Historian and sociologist Pierre Birnbaum, professor emeritus at Paris-I-Panthéon-Sorbonne University and specialist in the history of the Jews of France, is working on a forthcoming book on the history of anti-Semitism in the United States . He comments on the assault on Capitol Hill by far-right groups emboldened by President Donald Trump’s rhetoric.
What is the anti-Semitic tenor of the Washington uprising?
The anti-Semitic element of this mobilization was underestimated. Many people held anti-Semitic signs, waved The Turner Diaries, the “bible” of the American alt-right which foresees the destruction of Washington, the confinement of Jews and blacks in gigantic concentration camps. A pro-Trump senator was seen haranguing the raging crowd by launching “Hitler was right”, the neo-Nazis of the NSC-131 were present as were the Proud Boys who sometimes wear T-shirts on which appears “6MWE” for “6 Millions Wasn’t Enough” (“6 million was not enough”, in reference to the number of Jews killed by the Nazis).
There are several signs of a very strong anti-Semitic presence which has been illustrated for twenty years by a whole series of attacks. The logic of the parade of the neo-Nazi white extreme right in Charlottesville (Virginia), in 2017, is taken to its extreme, and has threatened, during these few dramatic hours, to take away the symbols of American democracy and reduce to nothing its exceptionalism.
What does this American exceptionalism consist of?
The meeting between Puritanism and Judaism was harmonious, Americans see themselves for a long time as “coming out of Egypt”, that is to say from England, they recognize themselves in the Old Testament. The Founding Fathers loudly proclaimed their identification with Jewish history. Consequently, it is essentially a social anti-Semitism that is emerging in this society dominated by an upper class not very sensitive to the plight of immigrants and attentive to defend its privileges. Socially, Jews were excluded from clubs, Ivy League universities, student fraternities, certain hotels, beaches …
There was also an economic rivalry. But no massacre took place, no pogrom, no questioning of their citizenship: we find since the end of the XIXe century of Jewish deputies and senators, their integration into the city is complete. No segregationist law against them. The violent dimension, the rejection of public space and the sexual prejudices that have existed against black Americans have not concerned Jews. Present in the United States for centuries, the Jews have never been killed as such.
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