The logic of the fight against antisemitism in Germany in three cultural shifts

Although the annual report by the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) stated that 1 per cent of antisemitic incidents in 2021 were characterized as Islamic/Islamist, public accusations of antisemitism are increasingly directed at two groups: (1) designated Others (Muslims and other racialized minorities who seldom engage in anti-Jewish hate crimes) and (2) public intellectuals who are for the most part white ethnic Germans (including Jews and Christians) who demonstrate solidarity with these minorities. Dekel and Özyürek describe the logic that drives this growth in accusations of antisemitism and argue that it can be explained by three shifts in the discourse of Holocaust memory: first, from Holocaust memory to antisemitism; second, from antisemitism’s German perpetrators to designated Others; and third, from guilt and responsibility to shame.