Denial and Repression of Anti-Semitism: Post-Communist Rehabilitation of the Serbian Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic

Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović (1881–1956) is arguably one the most controversial figures in contemporary Serbian national culture. Having been vilified by the former Yugoslav Communist authorities as a fascist and an antisemite, this Orthodox Christian thinker has over the past two decades come to be regarded in Serbian society as the most important religious person since medieval times and an embodiment of the authentic Serbian national spirit. Velimirović was formally canonised by the Serbian Orthodox Church in 2003. In this book, Jovan Byford charts the posthumous transformation of Velimirović from 'traitor' to 'saint' and examines the dynamics of repression and denial that were used to divert public attention from the controversies surrounding the bishop's life, the most important of which is his antisemitism. Byford offers the first detailed examination of the way in which an Eastern Orthodox Church manages controversy surrounding the presence of antisemitism within its ranks and he considers the implications of the continuing reverence of Nikolaj Velimirović for the persistence of antisemitism in Serbian Orthodox culture and in Serbian society as a whole. This book is based on a detailed examination of the changing representation of Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović in the Serbian media and in commemorative discourse devoted to him. The book also makes extensive use of exclusive interviews with a number of Serbian public figures who have been actively involved in the bishop's rehabilitation over the past two decades. Introduction The disputed biography of Nikolaj Velimirovic and his changing public image, 1945-2003 Denigration and marginalisation : Velimirovic's status in post-war Yugoslavia Apotheosis and widespread admiration : Velimirovic's status today Collective remembering and collective forgetting : memory of Nikolaj Velimirovic and the repression of controversy Discursive dynamic of social forgetting : repression as replacement Velimirovic in Dachau : martyrdom as a replacement myth The martyrdom myth in context : the narrative of Velimirovic's suffering and the rise Serbian nationalism Remembering in order to forget : the martyrdom myth and repression The dynamic of everyday forgetting : continuity and the routinisation of repression From repression to denial : responses of the Serbian Orthodox Church to accusations of antisemitism Discourse, moral accountability and the denial of prejudice Serbs have never hated the Jews : literal denial of antisemitism Parrots, idiots and the mummies of reason : denial and offensive rhetoric Comparing Serbs and Croats and the rhetoric of competitive martyrdom : comparative denial of antisemitism National self-glorification in a historical context Denial of antisemitism and the distancing from extremism We are not antisemites, but : denial and the rhetoric of disclaimers He was merely quoting the Bible! : the denial of Velimirovic's antisemitism Rising above the criticisms : refusal to engage in controversy as a form of denial Tiny mosquitoes and the mighty eagle : who has the right to remember Nikolaj Velimirovic? The letter from a Jewish woman : Bishop Nikolaj as the Saviour of Jews The two kinds of antisemitism : the rhetoric of interpretative denial Repeating the Word of God : authority of the gospels and the reification of antisemitic discourse Then we are all anti-semities! : anti-Judaism and Orthodox Christian identity Questionable boundaries between anti-Judaism and anti-semitism Deicidal justification of Jewish suffering Holocaust as divine retribution Anti-semitism as prophecy social construction of Velimirovic's sanctity The first stage of the campaign for canonization : the making of a religious cult Canonization in the Orthodox Church and the need for divine confirmation of sanctity Finding the right miracle : incorruptibility of remains and miraculous icons The bishop who came face to face with the living God : Velimirovic and the miracle of epiphany Velimirovic as a prophet : the construction of the Serbian Jeremiah.

Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovi? (1881–1956) is arguably one the most controversial figures in contemporary Serbian national culture. Having been vilified by the former Yugoslav Communist authorities as a fascist and an antisemite, this Orthodox Christian thinker has over the past two decades come to be regarded in Serbian society as the most important religious person since medieval times and an embodiment of the authentic Serbian national spirit. Velimirovi? was formally canonised by the Serbian Orthodox Church in 2003.In this book, Jovan Byford charts the posthumous transformation of Velimirovi? from 'traitor' to 'saint' and examines the dynamics of repression and denial that were used to divert public attention from the controversies surrounding the bishop's life, the most important of which is his antisemitism. Byford offers the first detailed examination of the way in which an Eastern Orthodox Church manages controversy surrounding the presence of antisemitism within its ranks and he considers the implications of the continuing reverence of Nikolaj Velimirovi? for the persistence of antisemitism in Serbian Orthodox culture and in Serbian society as a whole. This book is based on a detailed examination of the changing representation of Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovi? in the Serbian media and in commemorative discourse devoted to him. The book also makes extensive use of exclusive interviews with a number of Serbian public figures who have been actively involved in the bishop's rehabilitation over the past two decades.

The Serbian Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović (1881-1956) was declared a traitor and a Nazi-fascist collaborator by the communist rulers of Yugoslavia, and in 1945 he emigrated to the USA. In the 1980s, with the erosion of communist ideology and the rise of Serbian nationalism in post-Tito Yugoslavia, a revision of his image began in Serbia. This revision ignored the fact that Velimirović, disappointed in Yugoslavia and Western liberalism in the late 1920s, became a nationalist, a racist, and a Nazi sympathizer; from 1927 on his sermons and writings were imbued with antisemitism. His antisemitic opuses were published from 1985 on, but the Serbian Orthodox Church failed to condemn his antisemitism. In the 1980s-90s he was turned into a saint, and in 2003 he was canonized. Faced with criticism of Velimirović's antisemitism in the early 1990s, the Church initially tried to repress it, e.g. a myth of Velimirović's martyrdom at the hands of the Nazis was invented. Later the Church tried to deny his antisemitism (e.g. by claiming that he was merely anti-Judaist), and in some cases to rationalize it. Examines a variety of discursive and rhetorical practices of repression and denial used by the Church in order to whitewash the controversial bishop and to make him a national saint. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism) Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic (1881-1956) is arguably one the most controversial figures in contemporary Serbian national culture. Having been vilified by the former Yugoslav Communist authorities as a fascist and an antisemite, this Orthodox Christian thinker has over the past two decades come to be regarded in Serbian society as the most important religious person since medieval times and an embodiment of the authentic Serbian national spirit. Velimirovic was formally canonised by the Serbian Orthodox Church in 2003. This book is based on a detailed examination of the changing representation of Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic in the Serbian media and in commemorative discourse devoted to him. The book also makes extensive use of exclusive interviews with a number of Serbian public figures who have been actively involved in the bishop's rehabilitation over the past two decades Cover Table of Contents Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. The Life of Nikolaj Velimiroviᅣヌ and His Changing Public Image, 1945¬タモ2003 3. Collective Remembering and Collective Forgetting: Memory of Nikolaj Velimiroviᅣヌ and the Repression of Controversy 4. From Repression to Denial: Responses of the Serbian Orthodox Church to Accusations of Antisemitism 5. ¬タワHe was merely quoting the Bible!¬タン: Denial of Velimiroviᅣヌ¬タルs Antisemitism 6. Antisemitism as Prophecy: Social Construction of Velimiroviᅣヌ¬タルs Sanctity 7. Conclusion References Index Illustrations