Abstract: After 1989, post-communist countries such as Poland and Moldova have been faced with the challenge of
reinventing their national identity and rewriting their master narratives, shifting from a communist one to an
ethnic-patriotic one. In this context, the fate of local Jews and the actions of Poles and Moldovans during the
Holocaust have repeatedly proven difficult or even impossible to incorporate into the new national narrative. As
a result, Holocaust denial in various forms initially gained ground in post-communist countries, since denying
the Holocaust, or blaming it on someone else, even on the Jews themselves, was the easiest way to strengthen
national identities. In later years, however, Polish and Moldovan paths towards re-definition of self have taken
different paths. At least in part, this can be explained as a product of Poland's incorporation in the European
unification project, while Moldova remains in limbo, both in terms of identity and politics – between the Soviet
Union and Europe, between the past and the future.
Abstract: This article studies eight European countries, investigating how the level of antisemitism as
registered in national populations relates to the perception of antisemitism by the Jewish
population in the same country. Furthermore, the article empirically identifies distinct aspects
of antisemitism, deconstructing the concept of antisemitism and breaking it up into three
kinds of empirically differently based and composed antisemitisms (Note the plural!): classic
antisemitism, Israel-derived antisemitism and Enlightenment-based antisemitism. The article
also elaborates on some more general implications for the understanding of the character of
antisemitism in contemporary Europe, and based on that, presents some perspectives on the
development of the three distinct antisemitisms in contemporary Europe.
The countries included in the article are Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy,
Latvia, Sweden and the United Kingdom, but a special focus is placed on Sweden because
the situation in Sweden concerning antisemitism and the Jewish population’s reactions to
perceived antisemitism is particularly illustrative of some of the main points we can make
based on our investigations.
