Moshe Zimmermann (; born 25 December 1943) is an Israeli

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and writer. He is a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. From 1986 to 2012 he was the director of the Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History.

Biography

Moshe Zimmerman was born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Academic career

Zimmermann received his undergraduate, graduate and doctorate in history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he also currently works. His academic research focuses on the social history of Germany in the 18th and 20th centuries, as well as the history of German Jews and

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. In 2015 he was interviewed and filmed for the documentary The Essential Link: The Story of Wilfrid Israel by Yonatan Nir, in which he offered more angles to explain why Wilfrid Israel's story did not receive the expected public attention.

Lawsuits

Zimmermann was taken to court several times and cited for defamation in the wake of comments he made in 1995 regarding comparisons that he thought might be drawn between settlers in

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

and Nazi youth, in the wake of

Baruch Goldstein Baruch Kopel Goldstein (; born Benjamin Carl Goldstein; December 9, 1956 – February 25, 1994) was an American and Israeli physician and religious extremist who, in 1994, murdered 29 Palestinian people in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West ...

's Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre. The lawsuits against him were all dismissed.Ofer Aderet and Moshe Zimmermann
'The Hamas Pogrom Demonstrates That Zionism Has Failed, Says Israeli Historian Moshe Zimmermann,'

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

27 December 2023 In 2002, Zimmermann sued ''

'' for libel after it published an unflattering mention in an article authored by a former student, who claimed Zimmermann drew comparisons between Israel and Nazism while being supported financially by Germany. In 2004, the lawsuit was, however, dismissed, with Zimmermann having been admonished by the judge for making controversial analogies and yet, at the same time, not accepting criticism of his views. Zimmermann later expressed regret for the lawsuit."Professor Zimmermann's lawsuit against Haaretz is dismissed"
(Hebrew), ''

'', March 27, 2004.

Awards and recognition

He was honoured with the Humboldt Prize in 1993, and the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Prize from the

German Academic Exchange Service The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; ), founded in 1925, is a joint organization of German universities and student bodies to foster their international relations. Since 1 January 2020, the president has been Joybrato Mukherjee. Organisa ...

in 1997. He received Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize from the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

in 2002, and was awarded the 2006 Theodor Lessing Prize for Criticism.

Published works

* ''German Past – Israeli Memory''. Tel Aviv 2002. * ''Wilhelm Marr – The Patriarch of Antisemitism'', New York, Oxford UP, 1986. * ''Wilhelm Marr – The Patriarch of Antisemitism'', Jerusalem, Shazar, 1982. (Hebr.) * ''Deutsch-jüdische Vergangenheit: Der Judenhass als Herausforderung''. Paderborn 2005. * ''Goliaths Falle. Israelis und Palästinenser im Würgegriff'' 2004 * ''Wende in Israel. Zwischen Nation und Religion''. 1996, * ''Die deutschen Juden 1914–1945''. 1997, * ''Hamburgischer Patriotismus und deutscher Nationalismus. Die Emanzipation der Juden in Hamburg 1830–1865,'' Hamburg, Hans Christians, 1979. * ''Deutsche gegen Deutsche. Das Schicksal der Juden 1938–1945''. Berlin 2008. * ''Die Angst vor dem Frieden. Das israelische Dilemma.'' Berlin 2010.

References

External links

Zimmerman's page of the homepage of the Hebrew University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Moshe 1943 births Israeli historians Living people Historians of Jews and Judaism Israeli people of German-Jewish descent Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Scholars of antisemitism