Anti-semitism in Europe (1879-1914): Lines of inquiry, conception and objectives of the research seminar at the center for anti-semitism research

Abstract

As current controversies about anti-Semitism in Europe show, anti-Jewish sentiments and views are not limited to single nations but represent a European-wide phenomenon. The paper presents a research seminar at the Center for Research on Anti-Semitism at the Technical University Berlin regarding the emergence and the development of anti-Semitism in Europe from 1879, when the term itself was first coined, up to the First World War, i.e. the formative phase of anti-Semitism as a social and political movement. This seminar consists of eleven individual research projects regarding different European countries and regions. The paper describes the leading questions of this research seminar, presents its main objectives and intentions, determines the underlying term of anti Semitism, and gives an overview of the individual studies.