Philosemitism

This work is the first comprehensive study of philosemitism in the modern world. Philosemitism is admiration and support for Jews by non-Jews, especially during times of anti-semitic persecution. Although literally thousands of books have been written on antisemitism (including the Holocaust), only a handful have been written on philosemitism, and no other book has used original sources of a detailed and sweeping kind. This work discusses philosemitism in Britain, America, Australia and Canada during the century between the Damascus blood libel of 1840 and the Holocaust (with a further chapter on the post-1945 situation). The first part of the book examines the philosemitic responses of non-Jews, often among the most influential people of their time, to the persecution of Jews during the best-known antisemitic crises of the century from 1840 until 1945, such as the Czarist pogroms of the 1880s and the rise of Nazism. The second part of the book offers a typology of philosemitism, dividing it into liberal/progressive, Christian, Zionist, and conservative/elitist strands. The book is based almost entirely upon primary sources of the past. Philosemitism draws attention to a powerful and widespread movement which befriended the Jewish people during times of persecution, and which is all but unknown to most historians.