Walter Ze'ev Laqueur (26 May 1921 – 30 September 2018) was a German-born American historian, journalist, political commentator, and

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

. He was an influential scholar on the subjects of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

and

political violence Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a State (polity), state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-st ...

Biography

Walter Laqueur was born in Breslau,

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a historical and geographical region mostly located in Poland with small portions in the Czech Republic and Germany. It is the western part of the region of Silesia. Its largest city is Wrocław. The first ...

, Germany (today Wrocław, Poland), into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. In November 1938 he left Germany, immigrating to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

. His parents, who were unable to leave, were murdered in the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. After less than a year 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. ...

, he left to work as an agricultural laborer and guard. In 1942 he became a member of

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

HaZore'a. He spoke several languages. Laqueur was married to Naomi Koch, with whom he had two daughters. His second wife was Christa Susi Genzen. Laqueur died at his home in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on September 30, 2018.

Journalism and academic career

From 1944, when he moved to Jerusalem, until his departure in 1955 he worked as a journalist for the

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair (, , 'The Young Guard') is a Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. It was also the name of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party, the ...

newspaper, ''Mishmar'' (later, ''

Al HaMishmar ''Al HaMishmar'' (, ''On Guard'') was a daily newspaper published in Mandatory Palestine and Israel between 1943 and 1995. The paper was owned by, and affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair as well as the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party of Palestine, ...

''), and for ''The Palestine Post'' (later, ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

''). In addition, he was the Middle East correspondent for journals in the United States and a commentator on world politics for Israel radio.Biography
After moving to London, Laqueur founded and edited ''Soviet Survey,'' a journal focusing on Soviet and East European culture. ''Survey'' was one of the numerous publications of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

-funded

Congress for Cultural Freedom The Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was an anti-communist cultural organization founded on 26 June 1950 in West Berlin. At its height, the CCF was active in thirty-five countries. In 1966 it was revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency w ...

to counter Soviet Communist cultural propaganda in the West. Laqueur was Director of the Institute of Contemporary History and the

Wiener Library The Wiener Holocaust Library () is the world's oldest institution devoted to the study of the Holocaust, its causes and legacies. Founded in 1933 as an information bureau that informed Jewish communities and governments worldwide about the pers ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

from 1965 to 1994. Together with

George Mosse Gerhard "George" Lachmann Mosse (September 20, 1918 – January 22, 1999) was a German-born, Jewish-American social and cultural historian, who emigrated from Nazi Germany to Great Britain and then to the United States. He was professor of hist ...

, he founded and edited ''

Journal of Contemporary History The ''Journal of Contemporary History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of history in all parts of the world since 1930. It was established in 1966 by Walter Laqueur and George L. Mosse. Originally published by ...

''. From 1969 he was a member, and later Chairman (until 2000), of the International Research Council of the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. From its founding in 1962 until 1987, it was an affiliate of Georgetown University, initially named the Center for Strategic and Inte ...

, Washington. He was the founding editor of ''The Washington Papers''. He was Professor of the History of Ideas at

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

from 1968 to 1972, and at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

from 1976 to 1988. He was also a visiting professor of history and government at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

, the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

and

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. Laqueur wrote extensively about the Middle East, the

Arab-Israeli conflict The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory that was acknowledged as Israeli by ...

, the

German Youth Movement The German Youth Movement () is a collective term for a cultural and educational movement that started in 1896. It consists of numerous associations of young people that focus on outdoor activities. The movement included German Scouting and the ...

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

, the

cultural history Cultural history records and interprets past events involving human beings through the social, cultural, and political milieu of or relating to the arts and manners that a group favors. Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897) helped found cultural history ...

of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

and the Soviet Union,

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, fascism, post-World War II Europe and the decline of Europe,

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 ...

both ancient and

new New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

. He pioneered the study of guerrilla warfare and terrorism. After the fall of the Soviet Union, he predicted that Russia would not become a democracy but an authoritarian system based on nationalist populism. His books and articles, which were published in many American and Europeans newspapers and periodicals, have been translated into several languages. Laqueur's book ''The Last Days of Europe'' is often cited as a segment of "

Eurabia "Eurabia" (portmanteau of Europe and Arabia) is a far-right Islamophobic conspiracy theory that posits that globalist entities, led by French and Arab powers, aim to Islamize and Arabize Europe, thereby weakening its existing culture and u ...

literature", although in ''After the Fall'' he dismisses the "alarmist" notion of Eurabia as popularized by

Oriana Fallaci Oriana Fallaci (; 29 June 1929 – 15 September 2006) was an Italian journalist and author. A member of the Italian resistance movement during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. Fallaci became famous worldwide for h ...

