Kritikerrollen

Authors

• Boris Belzikoff Donnerska institutet

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30752/nj.69532

Keywords:

Antisemitism, Fridrichsen, Anton, 1888-1953, Theologians, Swedish, Christianity and Judaism

Abstract

The author is raising the question why people, who vehemently attacked the Jews in the period between the two World Wars and/or welcomed the Nazi’s takeover in Germany, could assure that these attacks were not an expression of hatred towards Jews. Among others the former Swedish minister of religious affairs Arthur Engberg and the Uppsala professor of theology Anton Fridrichsen serve as examples. A related phenomenon, the attempt to defend such persons claiming their basic non-antisemitic attitudes despite their documented statements is – among others – described through reactions of reviewers towards two of the author’s books: Judisk-kristet-mänkligt (Jewish-Christian-Human), from 1960 and Nazism och kristendom ur ett judiskt perspektiv (Nazism and Christianity from a Jewish perspective) from 1992. In these works the author pointed to a series of such statements by persons occupying important positions in the Swedish society. In rejecting these attempts the article seeks to document the correctness of the position taken up by the author in his books.