a member of the American Nazi Party and the New York branch of the United Klans of America. He committed suicide after being revealed as Jewish by a New York Times reporter.[5] It won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and the Golden St. George at the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival.

School Ties:

School Ties is a 1992 American drama. When David Greene (Brendan Fraser) receives a football scholarship to a prestigious prep school in the 1950s, he feels pressure to hide the fact that he is Jewish from his classmates and teachers, fearing that they may be anti-Semitic. He quickly becomes the big man on campus thanks to his football skills, but when his Jewish background is discovered, his worst fears are realized and his friends (Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell) turn on him with violent threats and public ridicule.

Resources on Antisemitism:

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