Political views

The ''New York Times'' described Laqueur as difficult to "pigeonhole politically." He supported Israel but criticized its expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

Selected works

Articles * "Letters from Readers." ''

Commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

'', vol. 21, no. 2 (February 1956), pp. 183–185. * "Communism and Nationalism in Tropical Africa." ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

'', vol. 39, no. 4 (July 1961), pp. 610–621. . * " Hollanditis: A New Stage in European Neutralism." ''

'' (August 1981), pp. 19–29. * "The Future of Intelligence." ''

Society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

'', vol. 35, no. 2 (January/February 1998), pp. 301–311. .
"Disraelia: A Counterfactual History, 1848-2008."
''Middle East Papers'', no. 1 (April 1, 2008). Books * ''Communism and Nationalism in the Middle East'', London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1956 * ''Nasser's Egypt'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1957 * ''The Soviet Cultural Scene, 1956–1957'', co-edited with George Lichtheim, New York: Praeger, 1958 * ''The Middle East in Transition: Studies in Contemporary History'', New York: Praeger, 1958.
''The Soviet Union and the Middle East''.
New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1959. . * ''Polycentrism: The New Factor in International Communism'', co-edited with Leopold Labedz, New York: Praeger, 1962 * ''Young Germany: A History of the German Youth Movement'', New York: Basic Books, 1962 * Heimkehr: Reisen in der Vergangenheit, Berlin, Propylaen Verlag, 1964 * ''Neue Welle in der Sowjetunion: Beharrung und Fortschritt in Literatur und Kunst'', Vienna: Europa Verlag, 1964 * ''Russia and Germany: A Century of Conflict'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1965 * ''1914: The Coming of the First World War'', co-edited with George L. Mosse, New York: Harper & Row, 1966 * ''Education and Social Structure in the Twentieth Century'', co-edited with George L. Mosse, New York: Harper & Row, 1967 * ''The Fate of the Revolution: Interpretations of Soviet History'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967 * ''The Road to Jerusalem: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1967'', New York: Macmillan, 1968 (published in the UK as ''The Road to War, 1967: The Origins of the Arab-Israel Conflict'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969) * ''The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict'', Pelican Books, 1969. * ''Linksintellektuelle zwischen den beiden Weltkriegen'', co-written with George Mosse, Munich: Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, 1969 * ''The Struggle for the Middle East: The Soviet Union in the Mediterranean, 1958–1968'', London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969 * ''Europe Since Hitler'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1970 * ''A Dictionary of Politics'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1971 * ''Out of the Ruins of Europe'', New York: Library Press, 1971 * ''A Reader's Guide to Contemporary History'', co-edited with Bernard Krikler, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972 . * ''A History of Zionism'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1972 * ''Neo-Isolationism and the World of the Seventies'', New York: Library Press, 1972 * ''Confrontation: The Middle East War and World Politics, London: Wildwood House, 1974 * ''Historians in Politics'', co-edited with George L. Mosse, London: Sage Publications, 1974 * ''Weimar: A Cultural History, 1918–1933''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1974. . * ''Fascism: A Reader's Guide: Analyses, Interpretations, Bibliography'' (editor). Berkeley:

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, 1976. . * ''Terrorism'', Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1977 * ''Guerrilla: A Historical and Critical Study'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977 * ''The Guerrilla Reader: A Historical Anthology'', editor, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1977 * ''The Terrorism Reader: A Historical Anthology'', editor, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1978 * ''The Human Rights Reader'', co-edited with

Barry Rubin Barry M. Rubin (Hebrew: בארי רובין) (28 January 1950 – February 3, 2014) was an American-born Israeli writer and academic on terrorism and Middle Eastern affairs. Career Rubin was the director of the Global Research in International Af ...

, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1979 * ''A Continent Astray: Europe, 1970–1978'', London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1979 * ''The Missing Years'' novel London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980 * ''Farewell to Europe'' novel London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson,1981 * ''The Terrible Secret: Suppression of the Truth about Hitler's Final Solution'', Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1980
''The Political Psychology of Appeasement: Finlandization and Other Unpopular Essays''
New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1980. * ''The Second World War: Essays in Military and Political History'', London: Sage Publications, 1982 * ''America, Europe, and the Soviet Union: Selected Essays'', New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1983 * ''The Pattern of Soviet Conduct in the Third World'', editor, New York: Praeger, 1983 * ''Looking Forward, Looking Back: A Decade of World Politics'', New York: Praeger, 1983 * ''The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict'', co-edited with Barry Rubin, London and New York: Penguin Books, 1984 * ''Germany Today: A Personal Report'', Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1985 * ''A World of Secrets: The Uses and Limits of Intelligence'', New York: Basic Books, 1985 * ''European Peace Movements and the Future of the Western Alliance'', co-edited with Robert Hunter, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1985 * ''Breaking The Silence'', co-written with

Richard Breitman Richard David Breitman (born 1947) is an American historian best known for his study of The Holocaust. Richard Breitman is an American historian who has written extensively on modern German history, the Holocaust, American immigration and refug ...

, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986 * ''The Fate of the Revolution: Interpretations of Soviet History from 1917 to the Present'', New York: Scribner's, 1987 * ''America in the World, 1962–1987: A Strategic and Political Reader'', co-edited with Brad Roberts, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987 * ''The Age of Terrorism'', Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1987 * ''The Long Road to Freedom: Russia and Glasnost'', Collier Books, 1989, * ''Soviet Realities: Culture and Politics from Stalin to Gorbachev'', New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1990
''Stalin: The Glasnost Revelations''
New York : Scribner's, 1990
''Soviet Union 2000: Reform or Revolution?''
co-written with John Erickson, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990
''Thursday's Child Has Far to Go: A Memoir of the Journeying Years''
New York: Scribner's, 1992 * ''Europe in Our Time: A History, 1945–1992'', New York: Viking, 1992
''Black Hundred: The Rise of the Extreme Right in Russia''
New York : Harper Collins, 1993
''The Dream That Failed: Reflections on the Soviet Union''
London and New York:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1994
''Fascism: Past, Present, Future''.
London and New York:

, 1996. / . * ''Fin de Siècle and Other Essays on America & Europe'', New Brunswick, NJ, and London: Transaction Publishers, 1997 * ''Guerrilla Warfare: A Historical and Critical Study'', New Brunswick, NJ, and London: Transaction Publishers, 1997 * ''Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind'',

Woodrow Wilson Center Press The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) or Wilson Center is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank dedicated to research and policy discussions on global issues. Established by an act of Congress in 1968, it serves as both ...

, 1998 * ''The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction'', London and New York:

, 1999
''Generation Exodus: The Fate of Young Jewish Refugees From Nazi Germany''.
Hanover, NH; London:

University Press of New England The University Press of New England (UPNE), located in Lebanon, New Hampshire and founded in 1970, was a university press consortium including Brandeis University, Dartmouth College (its host member), Tufts University, the University of New Hampsh ...

for

Brandeis University Press Brandeis University Press is a university press supported by Brandeis University, a private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, Waltham, Massachusetts. It publishes a wide range of academic titles as well as trade books. The press was ...

, 2001. ''The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series''. . * ''The Holocaust Encyclopedia'', with Judith Tydor Baumel. New Haven, CT:

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, 2001. . * ''A History of Terrorism''. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2001. . * '' Voices of Terror: Manifestos, Writings and Manuals of Al Qaeda, Hamas, and Other Terrorists from Around the World and Throughout the Ages''. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2004. . * ''No End to War: Terrorism in the Twenty-first Century''. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004.
''Dying for Jerusalem: The Past, Present and Future of the Holiest City''
Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2006. / .
''The Changing Face of Antisemitism: From Ancient Times to the Present Day''
London and New York:

, 2006
''The Last Days of Europe: Epitaph for an Old Continent''.
New York:

Thomas Dunne Books Thomas Dunne Books was an imprint of St. Martin's Press, which is a division of Macmillan Publishers. From 1986 until April 2020, it published popular trade fiction and nonfiction. History The imprint signed David Irving, a scholar, for a Joseph ...

, 2007. / .Harris, Ken
Reviews of ''Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century'' by Mark Leonard; ''The Last Days of Europe'' by Walter Laqueur.
''FUTUREtakes'', Vol. 7, No. 1, Spring-Summer 2008, pp. 1-4.
''Best of Times, Worst of Times: Memoirs of a Political Education''.
Lebanon, NH:

, 2009. ''The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series''. . * ''A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel'' * ''After the Fall: The End of the European Dream and the Decline of a Continent''. New York: Macmillan, 2011. . * ''Harvest of a Decade: Disraelia and Other Essays''. Piscataway, New Jersey:

Transaction Publishers Transaction Publishers was a New Jersey–based publishing house that specialized in social science books and journals. It was located on the Livingston Campus of Rutgers University. Transaction was sold to Taylor & Francis in 2016 and merged w ...

, 2012. . * ''Optimism in Politics: Reflections on Contemporary History''. Piscataway, New Jersey:

, 2014. . * ''Putinism: Russia and its Future with the West''. New York:

, 2015. * ''The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict'', with Dan Schueftan. London and New York:

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, 2016. Eighth revised and updated edition. * ''The Future of Terrorism: ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the Alt-Right'', with Christopher Wall. New York:

, 2018
Audiobook available.
Hearings/Testimony
''Negotiation and Statecraft''.
Hearings before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee of Government Operations,

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. Washington:

U.S. Government Printing Office The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO), formerly the United States Government Printing Office, is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States federal government. The office produces and distributes informatio ...

, 1973–1975.

References

External links

Walter Z. Laqueur
at CSIS *
Matthew Asprey's review of "Weimar: A Cultural History"

Blog in Harvard.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laqueur, Walter 1921 births 2018 deaths Academics and writers on far-right politics 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Brandeis University faculty Cold War historians Contemporary historians Georgetown University faculty German emigrants to the United States Guerrilla warfare theorists Harvard University staff Historians of Nazism Historians of fascism Scholars of terrorism Historians of the Middle East Islam and antisemitism Jewish American historians Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine Johns Hopkins University faculty Writers from Wrocław People from the Province of Lower Silesia University of Chicago faculty Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany American magazine founders Israeli emigrants to the United Kingdom Burials at Har HaMenuchot 21st-century American historians

Biography

Journalism and academic career

Political views

Selected works

Further reading

References

External links