13
8/20/2019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt) http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/european-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1/13 European Muslim  ANTISEMITISM Günther Jikeli Why Young Urban Males Say They Don't Like Jews

European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

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Page 1: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 113

European Muslim ANTISEMITISM

Guumlnther Jikeli

Why Young Urban

Males Say They

Dont Like Jews

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 213

Contents

middot Acknowledgments ix

middot Inroducion 983089

983089 European Muslims Beween Inegraion

and Discriminaion 983096

983090 Debaes and Surveys on EuropeanMuslim Anisemiism 983091983090

983091 Inerviews wih Young Muslim

Men in Europe 983093983094

983092 Paterns of Anisemiism among

Inerviewees and Beyond 983095983095

983093 ldquoClassicrdquo Modern Anisemiism 983096983089

983094 Anisemiism Relaed o Israel 983089983088983094

983095 Anisemiism Relaed o Islam or

Religious or Ehnic Ideniy 983089983091983090

983096 Anisemiism wihou Raionalizaion 983089983094983088

983097 Percepions of he Holocaus 983089983096983092

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 313

983089983088 Sources of Anisemiic Atiudes 983090983089983094

983089983089 Posiive Examples Rejecing Anisemiism 983090983093983094

middot Conclusion 983090983095983089

middot Appendix A Working Definition

of Antisemitism 983090983096983091

middot Appendix B List of Interviewees 983090983096983095

middot Notes 983090983097983089

middot References 983091983089983097

middot Index 983091983091983097

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 413

983089983096983092

983120983154983145 983158983137983156983141 983152983141983154983139983141983152983156 983145983151983150983155 983151983142 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983140983145983142983142983141983154 983142983154983151983149 983152983157983138983148983145983139discourses o he Holocaus Wha are sources o knowledge abou heHolocaus or young European Muslims Wha is he role o heir eh-nic or religious background Wha do hey know abou he Holocaus

wha are biased atiudes hey may hold on he subjec and how are hey voiced Wha are he raionales How are heir views relaed o generalpercepions o he Holocaus in European counries Wha disorions

o hisorical acs influenced by culural pressures and values emerge1

Tis chaper ocuses on inervieweesrsquo percepions o he Holocaus Te

wider conex is deal wih in deail in he edied volume Perceptions

o he Holocaus in Europe and Muslim Communiies Sources Compari-sons and Educaional Challenges2

I can be assumed ha European Muslims see he Holocaus as lesscenral o heir hisory Similarly he discourses wihin Muslim ami-lies are generally less influenced by heir own hisory and by a collec-

ive eeling o guil as compared o Europeans whose amilies lived inEurope during he Second World War Mos European Muslims comerom counries ha played only a minor role in he Holocaus and rom

which relaively ew Jews i any were depored o German deah campsin Easern Europe3 However in many European Muslimsrsquo counries

o origin Holocaus denial is widespread he Holocaus is ofen por-rayed as a ool used by Israel conspiracy heories abou an alleged

Nazi-Zionis collaboraion are widespread and Israel is equaed wih

Nazism4 Tere is a level o open Holocaus denial in some mass mediain Muslim-majoriy counries ha is no seen in European counries Te

983150983145983150983141

Perceptions of the Holocaust

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 513

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983093

urkish daily Vaki or example was prined in Germany or is readershere unil 983090983088983088983093 when i was banned by he German auhoriies or isdenial o he Holocaus as well as or anisemiic and ani-Wesern pro-paganda5 Oher publicaions such as he Duch urkish journal Doğuș affiliaed wih he Islamis organizaion Milli Goumlruumlș have been prinedin Europe unchallenged or years despie heir ourigh Holocaus denialand blun conspiracy heories6

Te relucance o European Muslim organizaions o paricipae inHolocaus commemoraions or heir ourigh rejecion o hem7 andhe difficulies schools ofen have in eaching abou he Holocaus o

Muslim sudens highligh he problemaic views ha some EuropeanMuslims hold8 However in he Neherlands a survey o eachers re- veals ha diminishmen o he Holocaus is widespread In 983090983088983088983092 983093983088

percen o he polled eachers said ha heir sudens diminished heHolocaus a leas once during he pas year hough his number wasdown o 983090983093 percen in 983090983088983089983091 rivializaion o he Holocaus and ani-

semiism is more requen in schools wih large groups o urkish andMoroccan sudens9 In Germany Die Zei published a survey on views

o he Holocaus o 983092983088983088 people o urkish origin in January 983090983088983089983088 Sixy-eigh percen admited ha hey knew litle abou he Holocaus and

983092983088 percen said ha people o urkish background living in Germanyshould no be concerned wih sudying he subjec10 A poll on Muslimsin he Unied Kingdom rom 983090983088983088983094 shows ha only a hird believed hahe Holocaus happened as hisory eaches and 983089983095 percen hough hai has been exaggeraed11

Wha do paricipans inerviewed or his sudy hink abou he

Holocaus In he ollowing secions I firs give a brie descripion o he basic knowledge mos inerviewees have abou he Holocaus and heirsources o knowledge Second I presen paricipansrsquo doubs and con-spiracy heories abou he Holocaus Tird I discuss conexualizaionsand comparisons o he Holocaus wih oher arociies some are biasedsuch as equaions o Israel wih he Nazis and he suffering o Palesin-ians wih ha o Jews in he Holocaus Finally I examine heir emo-ional reacions o he Holocaus ranging rom condemnaions o heperperaors and empahy wih he vicims o approval o he Holocaus

based on Jew hared

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 613

983089983096983094 European Muslim Anisemiism

983123983144983137 983154983141 983140 983106983137983155983145983139 983115983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141 983151983142 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Inerviewees ofen did no know he meaning o ldquoHolocausrdquo or ldquoAusch- wizrdquo a firs bu as he proceeding conversaions revealed mos had

heard o he erm Holocaus and some menioned Auschwiz sponane-ously12 Few are amiliar wih he Hebrew word or Holocaus ldquoShoahrdquoMany do no know he exac year he Second World War sared andended and some mix up hisorical evens as differen as he Second

World War and he all o he Berlin Wall in 983089983097983096983097 A flagran lack o

knowledge also emerged occasionally wih he surmise ha he Naional

Socialiss killed Jews or religious reasons or wih quesions such asldquoWas i a ough [ ] equal figh rdquo (Malik London) Bu mos iner- viewees did have some basic knowledge abou he hisorical ac o hemurder o he European Jews by he Nazis including ha Jews were per-secued and killed in Germany in vas numbers during he Second World

War13 Te Nazis and paricularly he dicaor Hiler were idenified ashe perperaors Te ac ha many Jews were gassed and burn in con-cenraion camps is also widely known However knowledge abou he

Holocaus is ofen vague and no imporan o paricipans14 Bashkarrom London has very limied knowledge o he Holocaus alhough hedid remember imporan aspecs such as he killing o many Jews in gaschambers Bu consider his iniial reacion o his quesion

Inerviewer Do you know he word ldquoHolocaus rdquo

Bashkar Holocaus yeah I rsquos ha place inni

Inerviewer No i rsquos no a place

Bashkar Oh yeah irsquos he Jews hey were killed inni [ ] Millions

Bashkarrsquos knowledge o he Holocaus is no easily accessible a

sign according o social psychology research on atiudes ha i is noan imporan issue or him15 Many oher inerviewees have much moredeailed knowledge o he orms o persecuion and killings o Jews heracis ideology o an ldquoAryanrdquo race and he Second World War Manyalso know deails abou Adol Hiler including his Ausrian birh hisunsuccessul career as a painer and his suicide And o course iner-

viewees know o Hilerrsquos disinc mousache Some pu he Holocausin he conex o a long hisory o discriminaion and persecuion o he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 713

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983095

Jews such as being blamed or he Black Deah or he murder o JesusChris Very ew inerviewees were explicily disineresed in he his-ory o he Holocaus

983123983151983157983154983139983141983155 983151983142 983115 983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141

Inerviewees reerred o school as heir mos imporan source o knowl-edge abou he Holocaus saying ha in addiion hey had visied me-morial sies wih school groups and me Holocaus survivors16 Howeverhe ideological driving orces or he exerminaion o Jewry are ofenreduced o prejudices and inolerance in general Bahaar recalled whahe had learned in school in London abou he reasons behind he Holo-caus ldquo In lessons I learned ha irsquos jus basically a process where los o Jews go killed because o he reason ha hey were differen and ha hey didnrsquowan hem hererdquo Tis generally widespread percepion ignores he acha well-inegraed Jews and even people who did no consider hem-selves Jewish a all were made ldquodifferenrdquo and were also indiscriminaelykilled in he Holocaus Wha is more modern anisemiism goes well

beyond xenophobic atiudes i is less abou exclusion o oreigners hanabou a global hared o Jews wherever hey are17

Anoher requenly cied source o knowledge is elevision hrough which inerviewees learned paricularly abou he Warsaw Gheto Hi-ler he persecuion and murder o Jews and he Second World War I isnoeworhy ha one inerviewee rom Berlin visied he ormer concen-raion camp Sachsenhausen wih he youh group o he local mosqueFriends and relaives books films and he inerne were only occasion-

ally menioned as sources o knowledge on he Holocaus Howeverhese sources including vague reerences o ldquowha hey have heardrdquo

can have an imporan impac on quesioning public narraives o heHolocaus such as wha is augh in school

O course he way knowledge is presened is relaed o various

inerpreaions and explanaions o he Holocaus Salih rom Berlin

or example gave a simpliying accoun o he Holocaus in a nushellldquoHiler became poliician and when imes were bad he lay all he blame on

he Jews and hen he jus sared o kill hem all o gas hemrdquo He porrayedHiler as he only responsible perperaor and used he heory ha Jews

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 813

983089983096983096 European Muslim Anisemiism

were made scapegoas or explaining heir subsequen murder Boh areprominen views on he Holocaus in Germany18

983108983151983157983138983156983155 983108983141983150983145983137 983148 983137983150983140 983107983151983150983155983152983145983154983137983139983145983141 983155983137983138983151983157983156 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Some inerpreaions explanaions and belies abou he Holocaus

amoun o diminishing or even denying he Holocaus Tis ofen con-radics wha inerviewees have learned in school Tree inervieweesexplicily depiced he Holocaus as a myh or said ha ar ewer han six

million Jews were killed Haroun or example is aware o he dispariyo his belies and he narraive he was augh in school in France

Tey are saying he Jews were killed and ha I donrsquo know i harsquos rue Tis is

wha I was augh in school ha hey were depored killed some hings Bu I was

old somehing else ha here was an illness called yphus which spread everywhere

and harsquos why hey were burn

[ ]

Anyway Irsquove heard in a poli ical debae he y said ha hi s was because o a

srange disease he images which were filmed a leas some o hem [ ] ha was

because o he disease which was called yphus [ ] which spread across Germanya a cerain ime Everywhere a bi everywhere well here was in he concenraion

camps I donrsquo know around he camps or in he rain or Everybody go his

disease his people had o be burn

Haroun a Frenchman o Algerian descen doubs ha Jews werekilled sysemaically and labels he Holocaus as ldquononsenserdquo and a ldquosaesecrerdquo He hinks ha Jews and ohers had o be burn because o y-phus Haroun reers o wo narraives he one he has learned in school

(which he doubs) and anoher one which he ldquowas oldrdquo and which heeels was confirmed in a poliical debae probably on French 983124983126 abouyphus in concenraion camps

Aban o Souh Asian origin rom London is anoher example osomeone who denies he Holocaus He is convinced ha ldquoHiler did nokill six million Jews [ ] He killed about six hundred thousandrdquo He doubshe inormaion he learned in school saying ha picures o shaven-

headed people in ldquohose jackesrdquo in concenraion camps could be saged

and ha he inormaion sudens ge in school is probably biased Abangave hree argumens or his doubs on he number o six million His

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 913

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983097

firs argumen is ha here are so many Jews oday ha he canno believeha as he said more han hal o he Jews were killed19 Tis argumenhins a a widespread overesimaion o he number o Jews alive o-

day Te worldrsquos Jewish populaion is less han 983089983092 million (983088983090 percen)However 983091983096 percen o hose polled in he worldwide 983090983088983089983092 983105 983108983116 Global983089983088983088 survey believed ha he global Jewish populaion is bigger han 983089983088percen Second Aban used he film Schindlerrsquos List as evidence ha

many Jews were saved which confirms ha a film abou he Holocausocusing on he rescue o Jews can be he basis o a misconcepion abouhe Holocaus given ha in ac only a relaively ew were rescued 20

And Abanrsquos hird argumen is ha ldquoo deal wih six million Jews and henhe res o he world He canrsquo [ ] I would ake more han he populaionof Germany to do thatrdquo Tis seems o be a resul o sheer disbelie regard-ing he scale o he murderous enerprise or a biased overesimae o hepower o hese six million Jewish civilians Ineresingly he claimed hahe has ound ou his ldquoruhrdquo by himsel hrough ldquocommon senserdquo Hehus presened himsel as someone who has made up his own mind and

who has revealed he ruh agains he official allegedly biased narraive

rom school and 983124983126 Tis is a ypical elemen o conspiracy heoriesNeoy anoher inerviewee o Asian background knows abou Ho-

locaus Memorial Day bu he is convinced ha ldquoonlyrdquo close o a mil-lion Jews were killed reerring o a book by a ldquo journalis ha acuallyinvesigaed he killing rdquo and o ldquoofficial saisicsrdquo possibly menioned inha book21 Mos ineresingly he saed in ha conex ldquo I hink hereis an elie who says wha does and wha doesnrsquo gordquo He hus believes hapublic discourse on he Holocaus including Holocaus Memorial Day

is dicaed by a small group which he did no name He can explain hediscrepancy beween public discourse and his ldquosourcesrdquo wih he helpo his conspiracy heory

A ew ohers voiced doubs abou he Holocaus which can also

be seen as a orm o Holocaus denial22 Manoj rom London o Souh Asian origin however voiced such srong doubs ha he porrayed heHolocaus as a ficiious narraive

Wha a lo o people are saying is did he Holocaus exis or no A lo o hingsdonrsquo add up Te y are saying 983094 million Jews go massacred bu were here 983094 million

Jews in Europe a ha ime [ ] So harsquos why hey are eaching [ ] Tey wan

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1013

983089983097983088 European Muslim Anisemiism

o make i so ha people believe he Holocaus really did happen And herersquos no a

shadow o doub in ha Tarsquos why heyrsquore eaching everyone fom school

Manoj ried o presen he resuls o research on he Holocaus asconradicory by casing doubs on well-esablished acs In order o back up his doubs he reerred o ldquowha people are sayingrdquo similar oHaroun rom Paris quoed above Manoj believes ha ldquoheyrdquo have anagenda o eaching he Holocaus in school

Nader a Briish ciizen o Norh Arican descen also had his

doubs boh abou Hiler and he Holocaus He claimed ha nobodyknows i and how Hiler died and reerred o a narraive rom ldquoback

homerdquo meaning Morocco Tus he is aware o a discourse in Moroccoabou he Holocaus which he values and which differs rom and evenconradics he discourse in Briain Te ac ha Jews were burn wassomehing he disanced himsel rom boh by indirec speech porray-ing i as a rumor and also emoionally by using vulgar language ldquoWeheard ha Hiler used o barbecue Jewish peoplerdquo He hen added anoherundamenal argumen or he disbelie o wha happened during heShoah ldquo I canrsquot tell you he is a killer because I wasnrsquot with him I wasnrsquot there

siting down wih Hiler having a ea and now he ells me abou his soryrdquoNader hereby claimed ha one can only be sure o hisorical acs i heevens are o direc experience (or relaed ace-o-ace by hose respon-sible or hisorical developmens) and ha all oher accouns o hisoryare o be doubed

Tese examples indicae ha i is no a lack o knowledge which

leads o doubs or denial o he Holocaus Te inerviewees are awareo he ac ha public discourse conradics heir belies bu hey do noaccep public discourse on he Holocaus Tey choose o believe in anarraive o denial which hey have encounered on 983124983126 or in a book orhey believe in a rumor or somehing hey heard rom ldquoback homerdquo orhey claim ha ldquocommon senserdquo in he search or ruh has brough hemo heir conclusions Casing doubs on one aspec o he Holocaus callsino quesion he Holocaus as a hisorical ac alogeher In order o

bridge he gap beween he public discourse and heir own narraives

inerviewees believe he public discourse o be biased or saged and re- ver o conspiracy heories

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1113

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983089

Rumors ha Adol Hiler was Jewish or had Jewish ancesors area recurren rope23 Tey are reerred o as rumors (ldquowha people sayrdquo)

bu also as wha hey have learned in school ldquoHersquos an Austrian His

moher ndash she is Ausrian and Jewish [ ] and he wans o ake revenge[ ] Tis is wha hey old us in schoolrdquo (Bilal Paris) We canno know

wha exacly Bilal was augh in school Bu wha he has learned and wha he reers o as knowledge rom school is ha Hilerrsquos moher was Jewish and ha Hiler waned o ake ldquorevengerdquo or wha we do no

know Porraying Hiler as being relaed o Jews however suggess

ha he knew Jews well and had his reasons or his Jew hared or even

ha here was a collaboraion beween Hiler and Jews Te later in-erpreaion is promoed by Uumlmi rom Berlin o urkish origin He

believes ha Hiler was ldquoHalbjuderdquo (hal-Jewish) and collaboraed wihhose who waned o esablish ldquoa Greaer Israelrdquo He porrays Hiler asa ldquoweaponrdquo or his goal eliminaing all he weak and poor Jews who

were ldquouselessrdquo or he esablishmen o a ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo and no kil linghe educaed and rich And he akes his percepion ha here are moslyrich and influenial Jews oday who sick ogeher and ry o advance

ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo as evidence or his heory Hence he accuses an allegedleadership o Jews and Israelis or he Holocaus and porrays Hileras a vicim o his conspiracy I should be noed ha Uumlmi uses Nazierminology such as he word ldquoHalbjuderdquo and acceps he view o heNaional Socialiss ha ldquohose who were gassed hey were simply goodor nohingrdquo

983107983151983149983152983137983154 983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983156983151 983119983156983144983141983154 983105983156983154983151983139983145983156983145 983141983155

Equaing he Holocaus o he Israeli reamen o Palesinians is an an-isemiic rope24 Some surveys have used i as an iem or conemporaryanisemiic atiudes25 How did inerviewees compare he Holocaus ooher alleged and real arociies Many equae he Holocaus o oherhisorical evens or draw inappropriae analogies o he Holocaus Inaddiion o equaing he sufferings o Palesinians wih hose o Holo-

caus-era Jews inerviewees also drew parallels beween he Iraq warand he Holocaus equaing Bush wih Hiler Some also compared he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 2: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 213

Contents

middot Acknowledgments ix

middot Inroducion 983089

983089 European Muslims Beween Inegraion

and Discriminaion 983096

983090 Debaes and Surveys on EuropeanMuslim Anisemiism 983091983090

983091 Inerviews wih Young Muslim

Men in Europe 983093983094

983092 Paterns of Anisemiism among

Inerviewees and Beyond 983095983095

983093 ldquoClassicrdquo Modern Anisemiism 983096983089

983094 Anisemiism Relaed o Israel 983089983088983094

983095 Anisemiism Relaed o Islam or

Religious or Ehnic Ideniy 983089983091983090

983096 Anisemiism wihou Raionalizaion 983089983094983088

983097 Percepions of he Holocaus 983089983096983092

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 313

983089983088 Sources of Anisemiic Atiudes 983090983089983094

983089983089 Posiive Examples Rejecing Anisemiism 983090983093983094

middot Conclusion 983090983095983089

middot Appendix A Working Definition

of Antisemitism 983090983096983091

middot Appendix B List of Interviewees 983090983096983095

middot Notes 983090983097983089

middot References 983091983089983097

middot Index 983091983091983097

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 413

983089983096983092

983120983154983145 983158983137983156983141 983152983141983154983139983141983152983156 983145983151983150983155 983151983142 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983140983145983142983142983141983154 983142983154983151983149 983152983157983138983148983145983139discourses o he Holocaus Wha are sources o knowledge abou heHolocaus or young European Muslims Wha is he role o heir eh-nic or religious background Wha do hey know abou he Holocaus

wha are biased atiudes hey may hold on he subjec and how are hey voiced Wha are he raionales How are heir views relaed o generalpercepions o he Holocaus in European counries Wha disorions

o hisorical acs influenced by culural pressures and values emerge1

Tis chaper ocuses on inervieweesrsquo percepions o he Holocaus Te

wider conex is deal wih in deail in he edied volume Perceptions

o he Holocaus in Europe and Muslim Communiies Sources Compari-sons and Educaional Challenges2

I can be assumed ha European Muslims see he Holocaus as lesscenral o heir hisory Similarly he discourses wihin Muslim ami-lies are generally less influenced by heir own hisory and by a collec-

ive eeling o guil as compared o Europeans whose amilies lived inEurope during he Second World War Mos European Muslims comerom counries ha played only a minor role in he Holocaus and rom

which relaively ew Jews i any were depored o German deah campsin Easern Europe3 However in many European Muslimsrsquo counries

o origin Holocaus denial is widespread he Holocaus is ofen por-rayed as a ool used by Israel conspiracy heories abou an alleged

Nazi-Zionis collaboraion are widespread and Israel is equaed wih

Nazism4 Tere is a level o open Holocaus denial in some mass mediain Muslim-majoriy counries ha is no seen in European counries Te

983150983145983150983141

Perceptions of the Holocaust

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 513

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983093

urkish daily Vaki or example was prined in Germany or is readershere unil 983090983088983088983093 when i was banned by he German auhoriies or isdenial o he Holocaus as well as or anisemiic and ani-Wesern pro-paganda5 Oher publicaions such as he Duch urkish journal Doğuș affiliaed wih he Islamis organizaion Milli Goumlruumlș have been prinedin Europe unchallenged or years despie heir ourigh Holocaus denialand blun conspiracy heories6

Te relucance o European Muslim organizaions o paricipae inHolocaus commemoraions or heir ourigh rejecion o hem7 andhe difficulies schools ofen have in eaching abou he Holocaus o

Muslim sudens highligh he problemaic views ha some EuropeanMuslims hold8 However in he Neherlands a survey o eachers re- veals ha diminishmen o he Holocaus is widespread In 983090983088983088983092 983093983088

percen o he polled eachers said ha heir sudens diminished heHolocaus a leas once during he pas year hough his number wasdown o 983090983093 percen in 983090983088983089983091 rivializaion o he Holocaus and ani-

semiism is more requen in schools wih large groups o urkish andMoroccan sudens9 In Germany Die Zei published a survey on views

o he Holocaus o 983092983088983088 people o urkish origin in January 983090983088983089983088 Sixy-eigh percen admited ha hey knew litle abou he Holocaus and

983092983088 percen said ha people o urkish background living in Germanyshould no be concerned wih sudying he subjec10 A poll on Muslimsin he Unied Kingdom rom 983090983088983088983094 shows ha only a hird believed hahe Holocaus happened as hisory eaches and 983089983095 percen hough hai has been exaggeraed11

Wha do paricipans inerviewed or his sudy hink abou he

Holocaus In he ollowing secions I firs give a brie descripion o he basic knowledge mos inerviewees have abou he Holocaus and heirsources o knowledge Second I presen paricipansrsquo doubs and con-spiracy heories abou he Holocaus Tird I discuss conexualizaionsand comparisons o he Holocaus wih oher arociies some are biasedsuch as equaions o Israel wih he Nazis and he suffering o Palesin-ians wih ha o Jews in he Holocaus Finally I examine heir emo-ional reacions o he Holocaus ranging rom condemnaions o heperperaors and empahy wih he vicims o approval o he Holocaus

based on Jew hared

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 613

983089983096983094 European Muslim Anisemiism

983123983144983137 983154983141 983140 983106983137983155983145983139 983115983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141 983151983142 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Inerviewees ofen did no know he meaning o ldquoHolocausrdquo or ldquoAusch- wizrdquo a firs bu as he proceeding conversaions revealed mos had

heard o he erm Holocaus and some menioned Auschwiz sponane-ously12 Few are amiliar wih he Hebrew word or Holocaus ldquoShoahrdquoMany do no know he exac year he Second World War sared andended and some mix up hisorical evens as differen as he Second

World War and he all o he Berlin Wall in 983089983097983096983097 A flagran lack o

knowledge also emerged occasionally wih he surmise ha he Naional

Socialiss killed Jews or religious reasons or wih quesions such asldquoWas i a ough [ ] equal figh rdquo (Malik London) Bu mos iner- viewees did have some basic knowledge abou he hisorical ac o hemurder o he European Jews by he Nazis including ha Jews were per-secued and killed in Germany in vas numbers during he Second World

War13 Te Nazis and paricularly he dicaor Hiler were idenified ashe perperaors Te ac ha many Jews were gassed and burn in con-cenraion camps is also widely known However knowledge abou he

Holocaus is ofen vague and no imporan o paricipans14 Bashkarrom London has very limied knowledge o he Holocaus alhough hedid remember imporan aspecs such as he killing o many Jews in gaschambers Bu consider his iniial reacion o his quesion

Inerviewer Do you know he word ldquoHolocaus rdquo

Bashkar Holocaus yeah I rsquos ha place inni

Inerviewer No i rsquos no a place

Bashkar Oh yeah irsquos he Jews hey were killed inni [ ] Millions

Bashkarrsquos knowledge o he Holocaus is no easily accessible a

sign according o social psychology research on atiudes ha i is noan imporan issue or him15 Many oher inerviewees have much moredeailed knowledge o he orms o persecuion and killings o Jews heracis ideology o an ldquoAryanrdquo race and he Second World War Manyalso know deails abou Adol Hiler including his Ausrian birh hisunsuccessul career as a painer and his suicide And o course iner-

viewees know o Hilerrsquos disinc mousache Some pu he Holocausin he conex o a long hisory o discriminaion and persecuion o he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 713

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983095

Jews such as being blamed or he Black Deah or he murder o JesusChris Very ew inerviewees were explicily disineresed in he his-ory o he Holocaus

983123983151983157983154983139983141983155 983151983142 983115 983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141

Inerviewees reerred o school as heir mos imporan source o knowl-edge abou he Holocaus saying ha in addiion hey had visied me-morial sies wih school groups and me Holocaus survivors16 Howeverhe ideological driving orces or he exerminaion o Jewry are ofenreduced o prejudices and inolerance in general Bahaar recalled whahe had learned in school in London abou he reasons behind he Holo-caus ldquo In lessons I learned ha irsquos jus basically a process where los o Jews go killed because o he reason ha hey were differen and ha hey didnrsquowan hem hererdquo Tis generally widespread percepion ignores he acha well-inegraed Jews and even people who did no consider hem-selves Jewish a all were made ldquodifferenrdquo and were also indiscriminaelykilled in he Holocaus Wha is more modern anisemiism goes well

beyond xenophobic atiudes i is less abou exclusion o oreigners hanabou a global hared o Jews wherever hey are17

Anoher requenly cied source o knowledge is elevision hrough which inerviewees learned paricularly abou he Warsaw Gheto Hi-ler he persecuion and murder o Jews and he Second World War I isnoeworhy ha one inerviewee rom Berlin visied he ormer concen-raion camp Sachsenhausen wih he youh group o he local mosqueFriends and relaives books films and he inerne were only occasion-

ally menioned as sources o knowledge on he Holocaus Howeverhese sources including vague reerences o ldquowha hey have heardrdquo

can have an imporan impac on quesioning public narraives o heHolocaus such as wha is augh in school

O course he way knowledge is presened is relaed o various

inerpreaions and explanaions o he Holocaus Salih rom Berlin

or example gave a simpliying accoun o he Holocaus in a nushellldquoHiler became poliician and when imes were bad he lay all he blame on

he Jews and hen he jus sared o kill hem all o gas hemrdquo He porrayedHiler as he only responsible perperaor and used he heory ha Jews

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 813

983089983096983096 European Muslim Anisemiism

were made scapegoas or explaining heir subsequen murder Boh areprominen views on he Holocaus in Germany18

983108983151983157983138983156983155 983108983141983150983145983137 983148 983137983150983140 983107983151983150983155983152983145983154983137983139983145983141 983155983137983138983151983157983156 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Some inerpreaions explanaions and belies abou he Holocaus

amoun o diminishing or even denying he Holocaus Tis ofen con-radics wha inerviewees have learned in school Tree inervieweesexplicily depiced he Holocaus as a myh or said ha ar ewer han six

million Jews were killed Haroun or example is aware o he dispariyo his belies and he narraive he was augh in school in France

Tey are saying he Jews were killed and ha I donrsquo know i harsquos rue Tis is

wha I was augh in school ha hey were depored killed some hings Bu I was

old somehing else ha here was an illness called yphus which spread everywhere

and harsquos why hey were burn

[ ]

Anyway Irsquove heard in a poli ical debae he y said ha hi s was because o a

srange disease he images which were filmed a leas some o hem [ ] ha was

because o he disease which was called yphus [ ] which spread across Germanya a cerain ime Everywhere a bi everywhere well here was in he concenraion

camps I donrsquo know around he camps or in he rain or Everybody go his

disease his people had o be burn

Haroun a Frenchman o Algerian descen doubs ha Jews werekilled sysemaically and labels he Holocaus as ldquononsenserdquo and a ldquosaesecrerdquo He hinks ha Jews and ohers had o be burn because o y-phus Haroun reers o wo narraives he one he has learned in school

(which he doubs) and anoher one which he ldquowas oldrdquo and which heeels was confirmed in a poliical debae probably on French 983124983126 abouyphus in concenraion camps

Aban o Souh Asian origin rom London is anoher example osomeone who denies he Holocaus He is convinced ha ldquoHiler did nokill six million Jews [ ] He killed about six hundred thousandrdquo He doubshe inormaion he learned in school saying ha picures o shaven-

headed people in ldquohose jackesrdquo in concenraion camps could be saged

and ha he inormaion sudens ge in school is probably biased Abangave hree argumens or his doubs on he number o six million His

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 913

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983097

firs argumen is ha here are so many Jews oday ha he canno believeha as he said more han hal o he Jews were killed19 Tis argumenhins a a widespread overesimaion o he number o Jews alive o-

day Te worldrsquos Jewish populaion is less han 983089983092 million (983088983090 percen)However 983091983096 percen o hose polled in he worldwide 983090983088983089983092 983105 983108983116 Global983089983088983088 survey believed ha he global Jewish populaion is bigger han 983089983088percen Second Aban used he film Schindlerrsquos List as evidence ha

many Jews were saved which confirms ha a film abou he Holocausocusing on he rescue o Jews can be he basis o a misconcepion abouhe Holocaus given ha in ac only a relaively ew were rescued 20

And Abanrsquos hird argumen is ha ldquoo deal wih six million Jews and henhe res o he world He canrsquo [ ] I would ake more han he populaionof Germany to do thatrdquo Tis seems o be a resul o sheer disbelie regard-ing he scale o he murderous enerprise or a biased overesimae o hepower o hese six million Jewish civilians Ineresingly he claimed hahe has ound ou his ldquoruhrdquo by himsel hrough ldquocommon senserdquo Hehus presened himsel as someone who has made up his own mind and

who has revealed he ruh agains he official allegedly biased narraive

rom school and 983124983126 Tis is a ypical elemen o conspiracy heoriesNeoy anoher inerviewee o Asian background knows abou Ho-

locaus Memorial Day bu he is convinced ha ldquoonlyrdquo close o a mil-lion Jews were killed reerring o a book by a ldquo journalis ha acuallyinvesigaed he killing rdquo and o ldquoofficial saisicsrdquo possibly menioned inha book21 Mos ineresingly he saed in ha conex ldquo I hink hereis an elie who says wha does and wha doesnrsquo gordquo He hus believes hapublic discourse on he Holocaus including Holocaus Memorial Day

is dicaed by a small group which he did no name He can explain hediscrepancy beween public discourse and his ldquosourcesrdquo wih he helpo his conspiracy heory

A ew ohers voiced doubs abou he Holocaus which can also

be seen as a orm o Holocaus denial22 Manoj rom London o Souh Asian origin however voiced such srong doubs ha he porrayed heHolocaus as a ficiious narraive

Wha a lo o people are saying is did he Holocaus exis or no A lo o hingsdonrsquo add up Te y are saying 983094 million Jews go massacred bu were here 983094 million

Jews in Europe a ha ime [ ] So harsquos why hey are eaching [ ] Tey wan

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1013

983089983097983088 European Muslim Anisemiism

o make i so ha people believe he Holocaus really did happen And herersquos no a

shadow o doub in ha Tarsquos why heyrsquore eaching everyone fom school

Manoj ried o presen he resuls o research on he Holocaus asconradicory by casing doubs on well-esablished acs In order o back up his doubs he reerred o ldquowha people are sayingrdquo similar oHaroun rom Paris quoed above Manoj believes ha ldquoheyrdquo have anagenda o eaching he Holocaus in school

Nader a Briish ciizen o Norh Arican descen also had his

doubs boh abou Hiler and he Holocaus He claimed ha nobodyknows i and how Hiler died and reerred o a narraive rom ldquoback

homerdquo meaning Morocco Tus he is aware o a discourse in Moroccoabou he Holocaus which he values and which differs rom and evenconradics he discourse in Briain Te ac ha Jews were burn wassomehing he disanced himsel rom boh by indirec speech porray-ing i as a rumor and also emoionally by using vulgar language ldquoWeheard ha Hiler used o barbecue Jewish peoplerdquo He hen added anoherundamenal argumen or he disbelie o wha happened during heShoah ldquo I canrsquot tell you he is a killer because I wasnrsquot with him I wasnrsquot there

siting down wih Hiler having a ea and now he ells me abou his soryrdquoNader hereby claimed ha one can only be sure o hisorical acs i heevens are o direc experience (or relaed ace-o-ace by hose respon-sible or hisorical developmens) and ha all oher accouns o hisoryare o be doubed

Tese examples indicae ha i is no a lack o knowledge which

leads o doubs or denial o he Holocaus Te inerviewees are awareo he ac ha public discourse conradics heir belies bu hey do noaccep public discourse on he Holocaus Tey choose o believe in anarraive o denial which hey have encounered on 983124983126 or in a book orhey believe in a rumor or somehing hey heard rom ldquoback homerdquo orhey claim ha ldquocommon senserdquo in he search or ruh has brough hemo heir conclusions Casing doubs on one aspec o he Holocaus callsino quesion he Holocaus as a hisorical ac alogeher In order o

bridge he gap beween he public discourse and heir own narraives

inerviewees believe he public discourse o be biased or saged and re- ver o conspiracy heories

