Nordisk judaistik/Scandinavian Jewish Studies

The rise and impact of conspiracist antisemitism:

Nicola Karcher, Kjetil Braut Simonsen — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

This special issue examines conspiracist antisemitic print culture in the Nordic countries from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. To contrast the universal patterns and particularities of the cases of Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, the issue includes two contributions analysing Spain and Britain. Together, the articles provide empirical in-depth knowledge of the character and dissemination of conspiracist antisemitism in a particular time and within a particular region. Our aim is to expand the general knowledge of conspiracism as a historical phenomenon through the prism of antisemitism. In the introduction, we present the conditions of historical antisemitism in each case study as well as the conceptual framework of this issue, focusing on terms such as conspiracism, conspiracy and conspiracy theories. We argue that antisemitism can be interpreted as a longue-durée conspiracist tradition, marked by a dialectic interaction between continuity and dynamic changes.

The first steps in a Judaeo-Bolshevik conspiracy

Paavo Ahonen — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

At the turn of the twentieth century, Jews were mostly blamed for small-scale and local conspiracies, but during and after the First World War global antisemitic theories started to emerge. In 1917, even before the Communist revolution, rumours spread around Russia that there was a close connection between the Bolshevist movement and Jews. Fear of Communism was prevalent in Finnish society, especially after the Civil War in the spring of 1918. This article focuses on one of the main manifestations of this fear, the development and spread of the Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy theory in the Finnish press after the Russian Revolution. The main sources for this article are Finnish newspapers and magazines published between 1917 and 1920. The goal is to describe how and whence the idea of a Jewish-Bolshevist conspiracy spread to Finland, and how new antisemitic ideas were connected to the millennia-old hatred of Jews.

'Denmark contra Jvdæos'

Sofie Lene Bak — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

This article examines the relationship between conspiracy theories and antisemitism by posing the question of whether conspiracism is an inseparable and integrated part of national socialist antisemitism or a marginalised, extremist position even within such settings. An analysis of two Danish national-socialist journals, Kamptegnet and National-Socialisten, demonstrates how the introduction of stigmatised knowledge in the form of anti-Masonic conspiracy theories and the myth of ritual murder led to an antisemitic escalation process in Kamptegnet, imbuing antisemitism with a redemptive character during the Second World War. Antisemitic conspiracy theories, on the other hand, played a relatively marginal role in National-Socialisten, where aspects that enjoyed promotion in Germany were downplayed for tactical reasons. While antisemitism in National-Socialisten primarily played a role in caricatures and as a bizarre form of entertainment, an escalation can also be observed here as a consequence of the progression of the war and the intensified German propaganda effort.

For freedom and justice?

Oula Silvennoinen — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

This article analyses the Finnish circle of far-right activists around the publishing company Vasara (‘Hammer’), set up in 1931. The analysis consists of a comprehensive survey of the backgrounds of the group members, the range of their antisemitic publication activities throughout the inter-war era, the sources of their published material and the content and style of their antisemitism. The concept of conspiracist antisemitism runs as a central thread, as the individuals involved had by the late 1920s accepted a belief in a global Jewish conspiracy. Through Vasara’s output and a range of other publications they were active until the end of the Second World War in trying to disseminate this antisemitism within the wider Finnish far right. As most of the members of the group were native Swedish speakers, they were also active as transmitters of antisemitic material between Sweden and Finland. An analysis of the backgrounds of the group members reveals a significant exposure to German antisemitism of both the pre-world-war and war eras. The Hammer Verlag set up by Theodor Fritsch in Germany seems to have acted as the most important model on which the Vasara group and many other Nordic inter-war antisemites modelled their activities.

'The apocalyptic battle'

Dr. Nicola Karcher, Dr. Kjetil Braut Simonsen — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Conspiracist antisemitism was an integral part of national-socialist propaganda in Norway between 1940 and 1945. An imaginary entity called ‘International Jewry’ was represented as the sinister force behind phenomena such as Communism, liberalism, capitalism and cultural decadence. This article analyses the argumentation and functions of conspiracist antisemitism as it was disseminated by three journals in Nazi-occupied Norway: the Norwegian edition of the German antisemitic journal Welt-Dienst (Verdens-Tjenesten), the weekly Hirdmannen and the antisemitic periodical Nationalt Tidsskrift. While these publications represented history and politics as an apocalyptic battle between the so-called Nordic-Germanic peoples and an alleged ‘Jewish conspiracy’, their argumentation differed in several aspects. Whereas Verdens-tjenesten was first and foremost an anti-Jewish news agency, Nationalt Tidsskrift and Hirdmannen were more focused on attacking the Norwegian Jews directly. However, according to all three journals, the national-socialist revolution was an act of redemption, from Jews as well as from ‘Jewish ideas’.

