Philosemitism is a notable interest in, respect for, and appreciation of the

Jewish people Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, their history, and the influence of

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...

, particularly on the part of a non-Jew. In the

aftermath of World War II The aftermath of World War II was the beginning of a new era started in late 1945 (when World War II ended) for all countries involved, defined by the decline of all colonial empires and simultaneous rise of two superpowers; the Soviet Union ( ...

, the phenomenon of philosemitism saw a great increase throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

following the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, reshaping the relationship between Jews and European societies. American historian G. Daniel Cohen states that philosemitism "can indeed easily recycle

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Ant ...

themes, recreate Jewish otherness, or strategically compensate for Holocaust guilt".

Etymology

The controversial term "philosemitism" arose as a pejorative in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

to describe the positive prejudice towards Jews; in other words, a philosemite is a "Jew-lover" or "Jew-friend".

Concept

The concept of philosemitism is not new, and it was arguably avowed by such thinkers as the 19th-century philosopher

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

, who described himself as an "anti-anti-Semite." Philosemitism is an expression of the larger phenomenon of

allophilia In sociology, allophilia is having a positive attitude towards outgroup members. The outgroup members can be anyone who possesses characteristics that are different from one's own, such as people of different races, religions, cultures, etc. It ...

, admiration for foreign cultures as embodied in the more widely known Anglophilia and

Francophilia A Francophile, also known as Gallophile, is a person who has a strong affinity towards any or all of the French language, French history, French culture and/or French people. That affinity may include France itself or its history, language, cuisi ...

. The rise of philosemitism has also prompted some to reconsider Jewish history, and they argue that while antisemitism must be acknowledged, it is wrong to reduce the history of the Jewish people to one merely of suffering (as has been fostered by well-meaning gentile philosemites).

Czechoslovakia

The case of the myths created around the supposed special relationship between

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Tomáš () is a Czech and Slovak given name, equivalent to the name Thomas. It may refer to: * Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937), first President of Czechoslovakia * Tomáš Baťa (1876–1932), Czech footwear entrepreneur * Tomáš Berdy ...

, the founding father of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, and influential Jews from the U.S. or elsewhere, myths created by Masaryk and adopted in amended forms by Czechoslovak Jews, let cultural historian Martin Wein quote Zygmunt Bauman's and

Artur Sandauer Artur Sandauer (14 December 1913, Sambir – 15 July 1989, Warsaw) was a Polish and Jewish literary critic, essayist and professor at the University of Warsaw. He coined the term allosemitism in a book published in 1982. Sandauer was married t ...

's concept of an " allosemitic" worldview, in which, in Wein's words, "antisemitism and philosemitism overlap and share

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for exampl ...

s, producing exaggerated disregard ''or'' admiration for Jews or Judaism." In this sense, Wein quotes Masaryk's statements about a decisive Jewish influence over the press, and him mentioning Jews and

freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

in the same breath, when it came to lobbies he allegedly managed to win over.

Asia

Very few Jews live in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...

n countries, but Jews are viewed in an especially positive light in some of them, partly owing to their shared wartime experiences during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Examples include

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

,Alper, Tim.
Why South Koreans are in love with Judaism
. ''The Jewish Chronicle''. May 12, 2011. Retrieved February 8, 2014. Japan, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. In general, Jews are positively stereotyped as intelligent, business-savvy and committed to family values and responsibility, while in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

, the first of the two aforementioned stereotypes more often have the negatively interpreted equivalents of guile and greed. In South Korean primary schools the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

is mandatory reading. According to Mary J. Ainslie, philosemitism in China is "part of a civilizationist narrative designed to position China as globally central and superior".

United States

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

's essay ''

Concerning the Jews "Concerning the Jews" is an 1899 short essay by Mark Twain. Twain had lived in Austria during 1896, and opined that the Habsburg empire used Jews as scapegoats to maintain unity in their immensely diverse empire. Background In 1898 he published ...

'' has been described as philosemitic. Israeli scholar Bennet Kravitz states that one could just as easily hate Jews for the reasons Twain gives for admiring them. In fact, Twain's essay was cited by Nazi sympathizers in the 1930s. Kravitz concludes, "The flawed logic of 'Concerning the Jews' and all philo-Semitism leads to the anti-Semitic beliefs that the latter seeks to deflate".

References

Sources

* Alan Edelstein. ''An Unacknowledged Harmony: Philo-Semitism and the Survival of European Jewry''. (Contributions in Ethnic Studies). *

David S. Katz David S. Katz FRHistS (born 1953) is Director of the History of Ideas Program and a member of the Department of History at Brandeis University and Professor Emeritus of early modern European history at Tel Aviv University in Israel, where he taug ...

. ''Philo-Semitism and the Readmission of the Jews to England, 1603–1655''. * Hilary L. Rubinstein & William D. Rubinstein. '' Philosemitism: Admiration and Support in the English-Speaking World for Jews, 1840–1939''. (Studies in Modern History). * Frank Stern. ''The Whitewashing of the Yellow Badge: Antisemitism and Philosemitism in Postwar Germany''. (Studies in Antisemitism) * Marion Mushkat. ''Philo-Semitic and Anti-Jewish Attitudes in Post-Holocaust Poland''. (Symposium Series, Vol 33). * Frank Stern. ''Im Anfang war Auschwitz : Antisemitismus und Philosemitismus im deutschen Nachkrieg''. *

Gertrude Himmelfarb Gertrude Himmelfarb (August 8, 1922 – December 30, 2019), also known as Bea Kristol, was an American historian. She was a leader of conservative interpretations of history and historiography. She wrote extensively on intellectual history, ...

. ''The People of the Book: Philosemitism in England, From Cromwell to Churchill''.

External links

Washington Post
January 8, 2006; page A01.
"On Philo-Semitism"
by Jacques Berlinerblau,

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...

's Program for Jewish Civilization via archive.org. {{Authority control Jewish political status Admiration of foreign cultures Orientalism by type