Ethan Katz Quoted in Jewish and Israeli News Article

Wrote by Post Comment

UC History Professor Ethan Katz was recently quoted in an article on the Jewish and Israeli News website. "Holocaust Seen as ‘camouflage for Hate’ at Kristallnacht’s 75th anniversary" , written by Alina Dain Sharon, addresses the issues of remembrance of the Kristallnacht, while also arguing "remembrance of the atrocity does not address the problem of modern anti-Semitism, which is often masked as anti-Zionism." 

World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder addresses the Conference of European Rabbis commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht in Berlin on Nov. 10. 
During Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” from Nov. 9-10, 1938, Nazi officials and German civilians killed more than 1,000 Jews and vandalized more than 7,000 businesses, a turning point in the Nazi era that foreshadowed the Holocaust atrocities to come. Dr. Katz provides important historical context for the article and the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht in general. Katz says “before Kristallnacht many Jews had retained the hope that the anti-Semitism of the period would pass.” Adding to his historical comments of the event, Dr. Katz also connects it to modern issues, saying “attempts to decontextualize the Holocaust and turn it into a basis for political comparisons and attacks have become rampant—in American politics, in certain contexts in Europe, and in debates around the Israeli-Arab conflict. Without extreme care and precision, such references generally distort more than they reveal.” 

 Professor Katz is a historian of modern Europe and the Mediterranean, with specialties in the history of modern France and its empire and modern Jewish history. He is currently completing a book on the history of Jewish-Muslim relations in France since World War I.

Share:

0 comments