Antisemitism: medieval and modern

12 March 2009

Professor Steven T. Katz

This lecture covered the essential features of medieval Christian antisemitism and the very different features of modern racial antisemitism, culminating in Nazi antisemitism.  It concluded with an assessment on the connection between historical antisemitism and the antisemitism of today.

This was the Herbert and Valmae Freilich Foundation Annual Lecture in Bigotry and Tolerance 2009.

Broad Topics: Arts and Social Sciences

Sub-topics: Philosophy & Religion

Areas: ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences

Steven T. Katz is Director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies at Boston University, Boston, Ma., where he holds the Alvin J. and Shirley Slater Chair in Jewish and Holocaust Studies.  Professor Katz was Chair of the Academic Committee of the United States Holocaust Museum for five years and still serves on the committee.  He is presently the Chair of the Holocaust Commission of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. Professor Katz is one of the American representatives to the International Task Force on the Holocaust, sponsored by the European Union, and he also serves as Chair of the Academic Committee of this international organization.

His publications include: Jewish Philosophers (1975); Jewish Ideas and Concepts (1977); Post-Holocaust Dialogues, which won the National Jewish Book Award in 1984; Historicism, the Holocaust and Zionism (1992); and the forthcoming multi-volume study entitled The Holocaust in Historical Context, volume 1 of which was published in 1994 and was selected as "the outstanding book in philosophy and theology" for that year by the American Association of University Publishers.  His work on the Holocaust also includes editing two volumes on the impact of the Holocaust on Jewish thought: The Impact of the Holocaust on Jewish Theology (2005) and Wrestling with God: Jewish Theological Responses During and After the Holocaust (2007) which was selected as the runner-up at the 2007 National Jewish Book Award in the Anthologies and Collections division.