I was not a fan of Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem, I agree with the criticism of some of the Jewish community of the time, especially the disgust of her statement that the Judenrat was the darkest part of the Holocaust. Not 6 million Jews dying. Not the gas chambers. Not the ghettos. Not the cruel medical experiments. But the Judenrat, whose members died in the Holocaust as well. There's something about Arendt that reminds me of the antisemitism I've noticed more and more in far left academics and intellectuals, some of them even Jews like herself. (Although, interestingly, she discusses both the antisemitism of the right and left, which I give her major props for). Despite my problems with the Eichmann book, I chose to read this, as for the last 6 months I've been reading mostly Jewish writers (fiction/non-fiction), while thinking deeply about antisemitism. My interest was also peaked by the recent discussions of the her work, The Origins of Totalitarianism, given the rise of Trump; in fact, a fascinating article in the New York Times focusing on the book just came out about a week ago. Despite agreeing with the criticism of some of the Jewish community of her book on the Eichmann trial, there were parts of that book that were incredibly thought provoking and powerful, (especially her line, “And just as you supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations – as though you and your superiors had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world – we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want to share the earth with you. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang.").
I knew from the introduction of Antisemitism, I was going to be disappointed, as she points out that she will only go into detail about antisemitism in Germany/Prussia, Austria and France in the 19th Century. I was hoping for a broader scope. I absolutely couldn't understand how she could discuss antisemitism in the 19th Century (though she really covers it from the 1700's to pre WWI, she just emphasizes the 19th) and not focus just as much on Eastern Europe, which was far more antisemitic and sadistic towards Jews than Central/Western Europe. Her brief mentions of Eastern Europe claim antisemitism came from the backwardness of Russia under the Czar, which has some truth, but it's far more complex than just blood libel Medieval carry overs. She does mention Arabic antisemitism in Algeria and the oppression the Jews had to face by both the Arabs and the colonial French, depending on the leader.
Arendt doesn't agree that antisemitism has been constant through out history, and in fact, people who believe in the constancy of antisemitism are in the same conspiratorial vein as people who believe the myth of the all powerful Jew secretly in charge in the world. I found her correlation overblown and insulting to the people who fight against antisemitism, but I have a feeling she was bemoaning the narrative critics tend to call "Jewish victim hood", something I've noticed the far left and far right have a tendency to do, usually in an effort to derail Jews in some way, kind of like how right wingers use insulting terms like "black victim hood" to deny legitimate complaints or derail African American activism. I'm of the belief that antisemitism has been pervasive throughout history, at least somewhere in the world. Arendt is very hard Jews. For example, Arendt blames Jews for their own isolation and considers them partly responsible for their oppression. She lacks the insight that the Jews might have done this to avoid violence, their fear and distrust of non-Jews and to be able to practice their faith. (Of course, violence still occurred) She's also hard on the Jews for what she sees as their feelings of superiority to non-Jews/goys, but again, doesn't it make sense that an oppressed group of people would overcompensate and develop a type of Jewish pride?
