This research investigates the political and ethical tensions underlying the practice of public self-criticism in modern Jewish politics. It historicises the assumption that words and actions of individuals belonging to a minority group can impact the image and safety of other group members. The changing structures and contexts of Jewish politics in the 20th century offer a powerful case study for examining the fluid and contested boundaries of legitimate self-critique. This project examines how antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the establishment of the State of Israel affected the handling of questions of freedom of speech, political power, violence and self-censorship.
Contact: Marc Volovici, Alfred Landecker Lecturer, Department of Jewish History, University of Haifa. Marc started this project while a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism and the Department of History at Birkbeck, University of London.
Image credit: 21st Zionist Congress, Geneva, 1939