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1113

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983089

Rumors ha Adol Hiler was Jewish or had Jewish ancesors area recurren rope23 Tey are reerred o as rumors (ldquowha people sayrdquo)

bu also as wha hey have learned in school ldquoHersquos an Austrian His

moher ndash she is Ausrian and Jewish [ ] and he wans o ake revenge[ ] Tis is wha hey old us in schoolrdquo (Bilal Paris) We canno know

wha exacly Bilal was augh in school Bu wha he has learned and wha he reers o as knowledge rom school is ha Hilerrsquos moher was Jewish and ha Hiler waned o ake ldquorevengerdquo or wha we do no

know Porraying Hiler as being relaed o Jews however suggess

ha he knew Jews well and had his reasons or his Jew hared or even

ha here was a collaboraion beween Hiler and Jews Te later in-erpreaion is promoed by Uumlmi rom Berlin o urkish origin He

believes ha Hiler was ldquoHalbjuderdquo (hal-Jewish) and collaboraed wihhose who waned o esablish ldquoa Greaer Israelrdquo He porrays Hiler asa ldquoweaponrdquo or his goal eliminaing all he weak and poor Jews who

were ldquouselessrdquo or he esablishmen o a ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo and no kil linghe educaed and rich And he akes his percepion ha here are moslyrich and influenial Jews oday who sick ogeher and ry o advance

ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo as evidence or his heory Hence he accuses an allegedleadership o Jews and Israelis or he Holocaus and porrays Hileras a vicim o his conspiracy I should be noed ha Uumlmi uses Nazierminology such as he word ldquoHalbjuderdquo and acceps he view o heNaional Socialiss ha ldquohose who were gassed hey were simply goodor nohingrdquo

983107983151983149983152983137983154 983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983156983151 983119983156983144983141983154 983105983156983154983151983139983145983156983145 983141983155

Equaing he Holocaus o he Israeli reamen o Palesinians is an an-isemiic rope24 Some surveys have used i as an iem or conemporaryanisemiic atiudes25 How did inerviewees compare he Holocaus ooher alleged and real arociies Many equae he Holocaus o oherhisorical evens or draw inappropriae analogies o he Holocaus Inaddiion o equaing he sufferings o Palesinians wih hose o Holo-

caus-era Jews inerviewees also drew parallels beween he Iraq warand he Holocaus equaing Bush wih Hiler Some also compared he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 3: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 313

983089983088 Sources of Anisemiic Atiudes 983090983089983094

983089983089 Posiive Examples Rejecing Anisemiism 983090983093983094

middot Conclusion 983090983095983089

middot Appendix A Working Definition

of Antisemitism 983090983096983091

middot Appendix B List of Interviewees 983090983096983095

middot Notes 983090983097983089

middot References 983091983089983097

middot Index 983091983091983097

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 413

983089983096983092

983120983154983145 983158983137983156983141 983152983141983154983139983141983152983156 983145983151983150983155 983151983142 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983140983145983142983142983141983154 983142983154983151983149 983152983157983138983148983145983139discourses o he Holocaus Wha are sources o knowledge abou heHolocaus or young European Muslims Wha is he role o heir eh-nic or religious background Wha do hey know abou he Holocaus

wha are biased atiudes hey may hold on he subjec and how are hey voiced Wha are he raionales How are heir views relaed o generalpercepions o he Holocaus in European counries Wha disorions

o hisorical acs influenced by culural pressures and values emerge1

Tis chaper ocuses on inervieweesrsquo percepions o he Holocaus Te

wider conex is deal wih in deail in he edied volume Perceptions

o he Holocaus in Europe and Muslim Communiies Sources Compari-sons and Educaional Challenges2

I can be assumed ha European Muslims see he Holocaus as lesscenral o heir hisory Similarly he discourses wihin Muslim ami-lies are generally less influenced by heir own hisory and by a collec-

ive eeling o guil as compared o Europeans whose amilies lived inEurope during he Second World War Mos European Muslims comerom counries ha played only a minor role in he Holocaus and rom

which relaively ew Jews i any were depored o German deah campsin Easern Europe3 However in many European Muslimsrsquo counries

o origin Holocaus denial is widespread he Holocaus is ofen por-rayed as a ool used by Israel conspiracy heories abou an alleged

Nazi-Zionis collaboraion are widespread and Israel is equaed wih

Nazism4 Tere is a level o open Holocaus denial in some mass mediain Muslim-majoriy counries ha is no seen in European counries Te

983150983145983150983141

Perceptions of the Holocaust

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 513

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983093

urkish daily Vaki or example was prined in Germany or is readershere unil 983090983088983088983093 when i was banned by he German auhoriies or isdenial o he Holocaus as well as or anisemiic and ani-Wesern pro-paganda5 Oher publicaions such as he Duch urkish journal Doğuș affiliaed wih he Islamis organizaion Milli Goumlruumlș have been prinedin Europe unchallenged or years despie heir ourigh Holocaus denialand blun conspiracy heories6

Te relucance o European Muslim organizaions o paricipae inHolocaus commemoraions or heir ourigh rejecion o hem7 andhe difficulies schools ofen have in eaching abou he Holocaus o

Muslim sudens highligh he problemaic views ha some EuropeanMuslims hold8 However in he Neherlands a survey o eachers re- veals ha diminishmen o he Holocaus is widespread In 983090983088983088983092 983093983088

percen o he polled eachers said ha heir sudens diminished heHolocaus a leas once during he pas year hough his number wasdown o 983090983093 percen in 983090983088983089983091 rivializaion o he Holocaus and ani-

semiism is more requen in schools wih large groups o urkish andMoroccan sudens9 In Germany Die Zei published a survey on views

o he Holocaus o 983092983088983088 people o urkish origin in January 983090983088983089983088 Sixy-eigh percen admited ha hey knew litle abou he Holocaus and

983092983088 percen said ha people o urkish background living in Germanyshould no be concerned wih sudying he subjec10 A poll on Muslimsin he Unied Kingdom rom 983090983088983088983094 shows ha only a hird believed hahe Holocaus happened as hisory eaches and 983089983095 percen hough hai has been exaggeraed11

Wha do paricipans inerviewed or his sudy hink abou he

Holocaus In he ollowing secions I firs give a brie descripion o he basic knowledge mos inerviewees have abou he Holocaus and heirsources o knowledge Second I presen paricipansrsquo doubs and con-spiracy heories abou he Holocaus Tird I discuss conexualizaionsand comparisons o he Holocaus wih oher arociies some are biasedsuch as equaions o Israel wih he Nazis and he suffering o Palesin-ians wih ha o Jews in he Holocaus Finally I examine heir emo-ional reacions o he Holocaus ranging rom condemnaions o heperperaors and empahy wih he vicims o approval o he Holocaus

based on Jew hared

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 613

983089983096983094 European Muslim Anisemiism

983123983144983137 983154983141 983140 983106983137983155983145983139 983115983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141 983151983142 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Inerviewees ofen did no know he meaning o ldquoHolocausrdquo or ldquoAusch- wizrdquo a firs bu as he proceeding conversaions revealed mos had

heard o he erm Holocaus and some menioned Auschwiz sponane-ously12 Few are amiliar wih he Hebrew word or Holocaus ldquoShoahrdquoMany do no know he exac year he Second World War sared andended and some mix up hisorical evens as differen as he Second

World War and he all o he Berlin Wall in 983089983097983096983097 A flagran lack o

knowledge also emerged occasionally wih he surmise ha he Naional

Socialiss killed Jews or religious reasons or wih quesions such asldquoWas i a ough [ ] equal figh rdquo (Malik London) Bu mos iner- viewees did have some basic knowledge abou he hisorical ac o hemurder o he European Jews by he Nazis including ha Jews were per-secued and killed in Germany in vas numbers during he Second World

War13 Te Nazis and paricularly he dicaor Hiler were idenified ashe perperaors Te ac ha many Jews were gassed and burn in con-cenraion camps is also widely known However knowledge abou he

Holocaus is ofen vague and no imporan o paricipans14 Bashkarrom London has very limied knowledge o he Holocaus alhough hedid remember imporan aspecs such as he killing o many Jews in gaschambers Bu consider his iniial reacion o his quesion

Inerviewer Do you know he word ldquoHolocaus rdquo

Bashkar Holocaus yeah I rsquos ha place inni

Inerviewer No i rsquos no a place

Bashkar Oh yeah irsquos he Jews hey were killed inni [ ] Millions

Bashkarrsquos knowledge o he Holocaus is no easily accessible a

sign according o social psychology research on atiudes ha i is noan imporan issue or him15 Many oher inerviewees have much moredeailed knowledge o he orms o persecuion and killings o Jews heracis ideology o an ldquoAryanrdquo race and he Second World War Manyalso know deails abou Adol Hiler including his Ausrian birh hisunsuccessul career as a painer and his suicide And o course iner-

viewees know o Hilerrsquos disinc mousache Some pu he Holocausin he conex o a long hisory o discriminaion and persecuion o he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 713

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983095

Jews such as being blamed or he Black Deah or he murder o JesusChris Very ew inerviewees were explicily disineresed in he his-ory o he Holocaus

983123983151983157983154983139983141983155 983151983142 983115 983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141

Inerviewees reerred o school as heir mos imporan source o knowl-edge abou he Holocaus saying ha in addiion hey had visied me-morial sies wih school groups and me Holocaus survivors16 Howeverhe ideological driving orces or he exerminaion o Jewry are ofenreduced o prejudices and inolerance in general Bahaar recalled whahe had learned in school in London abou he reasons behind he Holo-caus ldquo In lessons I learned ha irsquos jus basically a process where los o Jews go killed because o he reason ha hey were differen and ha hey didnrsquowan hem hererdquo Tis generally widespread percepion ignores he acha well-inegraed Jews and even people who did no consider hem-selves Jewish a all were made ldquodifferenrdquo and were also indiscriminaelykilled in he Holocaus Wha is more modern anisemiism goes well

beyond xenophobic atiudes i is less abou exclusion o oreigners hanabou a global hared o Jews wherever hey are17

Anoher requenly cied source o knowledge is elevision hrough which inerviewees learned paricularly abou he Warsaw Gheto Hi-ler he persecuion and murder o Jews and he Second World War I isnoeworhy ha one inerviewee rom Berlin visied he ormer concen-raion camp Sachsenhausen wih he youh group o he local mosqueFriends and relaives books films and he inerne were only occasion-

ally menioned as sources o knowledge on he Holocaus Howeverhese sources including vague reerences o ldquowha hey have heardrdquo

can have an imporan impac on quesioning public narraives o heHolocaus such as wha is augh in school

O course he way knowledge is presened is relaed o various

inerpreaions and explanaions o he Holocaus Salih rom Berlin

or example gave a simpliying accoun o he Holocaus in a nushellldquoHiler became poliician and when imes were bad he lay all he blame on

he Jews and hen he jus sared o kill hem all o gas hemrdquo He porrayedHiler as he only responsible perperaor and used he heory ha Jews

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 813

983089983096983096 European Muslim Anisemiism

were made scapegoas or explaining heir subsequen murder Boh areprominen views on he Holocaus in Germany18

983108983151983157983138983156983155 983108983141983150983145983137 983148 983137983150983140 983107983151983150983155983152983145983154983137983139983145983141 983155983137983138983151983157983156 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Some inerpreaions explanaions and belies abou he Holocaus

amoun o diminishing or even denying he Holocaus Tis ofen con-radics wha inerviewees have learned in school Tree inervieweesexplicily depiced he Holocaus as a myh or said ha ar ewer han six

million Jews were killed Haroun or example is aware o he dispariyo his belies and he narraive he was augh in school in France

Tey are saying he Jews were killed and ha I donrsquo know i harsquos rue Tis is

wha I was augh in school ha hey were depored killed some hings Bu I was

old somehing else ha here was an illness called yphus which spread everywhere

and harsquos why hey were burn

[ ]

Anyway Irsquove heard in a poli ical debae he y said ha hi s was because o a

srange disease he images which were filmed a leas some o hem [ ] ha was

because o he disease which was called yphus [ ] which spread across Germanya a cerain ime Everywhere a bi everywhere well here was in he concenraion

camps I donrsquo know around he camps or in he rain or Everybody go his

disease his people had o be burn

Haroun a Frenchman o Algerian descen doubs ha Jews werekilled sysemaically and labels he Holocaus as ldquononsenserdquo and a ldquosaesecrerdquo He hinks ha Jews and ohers had o be burn because o y-phus Haroun reers o wo narraives he one he has learned in school

(which he doubs) and anoher one which he ldquowas oldrdquo and which heeels was confirmed in a poliical debae probably on French 983124983126 abouyphus in concenraion camps

Aban o Souh Asian origin rom London is anoher example osomeone who denies he Holocaus He is convinced ha ldquoHiler did nokill six million Jews [ ] He killed about six hundred thousandrdquo He doubshe inormaion he learned in school saying ha picures o shaven-

headed people in ldquohose jackesrdquo in concenraion camps could be saged

and ha he inormaion sudens ge in school is probably biased Abangave hree argumens or his doubs on he number o six million His

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 913

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983097

firs argumen is ha here are so many Jews oday ha he canno believeha as he said more han hal o he Jews were killed19 Tis argumenhins a a widespread overesimaion o he number o Jews alive o-

day Te worldrsquos Jewish populaion is less han 983089983092 million (983088983090 percen)However 983091983096 percen o hose polled in he worldwide 983090983088983089983092 983105 983108983116 Global983089983088983088 survey believed ha he global Jewish populaion is bigger han 983089983088percen Second Aban used he film Schindlerrsquos List as evidence ha

many Jews were saved which confirms ha a film abou he Holocausocusing on he rescue o Jews can be he basis o a misconcepion abouhe Holocaus given ha in ac only a relaively ew were rescued 20

And Abanrsquos hird argumen is ha ldquoo deal wih six million Jews and henhe res o he world He canrsquo [ ] I would ake more han he populaionof Germany to do thatrdquo Tis seems o be a resul o sheer disbelie regard-ing he scale o he murderous enerprise or a biased overesimae o hepower o hese six million Jewish civilians Ineresingly he claimed hahe has ound ou his ldquoruhrdquo by himsel hrough ldquocommon senserdquo Hehus presened himsel as someone who has made up his own mind and

who has revealed he ruh agains he official allegedly biased narraive

rom school and 983124983126 Tis is a ypical elemen o conspiracy heoriesNeoy anoher inerviewee o Asian background knows abou Ho-

locaus Memorial Day bu he is convinced ha ldquoonlyrdquo close o a mil-lion Jews were killed reerring o a book by a ldquo journalis ha acuallyinvesigaed he killing rdquo and o ldquoofficial saisicsrdquo possibly menioned inha book21 Mos ineresingly he saed in ha conex ldquo I hink hereis an elie who says wha does and wha doesnrsquo gordquo He hus believes hapublic discourse on he Holocaus including Holocaus Memorial Day

is dicaed by a small group which he did no name He can explain hediscrepancy beween public discourse and his ldquosourcesrdquo wih he helpo his conspiracy heory

A ew ohers voiced doubs abou he Holocaus which can also

be seen as a orm o Holocaus denial22 Manoj rom London o Souh Asian origin however voiced such srong doubs ha he porrayed heHolocaus as a ficiious narraive

Wha a lo o people are saying is did he Holocaus exis or no A lo o hingsdonrsquo add up Te y are saying 983094 million Jews go massacred bu were here 983094 million

Jews in Europe a ha ime [ ] So harsquos why hey are eaching [ ] Tey wan

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1013

983089983097983088 European Muslim Anisemiism

o make i so ha people believe he Holocaus really did happen And herersquos no a

shadow o doub in ha Tarsquos why heyrsquore eaching everyone fom school

Manoj ried o presen he resuls o research on he Holocaus asconradicory by casing doubs on well-esablished acs In order o back up his doubs he reerred o ldquowha people are sayingrdquo similar oHaroun rom Paris quoed above Manoj believes ha ldquoheyrdquo have anagenda o eaching he Holocaus in school

Nader a Briish ciizen o Norh Arican descen also had his

doubs boh abou Hiler and he Holocaus He claimed ha nobodyknows i and how Hiler died and reerred o a narraive rom ldquoback

homerdquo meaning Morocco Tus he is aware o a discourse in Moroccoabou he Holocaus which he values and which differs rom and evenconradics he discourse in Briain Te ac ha Jews were burn wassomehing he disanced himsel rom boh by indirec speech porray-ing i as a rumor and also emoionally by using vulgar language ldquoWeheard ha Hiler used o barbecue Jewish peoplerdquo He hen added anoherundamenal argumen or he disbelie o wha happened during heShoah ldquo I canrsquot tell you he is a killer because I wasnrsquot with him I wasnrsquot there

siting down wih Hiler having a ea and now he ells me abou his soryrdquoNader hereby claimed ha one can only be sure o hisorical acs i heevens are o direc experience (or relaed ace-o-ace by hose respon-sible or hisorical developmens) and ha all oher accouns o hisoryare o be doubed

Tese examples indicae ha i is no a lack o knowledge which

leads o doubs or denial o he Holocaus Te inerviewees are awareo he ac ha public discourse conradics heir belies bu hey do noaccep public discourse on he Holocaus Tey choose o believe in anarraive o denial which hey have encounered on 983124983126 or in a book orhey believe in a rumor or somehing hey heard rom ldquoback homerdquo orhey claim ha ldquocommon senserdquo in he search or ruh has brough hemo heir conclusions Casing doubs on one aspec o he Holocaus callsino quesion he Holocaus as a hisorical ac alogeher In order o

bridge he gap beween he public discourse and heir own narraives

inerviewees believe he public discourse o be biased or saged and re- ver o conspiracy heories