I was both disappointed and glad that so much of AntiSemitism was devoted to the history of the Second/Third Republic of France, the break up of Prussia and the rise of Germany, as well as Austrian nationalism. I was disappointed because I felt she went overboard cramming the history, and derailed the conversation on antisemitism, but excited because I learned quite a bit about the history of the last half of 19th Century France, Germany/Prussia and what is now Austria. Now I understand it was important for Ardent to discuss the change in monarchical functioning, as she thought Jews were safer when they had a function in Aristocratic Europe -- as Jews were often important bankers -- and they fell into danger when the monarchy failed and the Jews lost the protection of the powerful Kings. (Although, after awhile this theory began to fall apart for me, because when did Jewish bankers lose their function in the 19th Century? ) She spends a lot of time discussing the role of the great banking families like the Rothschilds and other money leaders and their function in loaning the crown/aristocracy money. (In fact, through out the book, she mainly focuses on rich or middle class Jews.) You had court Jews, who despite the antisemitism of the upper classes/aristocracy, were allowed into the circle and some even married within. My favorite aspect of the book was her discussion of the Rothschilds and other global Jewish families because her assessment was how unfairly they were made into a Jewish global boogeyman who secretly controlled the world when in fact, bankers are apolitical because they loan to whoever needs the money, despite what side of a conflict the borrower is on. She also brings up, as the 19th Century progressed and society became more open to integration, the children of rich Jews often moved into artistic and politically radical branches of society, thus lessening the power of Jewish bankers. The incredible tragedy of reading her section on rich Jewish bankers and the myths of their power and the sick antisemitic actions that arose from such hatred of the evil, globalist Jew was my realization that it's STILL HAPPENING!! PEOPLE DON'T REALIZE WHAT THEY READ ABOUT THE ROTHSCHILDS IS A CULMINATION OF ANTISEMITIC SOURCES THAT HAVE BEEN USED FOR CENTURIES TO DISCREDIT JEWS. IN FACT, THE NAZIS USED THE ROTHSCHILD TO GATHER HATRED OF JEWS!!! I can't tell you how many times I've seen people post on facebook about that evil family, or the evil globalist George Sorros etc are secretly pulling the strings. Arendt also keenly observes that people who believe in this nonsense of all powerful globalist Jews also have a tendency to tie them with secret societies. I still find these tropes in various memes and "truther" websites. And the people who believe this nonsense don't understand the antisemitic history behind it. Would Arendt be surprised or horrified?
Arendt has a deep discussion of the author and only Jewish Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, a figure I only recently began reading about. I need to reread this section because I became lost. She describes him as a "Jewish chauvinist" because unlike people who fear the powerful global Jew, he EMBRACES the idea and relishes in their power. He considers Jews to have a superiority about them, of which he includes himself, despite the fact he was a convert. I associate chauvinist as sexist, macho, believing in old fashion gender roles, not anything to do with Jewish superiority, so she lost me. And again, there's something strange about her spending so much time criticizing a Jew who was proud of the power he thought his people wielded. She also ties Disraeli's tendency to make himself look as exotic as possible as a way to fit into certain trends in certain European countries among groups of people who due to their own antisemitism saw the Jews as exotic and different; however, this "Jewish Otherness" was what allowed the Jews into their circles. Circles who wanted to be around exotic, wicked Jews. This led into a fascinating discussion of the link between homosexuality and Jewishness in the works of Proust (who was a French Jewish convert and gay) that I won't go into; however, considering I'm reading Proust, I was thrilled she included him. She also goes into ideas of the "Exception Jew", the Jew who is allowed to be among Anti-Semites because they are different from other Jews, or serve a function, or reject their Jewishness, and the stress those Jews faced. She investigates this idea further in her biography of the German Jewish intellectual Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess. (As someone who hates when women are left out of history, I was disappointed that of the plethora of people and sources she mentions, Rahel and "The Queen" are the only two women she mentions). She also discusses how the Marxists were less threatened by Jews as they weren't involved in the means of production. I need to reread this part and brush up on my Marxist theory; it was over my head at times. She also underplays how antisemitic Marx could be with his criticism of the greedy Jew which bothered me.
She ends with a rather disappointing but lively discussion of the tragic "Dreyfus Affair" which, infamously led to a major spike in antisemitism in Europe (in fact Herzel's The Jewish State about modern Zionism was a direct response to this disgusting moment in history). Dreyfus was a Jew who was wrongly convicted of spying for Germany, partly with antisemitic motives of the right wing French. Oddly, I felt like she was too critical of Dreyfus and his family, again, another example of her blaming Jews for their misfortunes. As I stated before, Arendt does not think antisemitism is a constant, she believes it comes and goes. In her conclusion of the Dreyfus affair, like her conclusion of other historical moments of 19th century antisemitism, for example, The Panama Affair, she naively states that antisemitism "goes away". For me that's like saying racism comes and goes. She assumes because antisemitic political parties or newspapers lose their popularity, that antisemitism is gone. It may not have openly manifested itself as much in 19th/early 20th Century Western and Central Europe, but it's presence was still there: in literature, in letters, in social slights, in job discrimination, in marriage proposals rejected, in the need for Jews to convert to fit in. That for me is the failure of Arendt's work, her blindside to just how pervasive antisemitism is throughout history. She should know better as someone who escaped Nazi Germany. Genocide isn't the result of a prejudice that comes and goes.