In April 1945, Jean Amery was liberated from the Bergen Belsen concentration camp. A Jewish and political prisoner, he had been brutally tortured by the Nazis, and had also survived both Auschwitz and other infamous camps. His experiences during the Holocaust were made famous by his book At the Mind's Limits: Contemplations by a Survivor of Auschwitz and Its Realities.

Essays on Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and the Left features a collection of essays by Amery translated into English for the first time. Although written between 1966 and 1978, Amery's insights remain fresh and contemporary, and showcase the power of his thought.

Originally written when leftwing antisemitism was first on the rise, Amery's searing prose interrogates the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism and challenges the international left to confront its failure to think critically and reflectively.

About the Author

JEAN AMERY was born in Vienna in 1912 as Hans Maier. As a young man, he trained as a bookseller and attended lectures on philosophy and literature. In the mid 1930s he edited a literary journal and wrote his first novel. When the Nazis came to power in Austria in 1938, he fled to Belgium and joined the resistance there. He was caught distributing leaflets and was tortured and sent to Auschwitz. He survived Auschwitz and after the war made his home in Brussels, changing his name to Jean Amery. His most famous works available in English include At the Mind's Limits, On Aging, and On Suicide.

Lars Fischer is a professional translator.

Reviews

"Amery's searing and indispensable reflection on the Nazi death camps, At the Mind's Limits, has now been supplemented by this prescient collection that foresaw the rise of leftwing antisemitism and described its motivations and impact with exceptional clarity. The result is a book that interrogates the present moment from the moral and philosophical perspective of the Shoah. This is a compelling book that everyone concerned with our destiny should read."-Cary Nelson, author of Dreams Deferred and Not in Kansas Anymore

"Remove the dates and historical markers on some of the essays, and you will think you are reading a contemporary critique of the left vis-a-vis the Jews and Israel. Jean Amery, for that reason, was, as much a major witness to the catastrophe, as a visionary intellectual who admonished those who had perverted the progressive project into the infamous "socialism of the fools." This collection of elegant translations prefaced by Alvin Rosenfeld shows an intellectual and a witness immune to all dogmas and whose heart and reason constitute the only measure of his ethical judgement."-Bruno Chaouat, author of Is Theory Good for the Jews? French Thought and the Challenge of the New Antisemitism

"If there's a cure for today's woke antisemitism, this is it. Camouflaged as anti-Zionism, the world's oldest hatred runs amok on the left in new forms after World War II (which stigmatized old-fashioned, rightwing Jew-hatred for a time), as Amery saw ahead of the rest. Anti-Zionism is antisemitism, he recognized unflinchingly. In sum, there is no discussion worth having of campus antisemitism, the movement to boycott Israel, the upsurge in attacks on Jews around the world or Israeli-diaspora relations that ignores this prescient and piercing, achingly lucid volume"-Gabriel Noah Brahm, Northern Michigan University

"From the late '60s on, Amery was a frequent presence in Germany's press and was often on the radio, a living reminder of what so many Germans wanted to repress. Now Indiana University Press has issued Amery's Essays on Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and the Left, which contains Amery's polemic for Israel, and against the German left's endorsement of Palestinian terror. These vital works continue to haunt us, as Amery would have wanted."-David Mikics, Tablet

"Essays on Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and the Left is a personal life-wrenching collection of writings by Jean Amery"-Zev Garber, Los Angeles Valley College., Reading Religion

"Amery saw leftist antisemitism as dangerous not so much because of antisemitic intentions but because the new moral masquerade of anti-Zionism turns antisemitic content into something virtuous and respectable."-Pavel Brunssen, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, H-Antisemitism H-net

"Amery develops an illuminating triangle viewpoint as he examines the interrelationship between antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and the New Left. In his critique of "virtuous antisemitism" (also: "latent antisemitism"), he unmasks its dangers and emphasizes the importance of vigilance in the face of changing ideologies."-H-Antisemitism

"It is a valuable and frustrating collection. It is valuable because Amery is an important voice from the Left-critical of his colleagues for their moral, ethical, and intellectual failures particularly relating to Jews and Israel. It is frustrating because Amery sees Jew hate/antisemitism as "ineradicable."-Daniel Mallock, New English Review

Book Information
ISBN 9780253058768
Author Jean Amery
Format Paperback
Page Count 124
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press
Weight(grams) 195g