A Providential Antisemitism: Nationalism and Polity in Nineteenth Century Romania (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society) (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society)

An analysis of Romanian anti-Semitism and its interaction with romantic nationalism. The author studies how it was possible that in a country known as among the most anti-Semitic in Europe approximately half of the Jewish population survived the Holocaust. Analyzes the interaction between nationalism and antisemitism in Romanian policy and national ideology, forged in the second half of the 19th century. Discusses the international political context of the "Jewish question" in Romania during the debates at the Congress of Berlin (1878) concerning the emancipation of the Romanian Jews. Emphasizes the strong opposition to equal rights for the Jews expressed by leading Romanian political, religious, and intellectual figures. Examines the antisemitic arguments used by six personalities in Romanian cultural and intellectual life: M. Kogălniceanu, T. Maiorescu, A.D. Xenopol, M. Eminescu, B.P. Hasdeu, and N. Iorga. Notes that they justified their anti-Jewish attitudes mostly with national and economic arguments, and less with racial or religious prejudices. Remarks on the frequent use of an antisemitic claim regarding the "quality" of Romanian Jews, exhibiting stigmatization and contempt for "Polish" Ashkenazi Jews. Concludes that the specifics of Romanian antisemitism explain Romania's paradoxical record during the Holocaust, and the partial survival of the Romanian Jewish community. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism) Contents......Page 7 Illustrations......Page 8 Preface......Page 9 Introduction......Page 10 The Congress of Berlin......Page 22 The Price of Independence......Page 56 The Voice of the Intelligentsia......Page 108 The Quality of Our Jews......Page 148 Conclusion:The Logic and Rhetoric of Anti-Semitism......Page 162 Bibliography......Page 174 Index......Page 182