‘Until the domination of the Jews is crushed, Sweden is not the land of the Swedes!’

Lars M Andersson — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

This article analyses Hammaren, a Swedish blend of Der Stürmer, Der Hammer and domestic antisemitic publications, published by the most radical Swedish national socialists and antisemitic crusaders, launched in January 1943 and discontinued on 30 April 1945, the day of Adolf Hitler’s suicide in Berlin. Hammaren fought a global war against an imaginary enemy, ‘the Jew’, described as evil and immensely powerful. ‘The Jew’ was responsible for everything wrong in the world, from embezzlement, petty theft and peddling to capitalism, Bolshevism and the ongoing world war, understood as an eschatological race war instigated by ‘the Jew’ and threatening the very existence of the white race. Hammaren, according to its contributors, was an enlightenment project; antisemitism meant self-defence against an overbearing, all-powerful enemy. This article investigates some of the strategies employed by Hammaren to spread rumours about the Jews, to ‘expose’ them and their henchmen, and thereby awaken Swedes to the dire situation.

‘Jewry ueber Alles’

Graham Macklin — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

This article explores the role of the Britons Society, a small racial nationalist sect founded in 1919, in the propagation of conspiracist antisemitism in the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the First World War. It focuses on its ideological output, aimed at cultivating an antisemitic ‘Jewwise’ mindset that viewed the fight against ‘the Jew’ as an eternal eschatological struggle. During its comparatively long life, the Britons published a voluminous quantity of antisemitic literature, including over eighty editions of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, two during the Second World War, before
it finally closed its doors in 1983. The article explores some of the Britons’ trans-national networking and concludes with several thematic case studies (anti-Bolshevism, imperial decline, antisemitic anti-Zionism) to highlight how conspiracist antisemitism formed an analytical lens through which readers could be made to understand the supposed role of the ‘Jewish conspiracy’ in world affairs.

Falangist antisemitism in Spain 1933–1945

Toni Morant i Ariño — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Spanish fascists held power for a lengthy period, yet their antisemitism remains underresearched. This article, drawing on periodicals and archival documentation, specifically examines the early years of the Falange until 1945. The period was characterised by a significant surge in antisemitic sentiment in Spain, accompanied by a growing presence of the alleged ‘Judaeo-Masonic conspiracy’. Representing the first in-depth approach in English, the text is divided into four parts. The first serves as an introduction to the outbreak of antisemitism and conspiracy theories within the political cultures of the Spanish illiberal right following the advent of democracy in 1931. The second focuses on fascism and its four most prominent figures up to 1936. The third analyses the Falange’s pronounced antisemitism during the Spanish Civil War, exploring both its internal and external influences. The fourth and final part addresses the fervently antisemitic stance of the Falange during the decisive years of the Second World War, navigating the tensions between Nazi antisemitic racism and Catholic anti-racist antisemitism.

Judarnas plats i Göteborg

Per Hammarström — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Review of Pia Lindqvist (red.): Plats i staden: Göteborgs judiska artonhundratal. Göteborg: Bokförlaget Korpen, 2023.

Freud and Judaism

Hans Ruin — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Review of Risto Nurmela: Sigmund Freud und sein Bekenntnis zum Judesein in ’Der Mann Moses und die monoteistische Religion’. Wien: Lit Verlag, 2023.

De danska judarna i Theresienstadt

Ulf Zander — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Review of Silvia Goldbaum Tarabini: Danske jøders liv og død i Theresienstadt. Köpenhamn: Gyldendal, 2023.

Teater på jiddisch – i Sverige och i världen

Simo Muir — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Review of Sylvia Sauter & Willmar Sauter: Teater på jiddisch – i Sverige och i världen. Stockholm: Gidlunds förlag, 2023.