The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism is a centre of innovative research and teaching on antisemitism, racialization and religious intolerance. It contributes to knowledge and understanding, policy formation and public debate.
Latest Update: Welcome to the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism website. Browse our podcasts, research and events.
The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism was established in 2010 by Birkbeck, University of London and Pears Foundation.
We are the only university centre in the UK dedicated to the study of antisemitism and one of only two in Europe. The Institute is renowned internationally for its innovative research and teaching.
Our work is framed by our conviction that antisemitism is a distinctive form of racism. Through our research and public activity we establish points of connection between the problem of antisemitism and the challenge of racisms more broadly.
Our scholarship contributes to public debate on antisemitism, racialization and religious intolerance and we provide expertise and advice to a wide range of institutions in the UK, Europe and the wider world.
The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism is both independent and inclusive.
The mid-1920s brought stability to Poland and sped the assimilation of its three million Jews. But already in the late 1920s, many began to believe that there was little prospect of a decent future for Europe’s largest Jewish community. In this lecture, Professor Moss explores how intellectuals and ordinary people confronted this crisis of their future.
This pathbreaking project investigates the extent and forms of antisemitic hate speech on websites and social media platforms in France, Germany and the UK.
In this talk, Dr Becker will outline the project’s approach and its practical application: developing AI machine learning capable of recognizing explicit and implicit antisemitic hate speech.
This workshop, conceived by the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism in partnership with The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and others, will provide a space for scholars from different disciplines to examine the current debate over definitions of antisemitism and to explore what is at stake. It will give historical and theoretical depth to a heated political debate.
The history of Ukraine is inextricably linked with antisemitism, from the pogroms of the Russian Civil War to the Holocaust.
Such historical connections come to the fore with Russia’s invasion of the country, now lead by a Jewish president.
What does the present Jewish attachment to the idea of Ukraine mean for both Jewish identity and the ongoing history of racism in the region and beyond?
David Feldman asks are we doing enough – or even the right things – to combat antisemitism and considers the strange mix of consensus and controversy that marks public debate on the subject.
One route to further progress, he argues, will be to repair the frayed connections between the struggle against antisemitism and anti-racist politics more broadly.
Throughout the twentieth century, Britain used its network of imperial holdings as sites of detention. One of the largest cohorts to be interned across the Empire were European Jews. This research project seeks to uncover the neglected histories of these detention sites, by reconfiguring our understanding of the Holocaust beyond central Europe.
In the postwar period, Jewish-Christian relations have been characterised by an increase in dialogue and mutual respect, and a spirit of post-Holocaust contrition on behalf of church leaders.
In this talk, Professor Schaffer considers this postwar atmosphere as an example of interfaith relations, focusing on residual tensions and challenges, specifically on Jewish suspicions concerning Christian evangelism.
The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism is the only centre in the UK, and one of only two centres in Europe, whose mission is to promote understanding of antisemitism.