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1113

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983089

Rumors ha Adol Hiler was Jewish or had Jewish ancesors area recurren rope23 Tey are reerred o as rumors (ldquowha people sayrdquo)

bu also as wha hey have learned in school ldquoHersquos an Austrian His

moher ndash she is Ausrian and Jewish [ ] and he wans o ake revenge[ ] Tis is wha hey old us in schoolrdquo (Bilal Paris) We canno know

wha exacly Bilal was augh in school Bu wha he has learned and wha he reers o as knowledge rom school is ha Hilerrsquos moher was Jewish and ha Hiler waned o ake ldquorevengerdquo or wha we do no

know Porraying Hiler as being relaed o Jews however suggess

ha he knew Jews well and had his reasons or his Jew hared or even

ha here was a collaboraion beween Hiler and Jews Te later in-erpreaion is promoed by Uumlmi rom Berlin o urkish origin He

believes ha Hiler was ldquoHalbjuderdquo (hal-Jewish) and collaboraed wihhose who waned o esablish ldquoa Greaer Israelrdquo He porrays Hiler asa ldquoweaponrdquo or his goal eliminaing all he weak and poor Jews who

were ldquouselessrdquo or he esablishmen o a ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo and no kil linghe educaed and rich And he akes his percepion ha here are moslyrich and influenial Jews oday who sick ogeher and ry o advance

ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo as evidence or his heory Hence he accuses an allegedleadership o Jews and Israelis or he Holocaus and porrays Hileras a vicim o his conspiracy I should be noed ha Uumlmi uses Nazierminology such as he word ldquoHalbjuderdquo and acceps he view o heNaional Socialiss ha ldquohose who were gassed hey were simply goodor nohingrdquo

983107983151983149983152983137983154 983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983156983151 983119983156983144983141983154 983105983156983154983151983139983145983156983145 983141983155

Equaing he Holocaus o he Israeli reamen o Palesinians is an an-isemiic rope24 Some surveys have used i as an iem or conemporaryanisemiic atiudes25 How did inerviewees compare he Holocaus ooher alleged and real arociies Many equae he Holocaus o oherhisorical evens or draw inappropriae analogies o he Holocaus Inaddiion o equaing he sufferings o Palesinians wih hose o Holo-

caus-era Jews inerviewees also drew parallels beween he Iraq warand he Holocaus equaing Bush wih Hiler Some also compared he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 4: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 413

983089983096983092

983120983154983145 983158983137983156983141 983152983141983154983139983141983152983156 983145983151983150983155 983151983142 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983140983145983142983142983141983154 983142983154983151983149 983152983157983138983148983145983139discourses o he Holocaus Wha are sources o knowledge abou heHolocaus or young European Muslims Wha is he role o heir eh-nic or religious background Wha do hey know abou he Holocaus

wha are biased atiudes hey may hold on he subjec and how are hey voiced Wha are he raionales How are heir views relaed o generalpercepions o he Holocaus in European counries Wha disorions

o hisorical acs influenced by culural pressures and values emerge1

Tis chaper ocuses on inervieweesrsquo percepions o he Holocaus Te

wider conex is deal wih in deail in he edied volume Perceptions

o he Holocaus in Europe and Muslim Communiies Sources Compari-sons and Educaional Challenges2

I can be assumed ha European Muslims see he Holocaus as lesscenral o heir hisory Similarly he discourses wihin Muslim ami-lies are generally less influenced by heir own hisory and by a collec-

ive eeling o guil as compared o Europeans whose amilies lived inEurope during he Second World War Mos European Muslims comerom counries ha played only a minor role in he Holocaus and rom

which relaively ew Jews i any were depored o German deah campsin Easern Europe3 However in many European Muslimsrsquo counries

o origin Holocaus denial is widespread he Holocaus is ofen por-rayed as a ool used by Israel conspiracy heories abou an alleged

Nazi-Zionis collaboraion are widespread and Israel is equaed wih

Nazism4 Tere is a level o open Holocaus denial in some mass mediain Muslim-majoriy counries ha is no seen in European counries Te

983150983145983150983141

Perceptions of the Holocaust

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 513

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983093

urkish daily Vaki or example was prined in Germany or is readershere unil 983090983088983088983093 when i was banned by he German auhoriies or isdenial o he Holocaus as well as or anisemiic and ani-Wesern pro-paganda5 Oher publicaions such as he Duch urkish journal Doğuș affiliaed wih he Islamis organizaion Milli Goumlruumlș have been prinedin Europe unchallenged or years despie heir ourigh Holocaus denialand blun conspiracy heories6

Te relucance o European Muslim organizaions o paricipae inHolocaus commemoraions or heir ourigh rejecion o hem7 andhe difficulies schools ofen have in eaching abou he Holocaus o

Muslim sudens highligh he problemaic views ha some EuropeanMuslims hold8 However in he Neherlands a survey o eachers re- veals ha diminishmen o he Holocaus is widespread In 983090983088983088983092 983093983088

percen o he polled eachers said ha heir sudens diminished heHolocaus a leas once during he pas year hough his number wasdown o 983090983093 percen in 983090983088983089983091 rivializaion o he Holocaus and ani-

semiism is more requen in schools wih large groups o urkish andMoroccan sudens9 In Germany Die Zei published a survey on views

o he Holocaus o 983092983088983088 people o urkish origin in January 983090983088983089983088 Sixy-eigh percen admited ha hey knew litle abou he Holocaus and

983092983088 percen said ha people o urkish background living in Germanyshould no be concerned wih sudying he subjec10 A poll on Muslimsin he Unied Kingdom rom 983090983088983088983094 shows ha only a hird believed hahe Holocaus happened as hisory eaches and 983089983095 percen hough hai has been exaggeraed11

Wha do paricipans inerviewed or his sudy hink abou he

Holocaus In he ollowing secions I firs give a brie descripion o he basic knowledge mos inerviewees have abou he Holocaus and heirsources o knowledge Second I presen paricipansrsquo doubs and con-spiracy heories abou he Holocaus Tird I discuss conexualizaionsand comparisons o he Holocaus wih oher arociies some are biasedsuch as equaions o Israel wih he Nazis and he suffering o Palesin-ians wih ha o Jews in he Holocaus Finally I examine heir emo-ional reacions o he Holocaus ranging rom condemnaions o heperperaors and empahy wih he vicims o approval o he Holocaus

based on Jew hared

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 613

983089983096983094 European Muslim Anisemiism

983123983144983137 983154983141 983140 983106983137983155983145983139 983115983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141 983151983142 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Inerviewees ofen did no know he meaning o ldquoHolocausrdquo or ldquoAusch- wizrdquo a firs bu as he proceeding conversaions revealed mos had

heard o he erm Holocaus and some menioned Auschwiz sponane-ously12 Few are amiliar wih he Hebrew word or Holocaus ldquoShoahrdquoMany do no know he exac year he Second World War sared andended and some mix up hisorical evens as differen as he Second

World War and he all o he Berlin Wall in 983089983097983096983097 A flagran lack o

knowledge also emerged occasionally wih he surmise ha he Naional

Socialiss killed Jews or religious reasons or wih quesions such asldquoWas i a ough [ ] equal figh rdquo (Malik London) Bu mos iner- viewees did have some basic knowledge abou he hisorical ac o hemurder o he European Jews by he Nazis including ha Jews were per-secued and killed in Germany in vas numbers during he Second World

War13 Te Nazis and paricularly he dicaor Hiler were idenified ashe perperaors Te ac ha many Jews were gassed and burn in con-cenraion camps is also widely known However knowledge abou he

Holocaus is ofen vague and no imporan o paricipans14 Bashkarrom London has very limied knowledge o he Holocaus alhough hedid remember imporan aspecs such as he killing o many Jews in gaschambers Bu consider his iniial reacion o his quesion

Inerviewer Do you know he word ldquoHolocaus rdquo

Bashkar Holocaus yeah I rsquos ha place inni

Inerviewer No i rsquos no a place

Bashkar Oh yeah irsquos he Jews hey were killed inni [ ] Millions

Bashkarrsquos knowledge o he Holocaus is no easily accessible a

sign according o social psychology research on atiudes ha i is noan imporan issue or him15 Many oher inerviewees have much moredeailed knowledge o he orms o persecuion and killings o Jews heracis ideology o an ldquoAryanrdquo race and he Second World War Manyalso know deails abou Adol Hiler including his Ausrian birh hisunsuccessul career as a painer and his suicide And o course iner-

viewees know o Hilerrsquos disinc mousache Some pu he Holocausin he conex o a long hisory o discriminaion and persecuion o he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 713

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983095

Jews such as being blamed or he Black Deah or he murder o JesusChris Very ew inerviewees were explicily disineresed in he his-ory o he Holocaus

983123983151983157983154983139983141983155 983151983142 983115 983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141

Inerviewees reerred o school as heir mos imporan source o knowl-edge abou he Holocaus saying ha in addiion hey had visied me-morial sies wih school groups and me Holocaus survivors16 Howeverhe ideological driving orces or he exerminaion o Jewry are ofenreduced o prejudices and inolerance in general Bahaar recalled whahe had learned in school in London abou he reasons behind he Holo-caus ldquo In lessons I learned ha irsquos jus basically a process where los o Jews go killed because o he reason ha hey were differen and ha hey didnrsquowan hem hererdquo Tis generally widespread percepion ignores he acha well-inegraed Jews and even people who did no consider hem-selves Jewish a all were made ldquodifferenrdquo and were also indiscriminaelykilled in he Holocaus Wha is more modern anisemiism goes well

beyond xenophobic atiudes i is less abou exclusion o oreigners hanabou a global hared o Jews wherever hey are17

Anoher requenly cied source o knowledge is elevision hrough which inerviewees learned paricularly abou he Warsaw Gheto Hi-ler he persecuion and murder o Jews and he Second World War I isnoeworhy ha one inerviewee rom Berlin visied he ormer concen-raion camp Sachsenhausen wih he youh group o he local mosqueFriends and relaives books films and he inerne were only occasion-

ally menioned as sources o knowledge on he Holocaus Howeverhese sources including vague reerences o ldquowha hey have heardrdquo

can have an imporan impac on quesioning public narraives o heHolocaus such as wha is augh in school

O course he way knowledge is presened is relaed o various

inerpreaions and explanaions o he Holocaus Salih rom Berlin

or example gave a simpliying accoun o he Holocaus in a nushellldquoHiler became poliician and when imes were bad he lay all he blame on

he Jews and hen he jus sared o kill hem all o gas hemrdquo He porrayedHiler as he only responsible perperaor and used he heory ha Jews

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 813

983089983096983096 European Muslim Anisemiism

were made scapegoas or explaining heir subsequen murder Boh areprominen views on he Holocaus in Germany18

983108983151983157983138983156983155 983108983141983150983145983137 983148 983137983150983140 983107983151983150983155983152983145983154983137983139983145983141 983155983137983138983151983157983156 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Some inerpreaions explanaions and belies abou he Holocaus

amoun o diminishing or even denying he Holocaus Tis ofen con-radics wha inerviewees have learned in school Tree inervieweesexplicily depiced he Holocaus as a myh or said ha ar ewer han six

million Jews were killed Haroun or example is aware o he dispariyo his belies and he narraive he was augh in school in France

Tey are saying he Jews were killed and ha I donrsquo know i harsquos rue Tis is

wha I was augh in school ha hey were depored killed some hings Bu I was

old somehing else ha here was an illness called yphus which spread everywhere

and harsquos why hey were burn

[ ]

Anyway Irsquove heard in a poli ical debae he y said ha hi s was because o a

srange disease he images which were filmed a leas some o hem [ ] ha was

because o he disease which was called yphus [ ] which spread across Germanya a cerain ime Everywhere a bi everywhere well here was in he concenraion

camps I donrsquo know around he camps or in he rain or Everybody go his

disease his people had o be burn

Haroun a Frenchman o Algerian descen doubs ha Jews werekilled sysemaically and labels he Holocaus as ldquononsenserdquo and a ldquosaesecrerdquo He hinks ha Jews and ohers had o be burn because o y-phus Haroun reers o wo narraives he one he has learned in school

(which he doubs) and anoher one which he ldquowas oldrdquo and which heeels was confirmed in a poliical debae probably on French 983124983126 abouyphus in concenraion camps

Aban o Souh Asian origin rom London is anoher example osomeone who denies he Holocaus He is convinced ha ldquoHiler did nokill six million Jews [ ] He killed about six hundred thousandrdquo He doubshe inormaion he learned in school saying ha picures o shaven-

headed people in ldquohose jackesrdquo in concenraion camps could be saged

and ha he inormaion sudens ge in school is probably biased Abangave hree argumens or his doubs on he number o six million His

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 913

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983097

firs argumen is ha here are so many Jews oday ha he canno believeha as he said more han hal o he Jews were killed19 Tis argumenhins a a widespread overesimaion o he number o Jews alive o-

day Te worldrsquos Jewish populaion is less han 983089983092 million (983088983090 percen)However 983091983096 percen o hose polled in he worldwide 983090983088983089983092 983105 983108983116 Global983089983088983088 survey believed ha he global Jewish populaion is bigger han 983089983088percen Second Aban used he film Schindlerrsquos List as evidence ha

many Jews were saved which confirms ha a film abou he Holocausocusing on he rescue o Jews can be he basis o a misconcepion abouhe Holocaus given ha in ac only a relaively ew were rescued 20

And Abanrsquos hird argumen is ha ldquoo deal wih six million Jews and henhe res o he world He canrsquo [ ] I would ake more han he populaionof Germany to do thatrdquo Tis seems o be a resul o sheer disbelie regard-ing he scale o he murderous enerprise or a biased overesimae o hepower o hese six million Jewish civilians Ineresingly he claimed hahe has ound ou his ldquoruhrdquo by himsel hrough ldquocommon senserdquo Hehus presened himsel as someone who has made up his own mind and

who has revealed he ruh agains he official allegedly biased narraive

rom school and 983124983126 Tis is a ypical elemen o conspiracy heoriesNeoy anoher inerviewee o Asian background knows abou Ho-

locaus Memorial Day bu he is convinced ha ldquoonlyrdquo close o a mil-lion Jews were killed reerring o a book by a ldquo journalis ha acuallyinvesigaed he killing rdquo and o ldquoofficial saisicsrdquo possibly menioned inha book21 Mos ineresingly he saed in ha conex ldquo I hink hereis an elie who says wha does and wha doesnrsquo gordquo He hus believes hapublic discourse on he Holocaus including Holocaus Memorial Day

is dicaed by a small group which he did no name He can explain hediscrepancy beween public discourse and his ldquosourcesrdquo wih he helpo his conspiracy heory

A ew ohers voiced doubs abou he Holocaus which can also

be seen as a orm o Holocaus denial22 Manoj rom London o Souh Asian origin however voiced such srong doubs ha he porrayed heHolocaus as a ficiious narraive

Wha a lo o people are saying is did he Holocaus exis or no A lo o hingsdonrsquo add up Te y are saying 983094 million Jews go massacred bu were here 983094 million

Jews in Europe a ha ime [ ] So harsquos why hey are eaching [ ] Tey wan

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1013

983089983097983088 European Muslim Anisemiism

o make i so ha people believe he Holocaus really did happen And herersquos no a

shadow o doub in ha Tarsquos why heyrsquore eaching everyone fom school

Manoj ried o presen he resuls o research on he Holocaus asconradicory by casing doubs on well-esablished acs In order o back up his doubs he reerred o ldquowha people are sayingrdquo similar oHaroun rom Paris quoed above Manoj believes ha ldquoheyrdquo have anagenda o eaching he Holocaus in school

Nader a Briish ciizen o Norh Arican descen also had his

doubs boh abou Hiler and he Holocaus He claimed ha nobodyknows i and how Hiler died and reerred o a narraive rom ldquoback

homerdquo meaning Morocco Tus he is aware o a discourse in Moroccoabou he Holocaus which he values and which differs rom and evenconradics he discourse in Briain Te ac ha Jews were burn wassomehing he disanced himsel rom boh by indirec speech porray-ing i as a rumor and also emoionally by using vulgar language ldquoWeheard ha Hiler used o barbecue Jewish peoplerdquo He hen added anoherundamenal argumen or he disbelie o wha happened during heShoah ldquo I canrsquot tell you he is a killer because I wasnrsquot with him I wasnrsquot there

siting down wih Hiler having a ea and now he ells me abou his soryrdquoNader hereby claimed ha one can only be sure o hisorical acs i heevens are o direc experience (or relaed ace-o-ace by hose respon-sible or hisorical developmens) and ha all oher accouns o hisoryare o be doubed

Tese examples indicae ha i is no a lack o knowledge which

leads o doubs or denial o he Holocaus Te inerviewees are awareo he ac ha public discourse conradics heir belies bu hey do noaccep public discourse on he Holocaus Tey choose o believe in anarraive o denial which hey have encounered on 983124983126 or in a book orhey believe in a rumor or somehing hey heard rom ldquoback homerdquo orhey claim ha ldquocommon senserdquo in he search or ruh has brough hemo heir conclusions Casing doubs on one aspec o he Holocaus callsino quesion he Holocaus as a hisorical ac alogeher In order o

bridge he gap beween he public discourse and heir own narraives

inerviewees believe he public discourse o be biased or saged and re- ver o conspiracy heories

