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Author : Valentin Hugo
Title : Antisemitism Historically and critically examined
Year : 1936

Link download : Valentin_Hugo_-_Antisemitism.zip

Preface. In this book I have been chiefly occupied with the Antisemitism of to-day. But as the present cannot be understood except as a product of the past, I have also given a briefaccount of Antisemitism through the ages. I have sought to define the causes of Antisemitism as I conceive them, and to show the true value of the charges now most usually brought against the]ews. As Germany is at present the antisemitic countrypar excellence, and the antisemitic ideology has been mainly developed by Germans, I have dwelt especially on German Antisemitism. It has not been my purpose to write a book on the]ewish question, still less to trace the history of the Jews. My investigation only concerns Antisemitism. I have therefore not been able to devote much space to the position of the]ews in non-antisemitic countries-Scandinavia for examplenor to those epochs in which the Jewish and the nonJewish world have met in the advancement of civilisation and in fruitful co-operation, nor to the many proofs of sympathy and noble philanthropy which non-Jewish men and women have shown the victims of Antisemitism, especially during the last two years. It is obvious therefore from the nature of the subject that the pictures of the past and the present here displayed to the reader will be predominantly sombre in their colours. Antisemitism is no longer a problem which concerns only the]ews and their enemies. It concerns everyone. It has therefore a stronger claim on the attention of the public than has been the case hitherto. In the consciousness of this I have written the present book, the result of many years' study of jewish history and ofcontemporary]ewish problems. If this work-its objective facts and its subjective points of view-should contribute to lift the discussion above the plane of vulgar Antisemitism, it will certainly have achieved an object. I have not denied the complicated character of Antisemitism, still less the existence-in certain countries-of a Jewish question, which is a consequence of unfortunate circumstances and tragic mistakes. But at the same time I have tried to indicate the danger with which hatred of the Jews, like all national hatred, threatens our civilisation. In proportion as the eyes of the nations are opened to the true nature of Antisemitism, as democracy is educated into immunity against national psychoses, and as the individual realises his duty to test before passing judgement, in such proportion will the power of Antisemitism decline. HUGO VALENTIN Ups ala, January 1935. ...