Felix Posen Doctoral Candidates
Applications approved by the Academic Committee, 2003
Yuval Boker (Haifa University)
The Jewish Community, Antisemitism and Inter-Race Relations in Britain, 1945-1970
Vadim Gordimer (Ben Gurion University)
The Jews in the Crimean Peninsula between the World Wars
Clemens Heni (Universit?t T?bingen)
Henning Eichberg, the (antisemitic) New Right, and the (anti-Zionist) New Left in the Political Culture of Post-1968 Germany
Andrea Hoffman (Universit?t T?bingen)
Antisemitism in Southern Germany – The Field of Tension between Religious Denominations
David Shapira (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
In the Eye of the Storm: Chief Rabbi Yaacov Kaplan – The Ordeals of the Jewish Community in Twentieth-Century France
Martin Ulmer (Universit?t T?bingen)
Antisemitism in Public Discourse and Everyday Life in Stuttgart from 1871 to 1945. An Exemplary Local and Regional Study
Kati V?r?s (University of Chicago)
From Nation to Race: Population Politics in Hungary, 1867-1920
Second YearG?ran Adamson (London School of Economics and Political Science)
The Sudden Post-1986 Rise of the Austrian Freedom Party: Four Hypotheses
Maria Ghitta (Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania)
Nationalism and Antisemitism among the Romanians of Transylvania between the Two World Wars
Laurent Joly (Sorbonne)
L'administration antijuive de Vichy: Le Commissariat g?n?ral aux questions juives, 1940-1944
Isabelle Rohr (London School of Economics and Political Science)
The Franco Regime and the Jews: Antisemitism and Rescue Activities
Jurgita Verbickiene (University of Vilinius, Lithuania)
Jews in Society of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Aspects of Coexistence
Congratulations
The Sassoon Center is very pleased to congratulate Dr. Katharine Poujol, who received her Ph.D., summa cum laude, from the Sorbonne for her thesis "Aim? Palli?re (1868-1949), itin?raire d'un chr?tien dans le juda?sme."
We also extend our congratulations to Dr. Anthony Bale of the University of London for the completion of his doctoral dissertation "Fictions of Judaism in Medieval England." Dr. Bale and Dr. Poujol were recipients of Felix Posen Doctoral Fellowships.
Research 2003
Three new research projects approved by the Academic Committee for the academic year, 2002-2003
Dr. Jovan Byford (Nottingham Trent University)
Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovi?: Between Mainstream Orthodox Culture and the Christian Right
Has Serbia conformed to the revival of the far Right and antisemitic political ideas seen in Eastern Europe during the transition from communism? To address this question, Dr. Byford goes beyond existing research on antisemitism in Serbia. Specifically, he investigates how the authority of Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovi?--a highly respected but very controversial Serbian Orthodox Christian theologian--is used in the discourse of the far Right to legitimize political extremism, especially antisemitism.
This project aims to contribute to the ongoing debate about the presence of antisemitism and the persistence of antisemitic conspiracy theories in Serbian society. It also intends to draw attention to the role that the unchallenged authority of Bishop Velimirovi? and the Serbian Orthodox Church play in the perpetuation of these phenomena. Interviews with members of the Serbian Orthodox clergy, far Right activists, and representatives of the Serbian government as well as with a variety of domestic political parties will supplement the analysis of written material.
Dr. Nelly Las (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Feminist Movements Confront Antisemitism from the 1970s until Today: From Silence and Non-Intervention to Political Use of Anti-Zionism
Most of the women's liberation organizations from the 1970s onward have taken upon themselves the fight against all forms of social repression, not just discrimination against women. But why have feminists not treated antisemitism as an injustice that must also be fought? Dr. Las will assess the attitude of the various women's movements to the antisemitic events of the past thirty years in Europe and in the United States. Herein, she will account for the global changes of the period as well as the new forms of prejudice and antisemitism that have surfaced in recent years.
On one level, the project deals with the public statements and the personal testimonies of activists. At another level, the research investigates the politicization of those feminist movements connected to the UN. To accomplish this, several cases are explored in depth; among these are the international conference of women in Mexico (1975), where the equation of Zionism with racism emerged for the first time, and the Copenhagen conference (1985), where anti-Zionism assumed the form of virulent antisemitism.
This project brings a unique gender-oriented approach to the study of contemporary antisemitism. The use of gender in this study does not imply an exclusively female perspective, but rather a focus on the involvement of feminist groups.
Dr. Rivka Yadlin (Hebrew University)
"'The Cultural Assault on the Muslim Mind': The Conceptual Basis of Arab/Muslim Antisemitism"
After 9/11, queries of "why do they hate us?" peaked in the West. This testifies to the crystallization of two notions that were heretofore either vague or dismissed: the relevance of "words" in the formation of imagery and attitudes as well as the construction and the diffusion of malicious ideas of "otherness" among Arab/Muslim opinion makers.
These questions lay at the heart of Dr. Yadlin's study. She posits that the current phase of Arab/Mulim antisemitism, while surely tied to the prevailing geo-political or territorial conflict, is also rooted in the cultural sphere. For the Muslim world, Jews are a part of the irreconcilable, hegemonic, "other" West against which Arab/Muslim identity must protect itself. In addition to a theoretical inquiry, a case study will be assessed; specifically, the mainstream discourse of the hatred of Jews in Egypt. This will focus on the convergence of the domestic Islamist revival with the globalization of the media and the internationalization of Islam. Rivka Yadlin will explore three major source bases: recent publications by mainstream authors that deal with Israel, broadcasts by the al-Jazeera TV station, and self-styled Islamic sources in print format and on the Internet.
Third Year
Dr. Leonid Katsis
The Ideological History of the Blood Libel in Russian Orthodox Thought from The Book of a Neophite Monk to the Beilis Trial
The following research projects have been completed
Prof. Danny Ben Moshe
Holocaust Denial in Australia
Dr. Olaf R. Blaschke
Jews and Catholics in the German Empire
Dr. Yaron Harel
The Response of the Enlightened Jews in the Near East to the Dreyfus Affair
Dr. Philippe Oriol
Bernard Lazare and Antisemitism