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1113

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983089

Rumors ha Adol Hiler was Jewish or had Jewish ancesors area recurren rope23 Tey are reerred o as rumors (ldquowha people sayrdquo)

bu also as wha hey have learned in school ldquoHersquos an Austrian His

moher ndash she is Ausrian and Jewish [ ] and he wans o ake revenge[ ] Tis is wha hey old us in schoolrdquo (Bilal Paris) We canno know

wha exacly Bilal was augh in school Bu wha he has learned and wha he reers o as knowledge rom school is ha Hilerrsquos moher was Jewish and ha Hiler waned o ake ldquorevengerdquo or wha we do no

know Porraying Hiler as being relaed o Jews however suggess

ha he knew Jews well and had his reasons or his Jew hared or even

ha here was a collaboraion beween Hiler and Jews Te later in-erpreaion is promoed by Uumlmi rom Berlin o urkish origin He

believes ha Hiler was ldquoHalbjuderdquo (hal-Jewish) and collaboraed wihhose who waned o esablish ldquoa Greaer Israelrdquo He porrays Hiler asa ldquoweaponrdquo or his goal eliminaing all he weak and poor Jews who

were ldquouselessrdquo or he esablishmen o a ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo and no kil linghe educaed and rich And he akes his percepion ha here are moslyrich and influenial Jews oday who sick ogeher and ry o advance

ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo as evidence or his heory Hence he accuses an allegedleadership o Jews and Israelis or he Holocaus and porrays Hileras a vicim o his conspiracy I should be noed ha Uumlmi uses Nazierminology such as he word ldquoHalbjuderdquo and acceps he view o heNaional Socialiss ha ldquohose who were gassed hey were simply goodor nohingrdquo

983107983151983149983152983137983154 983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983156983151 983119983156983144983141983154 983105983156983154983151983139983145983156983145 983141983155

Equaing he Holocaus o he Israeli reamen o Palesinians is an an-isemiic rope24 Some surveys have used i as an iem or conemporaryanisemiic atiudes25 How did inerviewees compare he Holocaus ooher alleged and real arociies Many equae he Holocaus o oherhisorical evens or draw inappropriae analogies o he Holocaus Inaddiion o equaing he sufferings o Palesinians wih hose o Holo-

caus-era Jews inerviewees also drew parallels beween he Iraq warand he Holocaus equaing Bush wih Hiler Some also compared he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 5: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 513

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983093

urkish daily Vaki or example was prined in Germany or is readershere unil 983090983088983088983093 when i was banned by he German auhoriies or isdenial o he Holocaus as well as or anisemiic and ani-Wesern pro-paganda5 Oher publicaions such as he Duch urkish journal Doğuș affiliaed wih he Islamis organizaion Milli Goumlruumlș have been prinedin Europe unchallenged or years despie heir ourigh Holocaus denialand blun conspiracy heories6

Te relucance o European Muslim organizaions o paricipae inHolocaus commemoraions or heir ourigh rejecion o hem7 andhe difficulies schools ofen have in eaching abou he Holocaus o

Muslim sudens highligh he problemaic views ha some EuropeanMuslims hold8 However in he Neherlands a survey o eachers re- veals ha diminishmen o he Holocaus is widespread In 983090983088983088983092 983093983088

percen o he polled eachers said ha heir sudens diminished heHolocaus a leas once during he pas year hough his number wasdown o 983090983093 percen in 983090983088983089983091 rivializaion o he Holocaus and ani-

semiism is more requen in schools wih large groups o urkish andMoroccan sudens9 In Germany Die Zei published a survey on views

o he Holocaus o 983092983088983088 people o urkish origin in January 983090983088983089983088 Sixy-eigh percen admited ha hey knew litle abou he Holocaus and

983092983088 percen said ha people o urkish background living in Germanyshould no be concerned wih sudying he subjec10 A poll on Muslimsin he Unied Kingdom rom 983090983088983088983094 shows ha only a hird believed hahe Holocaus happened as hisory eaches and 983089983095 percen hough hai has been exaggeraed11

Wha do paricipans inerviewed or his sudy hink abou he

Holocaus In he ollowing secions I firs give a brie descripion o he basic knowledge mos inerviewees have abou he Holocaus and heirsources o knowledge Second I presen paricipansrsquo doubs and con-spiracy heories abou he Holocaus Tird I discuss conexualizaionsand comparisons o he Holocaus wih oher arociies some are biasedsuch as equaions o Israel wih he Nazis and he suffering o Palesin-ians wih ha o Jews in he Holocaus Finally I examine heir emo-ional reacions o he Holocaus ranging rom condemnaions o heperperaors and empahy wih he vicims o approval o he Holocaus

based on Jew hared

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 613

983089983096983094 European Muslim Anisemiism

983123983144983137 983154983141 983140 983106983137983155983145983139 983115983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141 983151983142 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Inerviewees ofen did no know he meaning o ldquoHolocausrdquo or ldquoAusch- wizrdquo a firs bu as he proceeding conversaions revealed mos had

heard o he erm Holocaus and some menioned Auschwiz sponane-ously12 Few are amiliar wih he Hebrew word or Holocaus ldquoShoahrdquoMany do no know he exac year he Second World War sared andended and some mix up hisorical evens as differen as he Second

World War and he all o he Berlin Wall in 983089983097983096983097 A flagran lack o

knowledge also emerged occasionally wih he surmise ha he Naional

Socialiss killed Jews or religious reasons or wih quesions such asldquoWas i a ough [ ] equal figh rdquo (Malik London) Bu mos iner- viewees did have some basic knowledge abou he hisorical ac o hemurder o he European Jews by he Nazis including ha Jews were per-secued and killed in Germany in vas numbers during he Second World

War13 Te Nazis and paricularly he dicaor Hiler were idenified ashe perperaors Te ac ha many Jews were gassed and burn in con-cenraion camps is also widely known However knowledge abou he

Holocaus is ofen vague and no imporan o paricipans14 Bashkarrom London has very limied knowledge o he Holocaus alhough hedid remember imporan aspecs such as he killing o many Jews in gaschambers Bu consider his iniial reacion o his quesion

Inerviewer Do you know he word ldquoHolocaus rdquo

Bashkar Holocaus yeah I rsquos ha place inni

Inerviewer No i rsquos no a place

Bashkar Oh yeah irsquos he Jews hey were killed inni [ ] Millions

Bashkarrsquos knowledge o he Holocaus is no easily accessible a

sign according o social psychology research on atiudes ha i is noan imporan issue or him15 Many oher inerviewees have much moredeailed knowledge o he orms o persecuion and killings o Jews heracis ideology o an ldquoAryanrdquo race and he Second World War Manyalso know deails abou Adol Hiler including his Ausrian birh hisunsuccessul career as a painer and his suicide And o course iner-

viewees know o Hilerrsquos disinc mousache Some pu he Holocausin he conex o a long hisory o discriminaion and persecuion o he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 713

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983095

Jews such as being blamed or he Black Deah or he murder o JesusChris Very ew inerviewees were explicily disineresed in he his-ory o he Holocaus

983123983151983157983154983139983141983155 983151983142 983115 983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141

Inerviewees reerred o school as heir mos imporan source o knowl-edge abou he Holocaus saying ha in addiion hey had visied me-morial sies wih school groups and me Holocaus survivors16 Howeverhe ideological driving orces or he exerminaion o Jewry are ofenreduced o prejudices and inolerance in general Bahaar recalled whahe had learned in school in London abou he reasons behind he Holo-caus ldquo In lessons I learned ha irsquos jus basically a process where los o Jews go killed because o he reason ha hey were differen and ha hey didnrsquowan hem hererdquo Tis generally widespread percepion ignores he acha well-inegraed Jews and even people who did no consider hem-selves Jewish a all were made ldquodifferenrdquo and were also indiscriminaelykilled in he Holocaus Wha is more modern anisemiism goes well

beyond xenophobic atiudes i is less abou exclusion o oreigners hanabou a global hared o Jews wherever hey are17

Anoher requenly cied source o knowledge is elevision hrough which inerviewees learned paricularly abou he Warsaw Gheto Hi-ler he persecuion and murder o Jews and he Second World War I isnoeworhy ha one inerviewee rom Berlin visied he ormer concen-raion camp Sachsenhausen wih he youh group o he local mosqueFriends and relaives books films and he inerne were only occasion-

ally menioned as sources o knowledge on he Holocaus Howeverhese sources including vague reerences o ldquowha hey have heardrdquo

can have an imporan impac on quesioning public narraives o heHolocaus such as wha is augh in school

O course he way knowledge is presened is relaed o various

inerpreaions and explanaions o he Holocaus Salih rom Berlin

or example gave a simpliying accoun o he Holocaus in a nushellldquoHiler became poliician and when imes were bad he lay all he blame on

he Jews and hen he jus sared o kill hem all o gas hemrdquo He porrayedHiler as he only responsible perperaor and used he heory ha Jews

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 813

983089983096983096 European Muslim Anisemiism

were made scapegoas or explaining heir subsequen murder Boh areprominen views on he Holocaus in Germany18

983108983151983157983138983156983155 983108983141983150983145983137 983148 983137983150983140 983107983151983150983155983152983145983154983137983139983145983141 983155983137983138983151983157983156 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Some inerpreaions explanaions and belies abou he Holocaus

amoun o diminishing or even denying he Holocaus Tis ofen con-radics wha inerviewees have learned in school Tree inervieweesexplicily depiced he Holocaus as a myh or said ha ar ewer han six

million Jews were killed Haroun or example is aware o he dispariyo his belies and he narraive he was augh in school in France

Tey are saying he Jews were killed and ha I donrsquo know i harsquos rue Tis is

wha I was augh in school ha hey were depored killed some hings Bu I was

old somehing else ha here was an illness called yphus which spread everywhere

and harsquos why hey were burn

[ ]

Anyway Irsquove heard in a poli ical debae he y said ha hi s was because o a

srange disease he images which were filmed a leas some o hem [ ] ha was

because o he disease which was called yphus [ ] which spread across Germanya a cerain ime Everywhere a bi everywhere well here was in he concenraion

camps I donrsquo know around he camps or in he rain or Everybody go his

disease his people had o be burn

Haroun a Frenchman o Algerian descen doubs ha Jews werekilled sysemaically and labels he Holocaus as ldquononsenserdquo and a ldquosaesecrerdquo He hinks ha Jews and ohers had o be burn because o y-phus Haroun reers o wo narraives he one he has learned in school

(which he doubs) and anoher one which he ldquowas oldrdquo and which heeels was confirmed in a poliical debae probably on French 983124983126 abouyphus in concenraion camps

Aban o Souh Asian origin rom London is anoher example osomeone who denies he Holocaus He is convinced ha ldquoHiler did nokill six million Jews [ ] He killed about six hundred thousandrdquo He doubshe inormaion he learned in school saying ha picures o shaven-

headed people in ldquohose jackesrdquo in concenraion camps could be saged

and ha he inormaion sudens ge in school is probably biased Abangave hree argumens or his doubs on he number o six million His

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 913

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983097

firs argumen is ha here are so many Jews oday ha he canno believeha as he said more han hal o he Jews were killed19 Tis argumenhins a a widespread overesimaion o he number o Jews alive o-

day Te worldrsquos Jewish populaion is less han 983089983092 million (983088983090 percen)However 983091983096 percen o hose polled in he worldwide 983090983088983089983092 983105 983108983116 Global983089983088983088 survey believed ha he global Jewish populaion is bigger han 983089983088percen Second Aban used he film Schindlerrsquos List as evidence ha

many Jews were saved which confirms ha a film abou he Holocausocusing on he rescue o Jews can be he basis o a misconcepion abouhe Holocaus given ha in ac only a relaively ew were rescued 20

And Abanrsquos hird argumen is ha ldquoo deal wih six million Jews and henhe res o he world He canrsquo [ ] I would ake more han he populaionof Germany to do thatrdquo Tis seems o be a resul o sheer disbelie regard-ing he scale o he murderous enerprise or a biased overesimae o hepower o hese six million Jewish civilians Ineresingly he claimed hahe has ound ou his ldquoruhrdquo by himsel hrough ldquocommon senserdquo Hehus presened himsel as someone who has made up his own mind and

who has revealed he ruh agains he official allegedly biased narraive

rom school and 983124983126 Tis is a ypical elemen o conspiracy heoriesNeoy anoher inerviewee o Asian background knows abou Ho-

locaus Memorial Day bu he is convinced ha ldquoonlyrdquo close o a mil-lion Jews were killed reerring o a book by a ldquo journalis ha acuallyinvesigaed he killing rdquo and o ldquoofficial saisicsrdquo possibly menioned inha book21 Mos ineresingly he saed in ha conex ldquo I hink hereis an elie who says wha does and wha doesnrsquo gordquo He hus believes hapublic discourse on he Holocaus including Holocaus Memorial Day

is dicaed by a small group which he did no name He can explain hediscrepancy beween public discourse and his ldquosourcesrdquo wih he helpo his conspiracy heory

A ew ohers voiced doubs abou he Holocaus which can also

be seen as a orm o Holocaus denial22 Manoj rom London o Souh Asian origin however voiced such srong doubs ha he porrayed heHolocaus as a ficiious narraive

Wha a lo o people are saying is did he Holocaus exis or no A lo o hingsdonrsquo add up Te y are saying 983094 million Jews go massacred bu were here 983094 million

Jews in Europe a ha ime [ ] So harsquos why hey are eaching [ ] Tey wan

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1013

983089983097983088 European Muslim Anisemiism

o make i so ha people believe he Holocaus really did happen And herersquos no a

shadow o doub in ha Tarsquos why heyrsquore eaching everyone fom school

Manoj ried o presen he resuls o research on he Holocaus asconradicory by casing doubs on well-esablished acs In order o back up his doubs he reerred o ldquowha people are sayingrdquo similar oHaroun rom Paris quoed above Manoj believes ha ldquoheyrdquo have anagenda o eaching he Holocaus in school

Nader a Briish ciizen o Norh Arican descen also had his

doubs boh abou Hiler and he Holocaus He claimed ha nobodyknows i and how Hiler died and reerred o a narraive rom ldquoback

homerdquo meaning Morocco Tus he is aware o a discourse in Moroccoabou he Holocaus which he values and which differs rom and evenconradics he discourse in Briain Te ac ha Jews were burn wassomehing he disanced himsel rom boh by indirec speech porray-ing i as a rumor and also emoionally by using vulgar language ldquoWeheard ha Hiler used o barbecue Jewish peoplerdquo He hen added anoherundamenal argumen or he disbelie o wha happened during heShoah ldquo I canrsquot tell you he is a killer because I wasnrsquot with him I wasnrsquot there

siting down wih Hiler having a ea and now he ells me abou his soryrdquoNader hereby claimed ha one can only be sure o hisorical acs i heevens are o direc experience (or relaed ace-o-ace by hose respon-sible or hisorical developmens) and ha all oher accouns o hisoryare o be doubed

Tese examples indicae ha i is no a lack o knowledge which

leads o doubs or denial o he Holocaus Te inerviewees are awareo he ac ha public discourse conradics heir belies bu hey do noaccep public discourse on he Holocaus Tey choose o believe in anarraive o denial which hey have encounered on 983124983126 or in a book orhey believe in a rumor or somehing hey heard rom ldquoback homerdquo orhey claim ha ldquocommon senserdquo in he search or ruh has brough hemo heir conclusions Casing doubs on one aspec o he Holocaus callsino quesion he Holocaus as a hisorical ac alogeher In order o

bridge he gap beween he public discourse and heir own narraives

inerviewees believe he public discourse o be biased or saged and re- ver o conspiracy heories

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1113

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983089

Rumors ha Adol Hiler was Jewish or had Jewish ancesors area recurren rope23 Tey are reerred o as rumors (ldquowha people sayrdquo)

bu also as wha hey have learned in school ldquoHersquos an Austrian His

moher ndash she is Ausrian and Jewish [ ] and he wans o ake revenge[ ] Tis is wha hey old us in schoolrdquo (Bilal Paris) We canno know

wha exacly Bilal was augh in school Bu wha he has learned and wha he reers o as knowledge rom school is ha Hilerrsquos moher was Jewish and ha Hiler waned o ake ldquorevengerdquo or wha we do no

know Porraying Hiler as being relaed o Jews however suggess

ha he knew Jews well and had his reasons or his Jew hared or even

ha here was a collaboraion beween Hiler and Jews Te later in-erpreaion is promoed by Uumlmi rom Berlin o urkish origin He

believes ha Hiler was ldquoHalbjuderdquo (hal-Jewish) and collaboraed wihhose who waned o esablish ldquoa Greaer Israelrdquo He porrays Hiler asa ldquoweaponrdquo or his goal eliminaing all he weak and poor Jews who

were ldquouselessrdquo or he esablishmen o a ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo and no kil linghe educaed and rich And he akes his percepion ha here are moslyrich and influenial Jews oday who sick ogeher and ry o advance

ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo as evidence or his heory Hence he accuses an allegedleadership o Jews and Israelis or he Holocaus and porrays Hileras a vicim o his conspiracy I should be noed ha Uumlmi uses Nazierminology such as he word ldquoHalbjuderdquo and acceps he view o heNaional Socialiss ha ldquohose who were gassed hey were simply goodor nohingrdquo

983107983151983149983152983137983154 983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983156983151 983119983156983144983141983154 983105983156983154983151983139983145983156983145 983141983155

Equaing he Holocaus o he Israeli reamen o Palesinians is an an-isemiic rope24 Some surveys have used i as an iem or conemporaryanisemiic atiudes25 How did inerviewees compare he Holocaus ooher alleged and real arociies Many equae he Holocaus o oherhisorical evens or draw inappropriae analogies o he Holocaus Inaddiion o equaing he sufferings o Palesinians wih hose o Holo-

caus-era Jews inerviewees also drew parallels beween he Iraq warand he Holocaus equaing Bush wih Hiler Some also compared he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 6: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 613

