A lot has been written about the shambles that the Gaza crisis has made of German memory culture and public life. Barely a day goes by without news from Germany of some further act of censorship, silencing, deplatforming, directed at artists and public intellectuals seeking to understand and react adequately to the awful violence in Gaza. Voices that once celebrated German memory culture as a model for other democracies, now declare that it has gone badly off the rails.
Thanks for this. It’s helpful to read a post about the response to Gaza in Germany that I don’t simply like or dislike but that suggests a way of understanding, for better OR worse.
"... the native German public, notably in the East harbored xenophobic views including anti-Black racism, anti-Asianism, anti-semitic attitudes and most extensively Islamophobic views."
Ah, but there's no contradiction between these racist attitudes and full-throated support for Israel and its program of extermination of the Palestinians. Just look at our own Republican party. No conflict at all, people who are raving antisemites can't contain their enthusiasm for what Israel is doing right now, the engineered mass starvation, the bombing of hospitals and schools, they love ALL of it, can't get enough. No, I don't have an explanation for how they square this in their own minds - if they do, in fact, make any attempt to do so - I just know that this is how it is. Perhaps they recognize that Zionism is itself a form of racism and so act out of solidarity for their fellow racists. Perhaps they simply worship power, and if a boot-heel is crushing someone's face, they want to be friends with the wearer of the boots, seeing in him a kindred spirit.
An excellent and balanced analysis of Germany's historic and current relationships with Israel. Nice to read something without the usual hysterical rhetoric.
“Palestinians have paid a high price for Germany’s crime”
According to principles of reparation and state succession, the Jewish nation should have been fashioned from the territory of the German Nazi state defeated in 1945.
Instead, the WW2 victors wrote a check that was supposed to be paid by the Arab residents of the British mandated territory, which was awarded to the Jewish people as compensation for the Nazi crimes. Palestinians thus became the only people in history whose beef with Jews is not imaginary.
Israel and the world should acknowledge that Palestinian Arabs have been justified in fighting for their land for all these years.
This article made me upgrade to a paid subscription. In a world of so called information gushing in like an open firehose, you are providing the real goods. Thank you!
A tour de force, on a number of levels. Kudos. What I'd like to hear further thinking on is the rejuvenated concept of the state, as exemplified by both Germany and Israel. After the rules based order, after (sort of after) German working through the past, after globalization, we have ???? Anyway, bravo and thanks.
Thank you for your work and what must tremendous work hours.
Thanks for this. It’s helpful to read a post about the response to Gaza in Germany that I don’t simply like or dislike but that suggests a way of understanding, for better OR worse.
"... the native German public, notably in the East harbored xenophobic views including anti-Black racism, anti-Asianism, anti-semitic attitudes and most extensively Islamophobic views."
Ah, but there's no contradiction between these racist attitudes and full-throated support for Israel and its program of extermination of the Palestinians. Just look at our own Republican party. No conflict at all, people who are raving antisemites can't contain their enthusiasm for what Israel is doing right now, the engineered mass starvation, the bombing of hospitals and schools, they love ALL of it, can't get enough. No, I don't have an explanation for how they square this in their own minds - if they do, in fact, make any attempt to do so - I just know that this is how it is. Perhaps they recognize that Zionism is itself a form of racism and so act out of solidarity for their fellow racists. Perhaps they simply worship power, and if a boot-heel is crushing someone's face, they want to be friends with the wearer of the boots, seeing in him a kindred spirit.
An excellent and balanced analysis of Germany's historic and current relationships with Israel. Nice to read something without the usual hysterical rhetoric.
“Palestinians have paid a high price for Germany’s crime”
According to principles of reparation and state succession, the Jewish nation should have been fashioned from the territory of the German Nazi state defeated in 1945.
Instead, the WW2 victors wrote a check that was supposed to be paid by the Arab residents of the British mandated territory, which was awarded to the Jewish people as compensation for the Nazi crimes. Palestinians thus became the only people in history whose beef with Jews is not imaginary.
Israel and the world should acknowledge that Palestinian Arabs have been justified in fighting for their land for all these years.
This article made me upgrade to a paid subscription. In a world of so called information gushing in like an open firehose, you are providing the real goods. Thank you!
excellent article; gives more dimension to Pankaj Mishra's article in the London Rview of Books recently on German memory related to Israel.
Many thanks for this critical post Adam.
A tour de force, on a number of levels. Kudos. What I'd like to hear further thinking on is the rejuvenated concept of the state, as exemplified by both Germany and Israel. After the rules based order, after (sort of after) German working through the past, after globalization, we have ???? Anyway, bravo and thanks.
Just amazing, the sort of perspective I come here and support you for, thank you so much.