Synopses & Reviews
Published and distributed for the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism During the sixty years between the founding of Bismarcks German Empire and Hitlers rise to power, German-speaking Jews left a profound mark on Central Europe and on twentieth-century culture as a whole. How would the modern world look today without Einstein, Freud, or Marx? Without Mahler, Schoenberg, Wittgenstein, or Kafka? Without a whole galaxy of other outstanding Jewish scientists, poets, playwrights, composers, critics, historians, sociologists, psychoanalysts, jurists, and philosophers? How was it possible that this vibrant period in Central European cultural history collapsed into the horror and mass murder of the Nazi Holocaust? Was there some connection between the dazzling achievements of these Jews and the ferocity of the German backlash? Robert S. Wistrichs Laboratory for World Destruction is a bold and penetrating study of the fateful symbiosis between Germans and Jews in Central Europe, which culminated in the tragic denouement of the Holocaust. Wistrich shows that the seeds of the catastrophe were already sown in the Hapsburg Empire, which would become, in Karl Krauss words, “an experimental station in the destruction of the world.” Featured are incisive chapters on Freud, Herzl, Lueger, Kraus, Nordau, Nietzsche, and Hitler, along with a sweeping panorama of the golden age of Central European Jewry before the lights went out in Europe.
Review
“
Laboratory for World Destruction is a useful and thoughtful collection of essays about a range of political and cultural figures and their influence on the ‘Jewish Question in the Habsburg Empire. . . . Wistrichs portraits are valuable for illuminating the special circumstances and obstacles to Jewish life in the Late Habsburg Empire.”—
German Studies Review Daniel Mark Vyleta - European Historical Quarterly
Review
“Robert Wistrich has written a book which is not only profound in its analysis of modern Jewish identity in central Europe and outstanding in its feel for nuance, but is also a study marked by a wonderful clarity of thought and expression.”—Professor Gershon Shaked, Recipient of the Israel Prize in Modern Hebrew Literature German Studies Review
Review
"This study is a brilliant analysis of the fateful symbiosis between Germans, Austrians, and Jews in Central Europe. It throws a penetrating new light on the origins of Zionism, Austro-Marxism, psychoanalysis, the dynamics of cultural antisemitism, Vienna as the seedbed of Nazism, and the ambivalences underlying modern Jewish self-definition."-Professor Avihu Zaki, Department of History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem(Prof. Avihu Zaki)
Review
"Laboratory for World Destruction is a rich and subtle exploration of the interaction between social marginality, the rise of antisemitism, and the search for national identity in Central Europe. It provides an indispensable perspective for the deeper understanding of why the Holocaust happened."-Professor Jacob Golomb, Department of Philosophy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem(Prof. Jacob Golomb)
Review
“Wistrich argues that during the period between Bismarcks German Empire and Hitlers rise to power, the contributions made by German and Austrian Jews significantly imprinted the cultures of Central Europe. Beyond that period, however, he claims, the demise of this cultural history occurred, in part, due to the ‘social psychology of envy. . . . It is a collection that will further the readers understanding of the periods of social envy and racism.”—
Jewish Book World Jewish Book World
Review
"Well researched with footnotes and bibliography, this book is essential for Jewish, Holocaust, and academic libraries."—Hallie Cantor, Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter Hallie Cantor
Review
"An indispensible work that charts the course of events and ideas that ultimately led to the Holocaust." indispensable—Jack Fischel, New Jersey Jewish News Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter
Review
"Wistrich's expertise and clear prose provide reliable information alongside deft analysis, and give food for thought for novice and expert alike."—Daniel Mark Vyleta, European Historical Quarterly Jack Fischel - New Jersey Jewish News
Review
"This is a magisterial work, providing a comprehensive understanding of the origins of the most pernicious challenges currently facing the Jewish people, especially those originating from the enemy within."—Isi Leibler, Jerusalem Post
Review
"With this politically urgent and morally compelling study, Wistrich offers a thoroughly researched and demystifying exploration of leftist biases, stereotypes and delusions regarding Jews, Judaism and the state of Israel."—Vladimir Tismaneanu, International Affairs
Review
"Professor Wistrich has now written some 30 scholarly books on Jewish history and philosophy, but his work has been dominated by the subject of anti-Semitism. This book is his finest and most comprehensive on the subject."—Stephen Daisley, Standpoint
Synopsis
Published and distributed for the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism During the sixty years between the founding of Bismarck's German Empire and Hitler's rise to power, German-speaking Jews left a profound mark on Central Europe and on twentieth-century culture as a whole. How would the modern world look today without Einstein, Freud, or Marx? Without Mahler, Schoenberg, Wittgenstein, or Kafka? Without a whole galaxy of other outstanding Jewish scientists, poets, playwrights, composers, critics, historians, sociologists, psychoanalysts, jurists, and philosophers? How was it possible that this vibrant period in Central European cultural history collapsed into the horror and mass murder of the Nazi Holocaust? Was there some connection between the dazzling achievements of these Jews and the ferocity of the German backlash? Robert S. Wistrich's Laboratory for World Destruction is a bold and penetrating study of the fateful symbiosis between Germans and Jews in Central Europe, which culminated in the tragic denouement of the Holocaust. Wistrich shows that the seeds of the catastrophe were already sown in the Hapsburg Empire, which would become, in Karl Kraus's words, "an experimental station in the destruction of the world." Featured are incisive chapters on Freud, Herzl, Lueger, Kraus, Nordau, Nietzsche, and Hitler, along with a sweeping panorama of the golden age of Central European Jewry before the lights went out in Europe. Robert S. Wistrich holds the Neuberger Chair of Modern Jewish History and since 2002 has been director of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His book The Jews of Vienna in the Age of Franz Joseph won the Austrian State History Prize, and his book Hitler and the Holocaust has been translated into more than twenty languages.
Synopsis
From Ambivalence to Betrayal is the first study to explore the transformation in attitudes on the Left toward the Jews, Zionism, and Israel since the origins of European socialism in the 1840s until the present. This pathbreaking synthesis reveals a striking continuity in negative stereotypes of Jews, contempt for Judaism, and negation of Jewish national self-determination from the days of Karl Marx to the current left-wing intellectual assault on Israel. World-renowned expert on the history of antisemitism Robert S. Wistrich provides not only a powerful analysis of how and why the Left emerged as a spearhead of anti-Israel sentiment but also new insights into the wider involvement of Jews in radical movements.
There are fascinating portraits of Marx, Moses Hess, Bernard Lazare, Rosa Luxemburg, Leon Trotsky, and other Jewish intellectuals, alongside analyses of the darker face of socialist and Communist antisemitism. The closing section eloquently exposes the degeneration of leftist anti-Zionist critiques into a novel form of “anti-racist” racism.
About the Author
Robert S. Wistrich (1945-2015) was the Neuburger Professor of European and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and director of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism. He is the author of numerous books, including, most recently, A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad (2010) and Laboratory for World Destruction: Germans and Jews in Central Europe (Nebraska, 2007).