ABSTRACT

The overall increase in higher education in Germany, as well as the emergence of younger generations unburdened by the past, allows them to assume that emotional rejection of and social distance from Jews will continue to diminish in the future. Emotional rejection of attempts to deal with the Nazi past thus seems to act as a good basis for anti-Semitism. The chapter examines the extent to which denial of nationality is connected with anti-Semitism, anti-Jewish motives prove to be the main basis for the judgment. Those who deny German citizenship to Jews do not necessarily reject the idea of living with them. There was very little support for this strong form of creating social distance, for example in a preference for emigration or prohibition on immigration or return by Jews. Rejection of closer contacts could be based on anticipation of problems, and did not necessarily result from anti-Jewish prejudice.