Jüdischer Salon
In the organizer's words:
What does anti-Semitism have to do with the Jews?
How "anti-Semitism" is instrumentalized.
With: Eva Menasse and Mariam Lau
Anti-Semitism is a wonderful all-purpose instrument, a bit like the Ma(g)gie dice. As soon as a piece of it is mixed into a dish, all the nuances of the ingredients are drowned out and it just tastes familiar. Comfort food!
Anti-Semitism is always a good way to discredit someone, preferably to the left.
What do Jews have to do with the Bavarian Aiwanger/Söder issue?
Mariam Lau says that the famous leaflet does not even contain the word "Jew", but that it is probably a Nazi pamphlet.
Is Nazism only a threat to Jews? Doesn't it affect our whole society?
The fact that Jews are then called upon to forgive Mr. Aiwanger for his youthful sin is mockery and cynical. An instance of absolution? And it opens up a new trap: if they don't forgive, then the person is the victim and the Jews are the perpetrators.
Important debates are quickly nipped in the bud with the sledgehammer of "anti-Semitism". But they must be held in order to counter the fear, the instrumentalization of an anti-Semitism that doesn't even know what Jews are - and the alarmism. Is it almost like wishful thinking when it is already clear to many that the AfD will win majorities in the upcoming elections?
We are delighted that Eva Menasse and Mariam Lau have agreed to accept our invitation to discuss these issues with us.
Eva Menasse, author and journalist for Die Zeit and other publications.
Born in Vienna in 1970, she started out as a journalist and made her debut in 2005 with the family novel "Vienna". This was followed by novels and short stories ("Lässliche Todsünden", "Quasikristalle", "Tiere für Fortgeschrittene"), which have received numerous awards and translations. Prizes (selection): Heinrich Böll Prize, Friedrich Hölderlin Prize, Jonathan Swift Prize, Austrian Book Prize, Bruno Kreisky Prize, Jakob Wassermann Prize and the Villa Massimo Fellowship in Rome. Eva Menasse is also increasingly active as an essayist, for which she received the Ludwig Börne Prize in 2019. Her last novel "Dunkelblum" was a bestseller and has been translated into nine languages. She has lived in Berlin for over 20 years.
Mariam Lau, editor in the politics department, DIE ZEIT, focus: CDU domestic policy
Born in Tehran, Iran, in 1962, her family moved to Germany in 1965, first to Tübingen, then to Berlin. Initially trained as a nurse and practiced enthusiastically until 1987, then a few years of night shifts and adult college. Studied American Studies in Berlin and Bloomington in the US state of Indiana. Then worked for many years at the "taz" newspaper, first as culture editor, then as head of department. From 1997 to 2003 she worked as a freelancer for the "Welt" - three daughters were born. Head of the opinion section at "Welt" from 2003. Since May 2010 in the political editorial department of DIE ZEIT.
Despite its deep inscription in modernity, anti-Semitism always claims the place of a phantom or a metaphor in the mind, even when it is rubbed in your face; as if it were shielded from consciousness by a persistent memory disorder. The words of Sigmund Freud come to mind when he stood in front of the Acropolis for the first time: "So all this really exists, just as we learned it at school!" (Freud, 1936).
The reality of anti-Semitism is often accompanied by doubts or briefly recognized, preferably in retrospect, as a relic from the past, indeed as something one "learned at school". Can the events of October 7, 2023 provide new perspectives on some of the psychological and social functions of this phenomenon? Does contemporary Jew-hatred point to a new form of individual and cultural hyper-technological not-knowing-wanting?
Eran Rolnik is a psychoanalyst, psychiatrist and historian. He is a lecturer at Tel-Aviv University and Medical Director of the Office for Personal Compensation from Germany. In Israel he is known for his persistent commitment to sensitizing the public to the value of psychoanalytic thinking, especially for understanding social and political reality. His articles appear in Haaretz. In light of the international reaction to October 7, he criticized the inability of many on the left to respond emotionally and morally to the atrocities committed by Hamas. In early November 2023, he caused a stir when he made public in an open letter that he had been interrogated by the National Service Commission because of his critical articles about Benjamin Netanyahu. His study Freud in Hebrew. Geschichte der Psychoanalyse im jüdischen Palästina (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013) has been translated into numerous languages; his most recent publication is Redekur - Psychoanalyse verstehen (Brandes & Apsel, 2023).
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