983089983096983094 European Muslim Anisemiism

983123983144983137 983154983141 983140 983106983137983155983145983139 983115983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141 983151983142 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Inerviewees ofen did no know he meaning o ldquoHolocausrdquo or ldquoAusch- wizrdquo a firs bu as he proceeding conversaions revealed mos had

heard o he erm Holocaus and some menioned Auschwiz sponane-ously12 Few are amiliar wih he Hebrew word or Holocaus ldquoShoahrdquoMany do no know he exac year he Second World War sared andended and some mix up hisorical evens as differen as he Second

World War and he all o he Berlin Wall in 983089983097983096983097 A flagran lack o

knowledge also emerged occasionally wih he surmise ha he Naional

Socialiss killed Jews or religious reasons or wih quesions such asldquoWas i a ough [ ] equal figh rdquo (Malik London) Bu mos iner- viewees did have some basic knowledge abou he hisorical ac o hemurder o he European Jews by he Nazis including ha Jews were per-secued and killed in Germany in vas numbers during he Second World

War13 Te Nazis and paricularly he dicaor Hiler were idenified ashe perperaors Te ac ha many Jews were gassed and burn in con-cenraion camps is also widely known However knowledge abou he

Holocaus is ofen vague and no imporan o paricipans14 Bashkarrom London has very limied knowledge o he Holocaus alhough hedid remember imporan aspecs such as he killing o many Jews in gaschambers Bu consider his iniial reacion o his quesion

Inerviewer Do you know he word ldquoHolocaus rdquo

Bashkar Holocaus yeah I rsquos ha place inni

Inerviewer No i rsquos no a place

Bashkar Oh yeah irsquos he Jews hey were killed inni [ ] Millions

Bashkarrsquos knowledge o he Holocaus is no easily accessible a

sign according o social psychology research on atiudes ha i is noan imporan issue or him15 Many oher inerviewees have much moredeailed knowledge o he orms o persecuion and killings o Jews heracis ideology o an ldquoAryanrdquo race and he Second World War Manyalso know deails abou Adol Hiler including his Ausrian birh hisunsuccessul career as a painer and his suicide And o course iner-

viewees know o Hilerrsquos disinc mousache Some pu he Holocausin he conex o a long hisory o discriminaion and persecuion o he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 713

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983095

Jews such as being blamed or he Black Deah or he murder o JesusChris Very ew inerviewees were explicily disineresed in he his-ory o he Holocaus

983123983151983157983154983139983141983155 983151983142 983115 983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141

Inerviewees reerred o school as heir mos imporan source o knowl-edge abou he Holocaus saying ha in addiion hey had visied me-morial sies wih school groups and me Holocaus survivors16 Howeverhe ideological driving orces or he exerminaion o Jewry are ofenreduced o prejudices and inolerance in general Bahaar recalled whahe had learned in school in London abou he reasons behind he Holo-caus ldquo In lessons I learned ha irsquos jus basically a process where los o Jews go killed because o he reason ha hey were differen and ha hey didnrsquowan hem hererdquo Tis generally widespread percepion ignores he acha well-inegraed Jews and even people who did no consider hem-selves Jewish a all were made ldquodifferenrdquo and were also indiscriminaelykilled in he Holocaus Wha is more modern anisemiism goes well

beyond xenophobic atiudes i is less abou exclusion o oreigners hanabou a global hared o Jews wherever hey are17

Anoher requenly cied source o knowledge is elevision hrough which inerviewees learned paricularly abou he Warsaw Gheto Hi-ler he persecuion and murder o Jews and he Second World War I isnoeworhy ha one inerviewee rom Berlin visied he ormer concen-raion camp Sachsenhausen wih he youh group o he local mosqueFriends and relaives books films and he inerne were only occasion-

ally menioned as sources o knowledge on he Holocaus Howeverhese sources including vague reerences o ldquowha hey have heardrdquo

can have an imporan impac on quesioning public narraives o heHolocaus such as wha is augh in school

O course he way knowledge is presened is relaed o various

inerpreaions and explanaions o he Holocaus Salih rom Berlin

or example gave a simpliying accoun o he Holocaus in a nushellldquoHiler became poliician and when imes were bad he lay all he blame on

he Jews and hen he jus sared o kill hem all o gas hemrdquo He porrayedHiler as he only responsible perperaor and used he heory ha Jews

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 813

983089983096983096 European Muslim Anisemiism

were made scapegoas or explaining heir subsequen murder Boh areprominen views on he Holocaus in Germany18

983108983151983157983138983156983155 983108983141983150983145983137 983148 983137983150983140 983107983151983150983155983152983145983154983137983139983145983141 983155983137983138983151983157983156 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Some inerpreaions explanaions and belies abou he Holocaus

amoun o diminishing or even denying he Holocaus Tis ofen con-radics wha inerviewees have learned in school Tree inervieweesexplicily depiced he Holocaus as a myh or said ha ar ewer han six

million Jews were killed Haroun or example is aware o he dispariyo his belies and he narraive he was augh in school in France

Tey are saying he Jews were killed and ha I donrsquo know i harsquos rue Tis is

wha I was augh in school ha hey were depored killed some hings Bu I was

old somehing else ha here was an illness called yphus which spread everywhere

and harsquos why hey were burn

[ ]

Anyway Irsquove heard in a poli ical debae he y said ha hi s was because o a

srange disease he images which were filmed a leas some o hem [ ] ha was

because o he disease which was called yphus [ ] which spread across Germanya a cerain ime Everywhere a bi everywhere well here was in he concenraion

camps I donrsquo know around he camps or in he rain or Everybody go his

disease his people had o be burn

Haroun a Frenchman o Algerian descen doubs ha Jews werekilled sysemaically and labels he Holocaus as ldquononsenserdquo and a ldquosaesecrerdquo He hinks ha Jews and ohers had o be burn because o y-phus Haroun reers o wo narraives he one he has learned in school

(which he doubs) and anoher one which he ldquowas oldrdquo and which heeels was confirmed in a poliical debae probably on French 983124983126 abouyphus in concenraion camps

Aban o Souh Asian origin rom London is anoher example osomeone who denies he Holocaus He is convinced ha ldquoHiler did nokill six million Jews [ ] He killed about six hundred thousandrdquo He doubshe inormaion he learned in school saying ha picures o shaven-

headed people in ldquohose jackesrdquo in concenraion camps could be saged

and ha he inormaion sudens ge in school is probably biased Abangave hree argumens or his doubs on he number o six million His

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 913

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983097

firs argumen is ha here are so many Jews oday ha he canno believeha as he said more han hal o he Jews were killed19 Tis argumenhins a a widespread overesimaion o he number o Jews alive o-

day Te worldrsquos Jewish populaion is less han 983089983092 million (983088983090 percen)However 983091983096 percen o hose polled in he worldwide 983090983088983089983092 983105 983108983116 Global983089983088983088 survey believed ha he global Jewish populaion is bigger han 983089983088percen Second Aban used he film Schindlerrsquos List as evidence ha

many Jews were saved which confirms ha a film abou he Holocausocusing on he rescue o Jews can be he basis o a misconcepion abouhe Holocaus given ha in ac only a relaively ew were rescued 20

And Abanrsquos hird argumen is ha ldquoo deal wih six million Jews and henhe res o he world He canrsquo [ ] I would ake more han he populaionof Germany to do thatrdquo Tis seems o be a resul o sheer disbelie regard-ing he scale o he murderous enerprise or a biased overesimae o hepower o hese six million Jewish civilians Ineresingly he claimed hahe has ound ou his ldquoruhrdquo by himsel hrough ldquocommon senserdquo Hehus presened himsel as someone who has made up his own mind and

who has revealed he ruh agains he official allegedly biased narraive

rom school and 983124983126 Tis is a ypical elemen o conspiracy heoriesNeoy anoher inerviewee o Asian background knows abou Ho-

locaus Memorial Day bu he is convinced ha ldquoonlyrdquo close o a mil-lion Jews were killed reerring o a book by a ldquo journalis ha acuallyinvesigaed he killing rdquo and o ldquoofficial saisicsrdquo possibly menioned inha book21 Mos ineresingly he saed in ha conex ldquo I hink hereis an elie who says wha does and wha doesnrsquo gordquo He hus believes hapublic discourse on he Holocaus including Holocaus Memorial Day

is dicaed by a small group which he did no name He can explain hediscrepancy beween public discourse and his ldquosourcesrdquo wih he helpo his conspiracy heory

A ew ohers voiced doubs abou he Holocaus which can also

be seen as a orm o Holocaus denial22 Manoj rom London o Souh Asian origin however voiced such srong doubs ha he porrayed heHolocaus as a ficiious narraive

Wha a lo o people are saying is did he Holocaus exis or no A lo o hingsdonrsquo add up Te y are saying 983094 million Jews go massacred bu were here 983094 million

Jews in Europe a ha ime [ ] So harsquos why hey are eaching [ ] Tey wan

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1013

983089983097983088 European Muslim Anisemiism

o make i so ha people believe he Holocaus really did happen And herersquos no a

shadow o doub in ha Tarsquos why heyrsquore eaching everyone fom school

Manoj ried o presen he resuls o research on he Holocaus asconradicory by casing doubs on well-esablished acs In order o back up his doubs he reerred o ldquowha people are sayingrdquo similar oHaroun rom Paris quoed above Manoj believes ha ldquoheyrdquo have anagenda o eaching he Holocaus in school

Nader a Briish ciizen o Norh Arican descen also had his

doubs boh abou Hiler and he Holocaus He claimed ha nobodyknows i and how Hiler died and reerred o a narraive rom ldquoback

homerdquo meaning Morocco Tus he is aware o a discourse in Moroccoabou he Holocaus which he values and which differs rom and evenconradics he discourse in Briain Te ac ha Jews were burn wassomehing he disanced himsel rom boh by indirec speech porray-ing i as a rumor and also emoionally by using vulgar language ldquoWeheard ha Hiler used o barbecue Jewish peoplerdquo He hen added anoherundamenal argumen or he disbelie o wha happened during heShoah ldquo I canrsquot tell you he is a killer because I wasnrsquot with him I wasnrsquot there

siting down wih Hiler having a ea and now he ells me abou his soryrdquoNader hereby claimed ha one can only be sure o hisorical acs i heevens are o direc experience (or relaed ace-o-ace by hose respon-sible or hisorical developmens) and ha all oher accouns o hisoryare o be doubed

Tese examples indicae ha i is no a lack o knowledge which

leads o doubs or denial o he Holocaus Te inerviewees are awareo he ac ha public discourse conradics heir belies bu hey do noaccep public discourse on he Holocaus Tey choose o believe in anarraive o denial which hey have encounered on 983124983126 or in a book orhey believe in a rumor or somehing hey heard rom ldquoback homerdquo orhey claim ha ldquocommon senserdquo in he search or ruh has brough hemo heir conclusions Casing doubs on one aspec o he Holocaus callsino quesion he Holocaus as a hisorical ac alogeher In order o

bridge he gap beween he public discourse and heir own narraives

inerviewees believe he public discourse o be biased or saged and re- ver o conspiracy heories

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1113

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983089

Rumors ha Adol Hiler was Jewish or had Jewish ancesors area recurren rope23 Tey are reerred o as rumors (ldquowha people sayrdquo)

bu also as wha hey have learned in school ldquoHersquos an Austrian His

moher ndash she is Ausrian and Jewish [ ] and he wans o ake revenge[ ] Tis is wha hey old us in schoolrdquo (Bilal Paris) We canno know

wha exacly Bilal was augh in school Bu wha he has learned and wha he reers o as knowledge rom school is ha Hilerrsquos moher was Jewish and ha Hiler waned o ake ldquorevengerdquo or wha we do no

know Porraying Hiler as being relaed o Jews however suggess

ha he knew Jews well and had his reasons or his Jew hared or even

ha here was a collaboraion beween Hiler and Jews Te later in-erpreaion is promoed by Uumlmi rom Berlin o urkish origin He

believes ha Hiler was ldquoHalbjuderdquo (hal-Jewish) and collaboraed wihhose who waned o esablish ldquoa Greaer Israelrdquo He porrays Hiler asa ldquoweaponrdquo or his goal eliminaing all he weak and poor Jews who

were ldquouselessrdquo or he esablishmen o a ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo and no kil linghe educaed and rich And he akes his percepion ha here are moslyrich and influenial Jews oday who sick ogeher and ry o advance

ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo as evidence or his heory Hence he accuses an allegedleadership o Jews and Israelis or he Holocaus and porrays Hileras a vicim o his conspiracy I should be noed ha Uumlmi uses Nazierminology such as he word ldquoHalbjuderdquo and acceps he view o heNaional Socialiss ha ldquohose who were gassed hey were simply goodor nohingrdquo

983107983151983149983152983137983154 983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983156983151 983119983156983144983141983154 983105983156983154983151983139983145983156983145 983141983155

Equaing he Holocaus o he Israeli reamen o Palesinians is an an-isemiic rope24 Some surveys have used i as an iem or conemporaryanisemiic atiudes25 How did inerviewees compare he Holocaus ooher alleged and real arociies Many equae he Holocaus o oherhisorical evens or draw inappropriae analogies o he Holocaus Inaddiion o equaing he sufferings o Palesinians wih hose o Holo-

caus-era Jews inerviewees also drew parallels beween he Iraq warand he Holocaus equaing Bush wih Hiler Some also compared he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 7: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 713

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983095

Jews such as being blamed or he Black Deah or he murder o JesusChris Very ew inerviewees were explicily disineresed in he his-ory o he Holocaus

983123983151983157983154983139983141983155 983151983142 983115 983150983151983159983148983141983140983143983141

Inerviewees reerred o school as heir mos imporan source o knowl-edge abou he Holocaus saying ha in addiion hey had visied me-morial sies wih school groups and me Holocaus survivors16 Howeverhe ideological driving orces or he exerminaion o Jewry are ofenreduced o prejudices and inolerance in general Bahaar recalled whahe had learned in school in London abou he reasons behind he Holo-caus ldquo In lessons I learned ha irsquos jus basically a process where los o Jews go killed because o he reason ha hey were differen and ha hey didnrsquowan hem hererdquo Tis generally widespread percepion ignores he acha well-inegraed Jews and even people who did no consider hem-selves Jewish a all were made ldquodifferenrdquo and were also indiscriminaelykilled in he Holocaus Wha is more modern anisemiism goes well

beyond xenophobic atiudes i is less abou exclusion o oreigners hanabou a global hared o Jews wherever hey are17

Anoher requenly cied source o knowledge is elevision hrough which inerviewees learned paricularly abou he Warsaw Gheto Hi-ler he persecuion and murder o Jews and he Second World War I isnoeworhy ha one inerviewee rom Berlin visied he ormer concen-raion camp Sachsenhausen wih he youh group o he local mosqueFriends and relaives books films and he inerne were only occasion-

ally menioned as sources o knowledge on he Holocaus Howeverhese sources including vague reerences o ldquowha hey have heardrdquo

can have an imporan impac on quesioning public narraives o heHolocaus such as wha is augh in school

O course he way knowledge is presened is relaed o various

inerpreaions and explanaions o he Holocaus Salih rom Berlin

or example gave a simpliying accoun o he Holocaus in a nushellldquoHiler became poliician and when imes were bad he lay all he blame on

he Jews and hen he jus sared o kill hem all o gas hemrdquo He porrayedHiler as he only responsible perperaor and used he heory ha Jews

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 813

983089983096983096 European Muslim Anisemiism

were made scapegoas or explaining heir subsequen murder Boh areprominen views on he Holocaus in Germany18

983108983151983157983138983156983155 983108983141983150983145983137 983148 983137983150983140 983107983151983150983155983152983145983154983137983139983145983141 983155983137983138983151983157983156 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Some inerpreaions explanaions and belies abou he Holocaus

amoun o diminishing or even denying he Holocaus Tis ofen con-radics wha inerviewees have learned in school Tree inervieweesexplicily depiced he Holocaus as a myh or said ha ar ewer han six

million Jews were killed Haroun or example is aware o he dispariyo his belies and he narraive he was augh in school in France

Tey are saying he Jews were killed and ha I donrsquo know i harsquos rue Tis is

wha I was augh in school ha hey were depored killed some hings Bu I was

old somehing else ha here was an illness called yphus which spread everywhere

and harsquos why hey were burn

[ ]

Anyway Irsquove heard in a poli ical debae he y said ha hi s was because o a

srange disease he images which were filmed a leas some o hem [ ] ha was

because o he disease which was called yphus [ ] which spread across Germanya a cerain ime Everywhere a bi everywhere well here was in he concenraion

camps I donrsquo know around he camps or in he rain or Everybody go his

disease his people had o be burn

Haroun a Frenchman o Algerian descen doubs ha Jews werekilled sysemaically and labels he Holocaus as ldquononsenserdquo and a ldquosaesecrerdquo He hinks ha Jews and ohers had o be burn because o y-phus Haroun reers o wo narraives he one he has learned in school

(which he doubs) and anoher one which he ldquowas oldrdquo and which heeels was confirmed in a poliical debae probably on French 983124983126 abouyphus in concenraion camps

