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from period to period; it came in virulent or weaker forms; but
throughout all of its transmutations it was still recognizably the same
phenomenon, a phenomenon very much shaped (not exclusively, but
predominantly) by Christian culture. William Phillips in his introduction
kindly mentioned the book I wrote on Shylock, and initially I thought
it would make sense for me to refer back to that book in this sympo–
sium. Yet the more I reflected on present-day conditions, the less I felt
inclined to do so. Shylock brings together many of the motifs of me–
dieval anti-Semitism and points forward to their development in the later
modern world. Those stereotypes certainly linger on, but modern anti–
Semitism is more diffuse and fragmented.
It
has developed new themes
and taken some very perverse turns. Forty or fifty years ago, people at a
conference like this might have hazarded all kinds of predictions about its
future, but I doubt whether they would have been able to predict a
Zhirinovsky or a Louis Farrakhan. Anti-Semitism has adapted itself to
new contexts; it has adopted new guises - and disguises.
No one could deny that there have been some disquieting develop–
ments in the past two or three years, in Europe especially. Yet if I had to
sum up the prospects, I would say, at the risk of sounding Pollyanna-ish,
that I am reasonably optimistic about what the future holds, or at least -
perhaps it is as far as one should ever go on such a subject - reasonably
unpessimistic.
Let me be local, even parochial, and tell you a story.
It
is a tale that
might well have been concocted by a writer of anti-Semitic bent; if I
were in a teasing mood I could leave you to guess whether it came from
Hilaire Belloc, who wrote novels on very similar themes, or from one of
the thrillers of John Buchan - admirable thrillers in many ways, though
not in their racial attitudes. Anyway, here it is.
A Jew from an obscure part of Eastern Central Europe arrives in
England. Starting from nowhere, he accumulates an enormous fortune.
Those who know him realize that he has amassed it by the most ruthless
and brutal means, though he is able to keep up a facade as a public
benefactor. He changes his name to one which nobody would take to
be Jewish; when the question of his Jewishness is raised, he announces
that he is a member of the Church of England. (In the eyes of Belloc or
Buchan, this would of course make him more sinister still.) Then, in his
later years, he reverts to his origins. He dies, and although for most of his
career he has been firmly embedded in English public life, he is buried in
Israel. His funeral - an Orthodox Jewish funeral - takes place on the
Mount of Olives, amid a blaze of international publicity. Within days of
his dying, his malfeasances are exposed: they involve colossal swindles of a
particularly nasty kind, including ripping off five hundred million pounds
from a pension fund. Thousands of ordinary workers see their pensions
