Studying the Jew: Scholarly Antisemitism in Nazi Germany

Studying the Jew investigates those German scholars who forged an interdisciplinary field to create a comprehensive portrait of the Jew, fabricating an empirical basis for Nazi antisemitic policies.

Table of Contents:
Contents Introduction 1 An “Antisemitism of Reason” 2 Racializing the Jew 3 The Blood and Sins of Their Fathers 4 Dissimilation through Scholarship 5 Pathologizing the Jew Epilogue Notes Acknowledgments Index

About the Author :
Alan E. Steinweis is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont.

Review :
Steinweis...uses a voice that reflects a dispassionate, academic tone, characterized by careful analysis of both the research and motivations of an array of scholars who studied and published on various aspects of 'The Jewish Question,' from the early 1930s through the very close of World War II...Despite the application of this 'research' that influenced to varying degrees a wide range of Nazi policies--up to and perhaps including The Final Solution--Steinweis's review of specific scholars and their work reflects precisely the integrity lacking in those he writes of...The measured manner in which he addresses this important area of Holocaust history, including describing some of the post-World War II successes some of these scholars enjoyed in their professional careers, may, for some, lack a sense of the emotion-laden moral outrage we Jews so often want to see expressed...Yet, Studying the Jew helps us in no small way understand an aspect of what can otherwise be an unbearably painful part of our collective Jewish experience and consciousness. -- WLL Jewish Book World 20061206 [Steinweis offers] a compact study of Nazi scholarship that raises challenging questions to those of us engaged in scholarly research. -- Tim Cole History 20070701 Steinweis proceeds by analysing the published works of several scholars representative of the major disciplines to which Judenforschung (research on Jews) was key: race science, theology, history, and sociology. The result is a rich and fascinating little book that convincingly demonstrates the way in which the humanities and social sciences "coordinated" with the regime, much as the professions and industry did; and how these scholars made Nazi desiderata central to their own concerns, whether out of conviction or opportunism...For anglophone readers, the book is an excellent introduction to the subject of scholarly anti-Semitism. -- Dan Stone Journal of Genocide Research This vastly intriguing volume is a paragon of scholarship. -- Sheldon Kirshner Canadian Jewish News