Aban o Souh Asian origin rom London is anoher example osomeone who denies he Holocaus He is convinced ha ldquoHiler did nokill six million Jews [ ] He killed about six hundred thousandrdquo He doubshe inormaion he learned in school saying ha picures o shaven-

headed people in ldquohose jackesrdquo in concenraion camps could be saged

and ha he inormaion sudens ge in school is probably biased Abangave hree argumens or his doubs on he number o six million His

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 913

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983097

firs argumen is ha here are so many Jews oday ha he canno believeha as he said more han hal o he Jews were killed19 Tis argumenhins a a widespread overesimaion o he number o Jews alive o-

day Te worldrsquos Jewish populaion is less han 983089983092 million (983088983090 percen)However 983091983096 percen o hose polled in he worldwide 983090983088983089983092 983105 983108983116 Global983089983088983088 survey believed ha he global Jewish populaion is bigger han 983089983088percen Second Aban used he film Schindlerrsquos List as evidence ha

many Jews were saved which confirms ha a film abou he Holocausocusing on he rescue o Jews can be he basis o a misconcepion abouhe Holocaus given ha in ac only a relaively ew were rescued 20

And Abanrsquos hird argumen is ha ldquoo deal wih six million Jews and henhe res o he world He canrsquo [ ] I would ake more han he populaionof Germany to do thatrdquo Tis seems o be a resul o sheer disbelie regard-ing he scale o he murderous enerprise or a biased overesimae o hepower o hese six million Jewish civilians Ineresingly he claimed hahe has ound ou his ldquoruhrdquo by himsel hrough ldquocommon senserdquo Hehus presened himsel as someone who has made up his own mind and

who has revealed he ruh agains he official allegedly biased narraive

rom school and 983124983126 Tis is a ypical elemen o conspiracy heoriesNeoy anoher inerviewee o Asian background knows abou Ho-

locaus Memorial Day bu he is convinced ha ldquoonlyrdquo close o a mil-lion Jews were killed reerring o a book by a ldquo journalis ha acuallyinvesigaed he killing rdquo and o ldquoofficial saisicsrdquo possibly menioned inha book21 Mos ineresingly he saed in ha conex ldquo I hink hereis an elie who says wha does and wha doesnrsquo gordquo He hus believes hapublic discourse on he Holocaus including Holocaus Memorial Day

is dicaed by a small group which he did no name He can explain hediscrepancy beween public discourse and his ldquosourcesrdquo wih he helpo his conspiracy heory

A ew ohers voiced doubs abou he Holocaus which can also

be seen as a orm o Holocaus denial22 Manoj rom London o Souh Asian origin however voiced such srong doubs ha he porrayed heHolocaus as a ficiious narraive

Wha a lo o people are saying is did he Holocaus exis or no A lo o hingsdonrsquo add up Te y are saying 983094 million Jews go massacred bu were here 983094 million

Jews in Europe a ha ime [ ] So harsquos why hey are eaching [ ] Tey wan

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1013

983089983097983088 European Muslim Anisemiism

o make i so ha people believe he Holocaus really did happen And herersquos no a

shadow o doub in ha Tarsquos why heyrsquore eaching everyone fom school

Manoj ried o presen he resuls o research on he Holocaus asconradicory by casing doubs on well-esablished acs In order o back up his doubs he reerred o ldquowha people are sayingrdquo similar oHaroun rom Paris quoed above Manoj believes ha ldquoheyrdquo have anagenda o eaching he Holocaus in school

Nader a Briish ciizen o Norh Arican descen also had his

doubs boh abou Hiler and he Holocaus He claimed ha nobodyknows i and how Hiler died and reerred o a narraive rom ldquoback

homerdquo meaning Morocco Tus he is aware o a discourse in Moroccoabou he Holocaus which he values and which differs rom and evenconradics he discourse in Briain Te ac ha Jews were burn wassomehing he disanced himsel rom boh by indirec speech porray-ing i as a rumor and also emoionally by using vulgar language ldquoWeheard ha Hiler used o barbecue Jewish peoplerdquo He hen added anoherundamenal argumen or he disbelie o wha happened during heShoah ldquo I canrsquot tell you he is a killer because I wasnrsquot with him I wasnrsquot there

siting down wih Hiler having a ea and now he ells me abou his soryrdquoNader hereby claimed ha one can only be sure o hisorical acs i heevens are o direc experience (or relaed ace-o-ace by hose respon-sible or hisorical developmens) and ha all oher accouns o hisoryare o be doubed

Tese examples indicae ha i is no a lack o knowledge which

leads o doubs or denial o he Holocaus Te inerviewees are awareo he ac ha public discourse conradics heir belies bu hey do noaccep public discourse on he Holocaus Tey choose o believe in anarraive o denial which hey have encounered on 983124983126 or in a book orhey believe in a rumor or somehing hey heard rom ldquoback homerdquo orhey claim ha ldquocommon senserdquo in he search or ruh has brough hemo heir conclusions Casing doubs on one aspec o he Holocaus callsino quesion he Holocaus as a hisorical ac alogeher In order o

bridge he gap beween he public discourse and heir own narraives

inerviewees believe he public discourse o be biased or saged and re- ver o conspiracy heories

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1113

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983089

Rumors ha Adol Hiler was Jewish or had Jewish ancesors area recurren rope23 Tey are reerred o as rumors (ldquowha people sayrdquo)

bu also as wha hey have learned in school ldquoHersquos an Austrian His

moher ndash she is Ausrian and Jewish [ ] and he wans o ake revenge[ ] Tis is wha hey old us in schoolrdquo (Bilal Paris) We canno know

wha exacly Bilal was augh in school Bu wha he has learned and wha he reers o as knowledge rom school is ha Hilerrsquos moher was Jewish and ha Hiler waned o ake ldquorevengerdquo or wha we do no

know Porraying Hiler as being relaed o Jews however suggess

ha he knew Jews well and had his reasons or his Jew hared or even

ha here was a collaboraion beween Hiler and Jews Te later in-erpreaion is promoed by Uumlmi rom Berlin o urkish origin He

believes ha Hiler was ldquoHalbjuderdquo (hal-Jewish) and collaboraed wihhose who waned o esablish ldquoa Greaer Israelrdquo He porrays Hiler asa ldquoweaponrdquo or his goal eliminaing all he weak and poor Jews who

were ldquouselessrdquo or he esablishmen o a ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo and no kil linghe educaed and rich And he akes his percepion ha here are moslyrich and influenial Jews oday who sick ogeher and ry o advance

ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo as evidence or his heory Hence he accuses an allegedleadership o Jews and Israelis or he Holocaus and porrays Hileras a vicim o his conspiracy I should be noed ha Uumlmi uses Nazierminology such as he word ldquoHalbjuderdquo and acceps he view o heNaional Socialiss ha ldquohose who were gassed hey were simply goodor nohingrdquo

983107983151983149983152983137983154 983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983156983151 983119983156983144983141983154 983105983156983154983151983139983145983156983145 983141983155

Equaing he Holocaus o he Israeli reamen o Palesinians is an an-isemiic rope24 Some surveys have used i as an iem or conemporaryanisemiic atiudes25 How did inerviewees compare he Holocaus ooher alleged and real arociies Many equae he Holocaus o oherhisorical evens or draw inappropriae analogies o he Holocaus Inaddiion o equaing he sufferings o Palesinians wih hose o Holo-

caus-era Jews inerviewees also drew parallels beween he Iraq warand he Holocaus equaing Bush wih Hiler Some also compared he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 8: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 813

983089983096983096 European Muslim Anisemiism

were made scapegoas or explaining heir subsequen murder Boh areprominen views on he Holocaus in Germany18

983108983151983157983138983156983155 983108983141983150983145983137 983148 983137983150983140 983107983151983150983155983152983145983154983137983139983145983141 983155983137983138983151983157983156 983156 983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156

Some inerpreaions explanaions and belies abou he Holocaus

amoun o diminishing or even denying he Holocaus Tis ofen con-radics wha inerviewees have learned in school Tree inervieweesexplicily depiced he Holocaus as a myh or said ha ar ewer han six

million Jews were killed Haroun or example is aware o he dispariyo his belies and he narraive he was augh in school in France

Tey are saying he Jews were killed and ha I donrsquo know i harsquos rue Tis is

wha I was augh in school ha hey were depored killed some hings Bu I was

old somehing else ha here was an illness called yphus which spread everywhere

and harsquos why hey were burn

[ ]

Anyway Irsquove heard in a poli ical debae he y said ha hi s was because o a

srange disease he images which were filmed a leas some o hem [ ] ha was

because o he disease which was called yphus [ ] which spread across Germanya a cerain ime Everywhere a bi everywhere well here was in he concenraion

camps I donrsquo know around he camps or in he rain or Everybody go his

disease his people had o be burn

Haroun a Frenchman o Algerian descen doubs ha Jews werekilled sysemaically and labels he Holocaus as ldquononsenserdquo and a ldquosaesecrerdquo He hinks ha Jews and ohers had o be burn because o y-phus Haroun reers o wo narraives he one he has learned in school

(which he doubs) and anoher one which he ldquowas oldrdquo and which heeels was confirmed in a poliical debae probably on French 983124983126 abouyphus in concenraion camps

Aban o Souh Asian origin rom London is anoher example osomeone who denies he Holocaus He is convinced ha ldquoHiler did nokill six million Jews [ ] He killed about six hundred thousandrdquo He doubshe inormaion he learned in school saying ha picures o shaven-

headed people in ldquohose jackesrdquo in concenraion camps could be saged

and ha he inormaion sudens ge in school is probably biased Abangave hree argumens or his doubs on he number o six million His

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 913

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983097

firs argumen is ha here are so many Jews oday ha he canno believeha as he said more han hal o he Jews were killed19 Tis argumenhins a a widespread overesimaion o he number o Jews alive o-

day Te worldrsquos Jewish populaion is less han 983089983092 million (983088983090 percen)However 983091983096 percen o hose polled in he worldwide 983090983088983089983092 983105 983108983116 Global983089983088983088 survey believed ha he global Jewish populaion is bigger han 983089983088percen Second Aban used he film Schindlerrsquos List as evidence ha

many Jews were saved which confirms ha a film abou he Holocausocusing on he rescue o Jews can be he basis o a misconcepion abouhe Holocaus given ha in ac only a relaively ew were rescued 20

And Abanrsquos hird argumen is ha ldquoo deal wih six million Jews and henhe res o he world He canrsquo [ ] I would ake more han he populaionof Germany to do thatrdquo Tis seems o be a resul o sheer disbelie regard-ing he scale o he murderous enerprise or a biased overesimae o hepower o hese six million Jewish civilians Ineresingly he claimed hahe has ound ou his ldquoruhrdquo by himsel hrough ldquocommon senserdquo Hehus presened himsel as someone who has made up his own mind and

who has revealed he ruh agains he official allegedly biased narraive

rom school and 983124983126 Tis is a ypical elemen o conspiracy heoriesNeoy anoher inerviewee o Asian background knows abou Ho-

locaus Memorial Day bu he is convinced ha ldquoonlyrdquo close o a mil-lion Jews were killed reerring o a book by a ldquo journalis ha acuallyinvesigaed he killing rdquo and o ldquoofficial saisicsrdquo possibly menioned inha book21 Mos ineresingly he saed in ha conex ldquo I hink hereis an elie who says wha does and wha doesnrsquo gordquo He hus believes hapublic discourse on he Holocaus including Holocaus Memorial Day

is dicaed by a small group which he did no name He can explain hediscrepancy beween public discourse and his ldquosourcesrdquo wih he helpo his conspiracy heory

A ew ohers voiced doubs abou he Holocaus which can also

be seen as a orm o Holocaus denial22 Manoj rom London o Souh Asian origin however voiced such srong doubs ha he porrayed heHolocaus as a ficiious narraive

Wha a lo o people are saying is did he Holocaus exis or no A lo o hingsdonrsquo add up Te y are saying 983094 million Jews go massacred bu were here 983094 million

Jews in Europe a ha ime [ ] So harsquos why hey are eaching [ ] Tey wan

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1013

983089983097983088 European Muslim Anisemiism

o make i so ha people believe he Holocaus really did happen And herersquos no a

shadow o doub in ha Tarsquos why heyrsquore eaching everyone fom school

Manoj ried o presen he resuls o research on he Holocaus asconradicory by casing doubs on well-esablished acs In order o back up his doubs he reerred o ldquowha people are sayingrdquo similar oHaroun rom Paris quoed above Manoj believes ha ldquoheyrdquo have anagenda o eaching he Holocaus in school

Nader a Briish ciizen o Norh Arican descen also had his

doubs boh abou Hiler and he Holocaus He claimed ha nobodyknows i and how Hiler died and reerred o a narraive rom ldquoback

homerdquo meaning Morocco Tus he is aware o a discourse in Moroccoabou he Holocaus which he values and which differs rom and evenconradics he discourse in Briain Te ac ha Jews were burn wassomehing he disanced himsel rom boh by indirec speech porray-ing i as a rumor and also emoionally by using vulgar language ldquoWeheard ha Hiler used o barbecue Jewish peoplerdquo He hen added anoherundamenal argumen or he disbelie o wha happened during heShoah ldquo I canrsquot tell you he is a killer because I wasnrsquot with him I wasnrsquot there

siting down wih Hiler having a ea and now he ells me abou his soryrdquoNader hereby claimed ha one can only be sure o hisorical acs i heevens are o direc experience (or relaed ace-o-ace by hose respon-sible or hisorical developmens) and ha all oher accouns o hisoryare o be doubed

Tese examples indicae ha i is no a lack o knowledge which

leads o doubs or denial o he Holocaus Te inerviewees are awareo he ac ha public discourse conradics heir belies bu hey do noaccep public discourse on he Holocaus Tey choose o believe in anarraive o denial which hey have encounered on 983124983126 or in a book orhey believe in a rumor or somehing hey heard rom ldquoback homerdquo orhey claim ha ldquocommon senserdquo in he search or ruh has brough hemo heir conclusions Casing doubs on one aspec o he Holocaus callsino quesion he Holocaus as a hisorical ac alogeher In order o

bridge he gap beween he public discourse and heir own narraives

inerviewees believe he public discourse o be biased or saged and re- ver o conspiracy heories

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1113

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983089

Rumors ha Adol Hiler was Jewish or had Jewish ancesors area recurren rope23 Tey are reerred o as rumors (ldquowha people sayrdquo)

bu also as wha hey have learned in school ldquoHersquos an Austrian His

moher ndash she is Ausrian and Jewish [ ] and he wans o ake revenge[ ] Tis is wha hey old us in schoolrdquo (Bilal Paris) We canno know

wha exacly Bilal was augh in school Bu wha he has learned and wha he reers o as knowledge rom school is ha Hilerrsquos moher was Jewish and ha Hiler waned o ake ldquorevengerdquo or wha we do no

know Porraying Hiler as being relaed o Jews however suggess

ha he knew Jews well and had his reasons or his Jew hared or even

ha here was a collaboraion beween Hiler and Jews Te later in-erpreaion is promoed by Uumlmi rom Berlin o urkish origin He

believes ha Hiler was ldquoHalbjuderdquo (hal-Jewish) and collaboraed wihhose who waned o esablish ldquoa Greaer Israelrdquo He porrays Hiler asa ldquoweaponrdquo or his goal eliminaing all he weak and poor Jews who

were ldquouselessrdquo or he esablishmen o a ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo and no kil linghe educaed and rich And he akes his percepion ha here are moslyrich and influenial Jews oday who sick ogeher and ry o advance

ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo as evidence or his heory Hence he accuses an allegedleadership o Jews and Israelis or he Holocaus and porrays Hileras a vicim o his conspiracy I should be noed ha Uumlmi uses Nazierminology such as he word ldquoHalbjuderdquo and acceps he view o heNaional Socialiss ha ldquohose who were gassed hey were simply goodor nohingrdquo

983107983151983149983152983137983154 983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983156983151 983119983156983144983141983154 983105983156983154983151983139983145983156983145 983141983155

Equaing he Holocaus o he Israeli reamen o Palesinians is an an-isemiic rope24 Some surveys have used i as an iem or conemporaryanisemiic atiudes25 How did inerviewees compare he Holocaus ooher alleged and real arociies Many equae he Holocaus o oherhisorical evens or draw inappropriae analogies o he Holocaus Inaddiion o equaing he sufferings o Palesinians wih hose o Holo-

caus-era Jews inerviewees also drew parallels beween he Iraq warand he Holocaus equaing Bush wih Hiler Some also compared he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 9: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 913

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983096983097

firs argumen is ha here are so many Jews oday ha he canno believeha as he said more han hal o he Jews were killed19 Tis argumenhins a a widespread overesimaion o he number o Jews alive o-

day Te worldrsquos Jewish populaion is less han 983089983092 million (983088983090 percen)However 983091983096 percen o hose polled in he worldwide 983090983088983089983092 983105 983108983116 Global983089983088983088 survey believed ha he global Jewish populaion is bigger han 983089983088percen Second Aban used he film Schindlerrsquos List as evidence ha

many Jews were saved which confirms ha a film abou he Holocausocusing on he rescue o Jews can be he basis o a misconcepion abouhe Holocaus given ha in ac only a relaively ew were rescued 20

And Abanrsquos hird argumen is ha ldquoo deal wih six million Jews and henhe res o he world He canrsquo [ ] I would ake more han he populaionof Germany to do thatrdquo Tis seems o be a resul o sheer disbelie regard-ing he scale o he murderous enerprise or a biased overesimae o hepower o hese six million Jewish civilians Ineresingly he claimed hahe has ound ou his ldquoruhrdquo by himsel hrough ldquocommon senserdquo Hehus presened himsel as someone who has made up his own mind and

who has revealed he ruh agains he official allegedly biased narraive

rom school and 983124983126 Tis is a ypical elemen o conspiracy heoriesNeoy anoher inerviewee o Asian background knows abou Ho-

locaus Memorial Day bu he is convinced ha ldquoonlyrdquo close o a mil-lion Jews were killed reerring o a book by a ldquo journalis ha acuallyinvesigaed he killing rdquo and o ldquoofficial saisicsrdquo possibly menioned inha book21 Mos ineresingly he saed in ha conex ldquo I hink hereis an elie who says wha does and wha doesnrsquo gordquo He hus believes hapublic discourse on he Holocaus including Holocaus Memorial Day

is dicaed by a small group which he did no name He can explain hediscrepancy beween public discourse and his ldquosourcesrdquo wih he helpo his conspiracy heory

A ew ohers voiced doubs abou he Holocaus which can also

be seen as a orm o Holocaus denial22 Manoj rom London o Souh Asian origin however voiced such srong doubs ha he porrayed heHolocaus as a ficiious narraive

Wha a lo o people are saying is did he Holocaus exis or no A lo o hingsdonrsquo add up Te y are saying 983094 million Jews go massacred bu were here 983094 million

Jews in Europe a ha ime [ ] So harsquos why hey are eaching [ ] Tey wan

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1013

983089983097983088 European Muslim Anisemiism

o make i so ha people believe he Holocaus really did happen And herersquos no a

shadow o doub in ha Tarsquos why heyrsquore eaching everyone fom school

Manoj ried o presen he resuls o research on he Holocaus asconradicory by casing doubs on well-esablished acs In order o back up his doubs he reerred o ldquowha people are sayingrdquo similar oHaroun rom Paris quoed above Manoj believes ha ldquoheyrdquo have anagenda o eaching he Holocaus in school

Nader a Briish ciizen o Norh Arican descen also had his

doubs boh abou Hiler and he Holocaus He claimed ha nobodyknows i and how Hiler died and reerred o a narraive rom ldquoback

homerdquo meaning Morocco Tus he is aware o a discourse in Moroccoabou he Holocaus which he values and which differs rom and evenconradics he discourse in Briain Te ac ha Jews were burn wassomehing he disanced himsel rom boh by indirec speech porray-ing i as a rumor and also emoionally by using vulgar language ldquoWeheard ha Hiler used o barbecue Jewish peoplerdquo He hen added anoherundamenal argumen or he disbelie o wha happened during heShoah ldquo I canrsquot tell you he is a killer because I wasnrsquot with him I wasnrsquot there

siting down wih Hiler having a ea and now he ells me abou his soryrdquoNader hereby claimed ha one can only be sure o hisorical acs i heevens are o direc experience (or relaed ace-o-ace by hose respon-sible or hisorical developmens) and ha all oher accouns o hisoryare o be doubed

Tese examples indicae ha i is no a lack o knowledge which

leads o doubs or denial o he Holocaus Te inerviewees are awareo he ac ha public discourse conradics heir belies bu hey do noaccep public discourse on he Holocaus Tey choose o believe in anarraive o denial which hey have encounered on 983124983126 or in a book orhey believe in a rumor or somehing hey heard rom ldquoback homerdquo orhey claim ha ldquocommon senserdquo in he search or ruh has brough hemo heir conclusions Casing doubs on one aspec o he Holocaus callsino quesion he Holocaus as a hisorical ac alogeher In order o

bridge he gap beween he public discourse and heir own narraives

inerviewees believe he public discourse o be biased or saged and re- ver o conspiracy heories

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1113

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983089

Rumors ha Adol Hiler was Jewish or had Jewish ancesors area recurren rope23 Tey are reerred o as rumors (ldquowha people sayrdquo)

bu also as wha hey have learned in school ldquoHersquos an Austrian His

moher ndash she is Ausrian and Jewish [ ] and he wans o ake revenge[ ] Tis is wha hey old us in schoolrdquo (Bilal Paris) We canno know

wha exacly Bilal was augh in school Bu wha he has learned and wha he reers o as knowledge rom school is ha Hilerrsquos moher was Jewish and ha Hiler waned o ake ldquorevengerdquo or wha we do no

know Porraying Hiler as being relaed o Jews however suggess

ha he knew Jews well and had his reasons or his Jew hared or even

ha here was a collaboraion beween Hiler and Jews Te later in-erpreaion is promoed by Uumlmi rom Berlin o urkish origin He

believes ha Hiler was ldquoHalbjuderdquo (hal-Jewish) and collaboraed wihhose who waned o esablish ldquoa Greaer Israelrdquo He porrays Hiler asa ldquoweaponrdquo or his goal eliminaing all he weak and poor Jews who

were ldquouselessrdquo or he esablishmen o a ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo and no kil linghe educaed and rich And he akes his percepion ha here are moslyrich and influenial Jews oday who sick ogeher and ry o advance

ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo as evidence or his heory Hence he accuses an allegedleadership o Jews and Israelis or he Holocaus and porrays Hileras a vicim o his conspiracy I should be noed ha Uumlmi uses Nazierminology such as he word ldquoHalbjuderdquo and acceps he view o heNaional Socialiss ha ldquohose who were gassed hey were simply goodor nohingrdquo

983107983151983149983152983137983154 983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983156983151 983119983156983144983141983154 983105983156983154983151983139983145983156983145 983141983155

Equaing he Holocaus o he Israeli reamen o Palesinians is an an-isemiic rope24 Some surveys have used i as an iem or conemporaryanisemiic atiudes25 How did inerviewees compare he Holocaus ooher alleged and real arociies Many equae he Holocaus o oherhisorical evens or draw inappropriae analogies o he Holocaus Inaddiion o equaing he sufferings o Palesinians wih hose o Holo-

caus-era Jews inerviewees also drew parallels beween he Iraq warand he Holocaus equaing Bush wih Hiler Some also compared he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 10: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1013

983089983097983088 European Muslim Anisemiism

o make i so ha people believe he Holocaus really did happen And herersquos no a

shadow o doub in ha Tarsquos why heyrsquore eaching everyone fom school

Manoj ried o presen he resuls o research on he Holocaus asconradicory by casing doubs on well-esablished acs In order o back up his doubs he reerred o ldquowha people are sayingrdquo similar oHaroun rom Paris quoed above Manoj believes ha ldquoheyrdquo have anagenda o eaching he Holocaus in school

Nader a Briish ciizen o Norh Arican descen also had his

doubs boh abou Hiler and he Holocaus He claimed ha nobodyknows i and how Hiler died and reerred o a narraive rom ldquoback

homerdquo meaning Morocco Tus he is aware o a discourse in Moroccoabou he Holocaus which he values and which differs rom and evenconradics he discourse in Briain Te ac ha Jews were burn wassomehing he disanced himsel rom boh by indirec speech porray-ing i as a rumor and also emoionally by using vulgar language ldquoWeheard ha Hiler used o barbecue Jewish peoplerdquo He hen added anoherundamenal argumen or he disbelie o wha happened during heShoah ldquo I canrsquot tell you he is a killer because I wasnrsquot with him I wasnrsquot there

siting down wih Hiler having a ea and now he ells me abou his soryrdquoNader hereby claimed ha one can only be sure o hisorical acs i heevens are o direc experience (or relaed ace-o-ace by hose respon-sible or hisorical developmens) and ha all oher accouns o hisoryare o be doubed

Tese examples indicae ha i is no a lack o knowledge which

leads o doubs or denial o he Holocaus Te inerviewees are awareo he ac ha public discourse conradics heir belies bu hey do noaccep public discourse on he Holocaus Tey choose o believe in anarraive o denial which hey have encounered on 983124983126 or in a book orhey believe in a rumor or somehing hey heard rom ldquoback homerdquo orhey claim ha ldquocommon senserdquo in he search or ruh has brough hemo heir conclusions Casing doubs on one aspec o he Holocaus callsino quesion he Holocaus as a hisorical ac alogeher In order o

bridge he gap beween he public discourse and heir own narraives

inerviewees believe he public discourse o be biased or saged and re- ver o conspiracy heories

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1113

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983089

Rumors ha Adol Hiler was Jewish or had Jewish ancesors area recurren rope23 Tey are reerred o as rumors (ldquowha people sayrdquo)

bu also as wha hey have learned in school ldquoHersquos an Austrian His

moher ndash she is Ausrian and Jewish [ ] and he wans o ake revenge[ ] Tis is wha hey old us in schoolrdquo (Bilal Paris) We canno know

wha exacly Bilal was augh in school Bu wha he has learned and wha he reers o as knowledge rom school is ha Hilerrsquos moher was Jewish and ha Hiler waned o ake ldquorevengerdquo or wha we do no

know Porraying Hiler as being relaed o Jews however suggess

ha he knew Jews well and had his reasons or his Jew hared or even

ha here was a collaboraion beween Hiler and Jews Te later in-erpreaion is promoed by Uumlmi rom Berlin o urkish origin He

believes ha Hiler was ldquoHalbjuderdquo (hal-Jewish) and collaboraed wihhose who waned o esablish ldquoa Greaer Israelrdquo He porrays Hiler asa ldquoweaponrdquo or his goal eliminaing all he weak and poor Jews who

were ldquouselessrdquo or he esablishmen o a ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo and no kil linghe educaed and rich And he akes his percepion ha here are moslyrich and influenial Jews oday who sick ogeher and ry o advance

ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo as evidence or his heory Hence he accuses an allegedleadership o Jews and Israelis or he Holocaus and porrays Hileras a vicim o his conspiracy I should be noed ha Uumlmi uses Nazierminology such as he word ldquoHalbjuderdquo and acceps he view o heNaional Socialiss ha ldquohose who were gassed hey were simply goodor nohingrdquo

983107983151983149983152983137983154 983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983156983151 983119983156983144983141983154 983105983156983154983151983139983145983156983145 983141983155

Equaing he Holocaus o he Israeli reamen o Palesinians is an an-isemiic rope24 Some surveys have used i as an iem or conemporaryanisemiic atiudes25 How did inerviewees compare he Holocaus ooher alleged and real arociies Many equae he Holocaus o oherhisorical evens or draw inappropriae analogies o he Holocaus Inaddiion o equaing he sufferings o Palesinians wih hose o Holo-

caus-era Jews inerviewees also drew parallels beween he Iraq warand he Holocaus equaing Bush wih Hiler Some also compared he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 11: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1113

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983089

Rumors ha Adol Hiler was Jewish or had Jewish ancesors area recurren rope23 Tey are reerred o as rumors (ldquowha people sayrdquo)

bu also as wha hey have learned in school ldquoHersquos an Austrian His

moher ndash she is Ausrian and Jewish [ ] and he wans o ake revenge[ ] Tis is wha hey old us in schoolrdquo (Bilal Paris) We canno know

wha exacly Bilal was augh in school Bu wha he has learned and wha he reers o as knowledge rom school is ha Hilerrsquos moher was Jewish and ha Hiler waned o ake ldquorevengerdquo or wha we do no

know Porraying Hiler as being relaed o Jews however suggess

ha he knew Jews well and had his reasons or his Jew hared or even

ha here was a collaboraion beween Hiler and Jews Te later in-erpreaion is promoed by Uumlmi rom Berlin o urkish origin He

believes ha Hiler was ldquoHalbjuderdquo (hal-Jewish) and collaboraed wihhose who waned o esablish ldquoa Greaer Israelrdquo He porrays Hiler asa ldquoweaponrdquo or his goal eliminaing all he weak and poor Jews who

were ldquouselessrdquo or he esablishmen o a ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo and no kil linghe educaed and rich And he akes his percepion ha here are moslyrich and influenial Jews oday who sick ogeher and ry o advance

ldquoGreaer Israelrdquo as evidence or his heory Hence he accuses an allegedleadership o Jews and Israelis or he Holocaus and porrays Hileras a vicim o his conspiracy I should be noed ha Uumlmi uses Nazierminology such as he word ldquoHalbjuderdquo and acceps he view o heNaional Socialiss ha ldquohose who were gassed hey were simply goodor nohingrdquo

983107983151983149983152983137983154 983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983112983151983148983151983139983137983157983155983156 983156983151 983119983156983144983141983154 983105983156983154983151983139983145983156983145 983141983155

Equaing he Holocaus o he Israeli reamen o Palesinians is an an-isemiic rope24 Some surveys have used i as an iem or conemporaryanisemiic atiudes25 How did inerviewees compare he Holocaus ooher alleged and real arociies Many equae he Holocaus o oherhisorical evens or draw inappropriae analogies o he Holocaus Inaddiion o equaing he sufferings o Palesinians wih hose o Holo-

caus-era Jews inerviewees also drew parallels beween he Iraq warand he Holocaus equaing Bush wih Hiler Some also compared he

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 12: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1213

983089983097983090 European Muslim Anisemiism

Holocaus o odayrsquos persecuion o Muslims or oreigners as well as oslavery 983105983113983108983123 and he colonial hisory o France Te ways hese analo-gies are drawn significanly diminish he Holocaus as demonsraed

below Deborah Lipsad described his as a orm o anisemiism andldquosof-core Holocaus denialrdquo26 Te analogies also show ha he erm

Holocaus is ofen used merely as a reerence o arociies in general

despie knowledge abou he murder o six million Jews

Equaing he Sufferings o Palesinians wih he Holocaus

Wha is he raionale o equaing sufferings o Palesinians wih heHolocaus One precondiion seems o be he percepion o a deep su-ering o ldquohe Palesiniansrdquo in he hand o ldquohe Israelisrdquo or ldquohe Jewsrdquo

A recurren heme is he k illing o children which in he eyes o someparicipans amouns o arociies like hose commited in he Holo-caus ldquo Irsquos more or less he same hing Tey kill he childrenrdquo said Hamzarom Paris Ismail rom Berlin however acknowledged ha Palesiniansare no gassed bu emphasized he allegedly equally cruel abuses ha

Palesinians have o suffer or which he reerenced Arab news channelsTe argumen ha Palesinians in he Gaza Srip are imprisoned is alsoused o jusi y an equivalence ldquoWell I have heard ha many Jews are ac-cused or atacked because hey wen hrough he Holocaus and now hey doi wih he Palesinians by blocking up he Gaza Srip heoreicallyrdquo (CcedileoBerlin) Te allegaion ha he Jews oday are he perperaors o similararociies like hose o which hey were vicims in he Holocaus has

been described as a projecion o guil wihin he German conex27

However his canno be Ccedileorsquos moivaion because he does no considerhimsel German His claim ha he has heard his allegaion hins o

he influence o his conex in Germany on his percepion o he Jewsand he Holocaus Te use o he anisemiic opos ha Jews allegedlyalk oo much abou he Holocaus poins in he same direcion Tisopos can be relaed o he wish no o be reminded o he responsibiliyo Germans28 or oher Europeans As anoher inerviewee concludedldquoTey kill he people like he Nazis killed he Jews here are no differencesSo he Jews canno complain abou wha Hiler did wih hem when hey doi hemselvesrdquo (Nece Berlin)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena

Page 13: European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

8202019 European Muslim Antisemitism (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulleuropean-muslim-antisemitism-excerpt 1313

Percepions o he Holocaus 983089983097983091

Such paterns rom a discourse o secondary anisemiism as an un-refleced rejecion o guil eelings are endorsed mosly by paricipansrom Germany I demonsraes he influence o his discourse also onpeople wih migran backgrounds who have no eelings o collecive

guil vis-agrave-vis he Holocaus Anoher recurren aspec o Necersquos viewis ha ldquohe Jewsrdquo are seen as one uniy conflaing no only Israelis wih

Jews bu also he Jewish vicims o he Holocaus more han seveny

years ago wih Israelis odayEquaions o he Holocaus wih he reamen o he Palesinians

insinuae evil inenions on he Israeli side and misrepresen he Israeli-

Palesinian conflic Shari rom Berlin or example hinks ha hemehods o he Holocaus and he Israeli-Palesinian conflic are differ-en bu ha he underlying atiudes o disrespec and dehumanizaionare he same ldquoRegarding he disrespec or he disdain i is jus he same Jus as he Nazis a he ime didnrsquo regard Jews as human beings he Israelisdonrsquot really regard the Palestinians as human beingsrdquo Similarly Bahaar

rom London hinks ha ldquoirdquo is similar ldquobecause the idea of it is roughly thesame I mean jus killing someone because you hink yoursquore beter or heyrsquore

differen or heyrsquore wrong rdquo ldquoIrdquo reerring o he Holocaus becomes ageneral erm ha implies hared agains ohers

Aba rom London o Ghanian English origin is somehow more

cauious in his comparison He said ldquo I donrsquo know i irsquos as blaan as iwas during he Holocaus bu [ ] i is kind o similar [ ] Canrsquo jussraigh up say irsquos anoher Holocausrdquo For him i is a quesion o he de-gree o blaan hared he does no see he pariculariy o he Holocaus

And hus he said abou an Israeli poliician whose speech he read ldquoHersquos

jus rying o evoke an emoional response in he people like saying how he Palestinians have bombed our women and children like the typical stuff that I sudied in hisory like when Hiler would say cerain hings o evoke anemoional responserdquo He made no disincion in principal beween delu-sional Nazi propaganda abou Jews allegedly hreaening he Germansand a speech by an Israeli poliician poining ou real hreas o error-ism by Palesinians Wha is more he Holocaus becomes an empy

meaphor unrelaed o he sysemaic murder o European Jewry Tislack o undersanding o he Holocaus enables equaions wih very di-eren phenomena