Volume 84, Issue 3

This article summarizes the main findings of a study on antisemitism in schools in Germany. The focus is on the experiences with and perspectives on antisemitism of Jews. In presenting experiences of antisemitism, different dimensions and manifestations of antisemitism are taken into account. On this basis, hostile attitudes and discriminatory actions and their justification are reconstructed. In particular, antisemitism rooting in deflecting guilt and Israel-related antisemitism appear in this context as a problem that emanates not only from students but sometimes also from teachers. As a result, a situation arises for those affected that is essentially characterized by the feeling of being left alone. Established patterns of perception and ways of dealing with antisemitism by non-Jewish teachers contribute to perpetuating the problem of anti-Semitism in schools. Finally, challenges for pedagogical approaches to antisemitism are identified.

In many cases antisemitism is reduced to its visible aspects as they appear in images and/or speech. This article focusses on different forms of antisemitic violence transported through discourses on antisemitism. Against the background of the October 7th massacres and drawing upon findings of theoretical and empirical research, selected forms of violence as a result of hiding, trivializing and obscuring antisemitism are discussed as antisemitic violence in present times discussed as a form of antisemitic violence.

The article discusses criteria for better educational resources on the critique of antisemitism in religious education. The thesis is formulated that religious education has a corrective and broadening function with respect to perceptions of everyday experiences. Considering examples from school textbooks, the article argues for educational resources that take seriously both everyday experiences of antisemitism and the critiques of antisemitism in religious education.

The author distinguishes conspiracy narratives from conspiracy myths or from a conspiracy ideology and decodes possible rhetorical devices of conspiracy narratives. These narratives assume that certain individuals or groups of people influence important events or crises in the world and thus deliberately harm the population, but at the same time keep them in the dark about their goals. Consequently, most conspiracy narratives are basically anti- Semitic, as Jews are usually marginalized in reality, but are portrayed as an allegedly powerful group in conspiracy narratives. This article aims to explain the extent to which religious education in public schools should address and deal with conspiracies and why it is important to do so. As a subject of conviction, religious education in particular is able to critically examine convictions and ideologies, i. e. as a conviction itself. Concrete points of contact with content areas from the core curriculum for secondary school in North Rhine-Westphalia close the consideration.

Referring to Judith Coffey’s und Vivien Laumann’s monograph »Gojnormativität« the article adapts its embodied main thesis: Talking about »guilt« in German context should be separated from highlighting »antisemitism« in religious education. Analyzing four aspects of guilt - its implicit focus on offenders, its often homogenous idea of »being German«, its idea of powerlessness and of a right to forgiveness - the article turns on discussing cognitive theories having their source in social psychology intergroup theories, that aim at reducing discrimination. Taking the results of both aspects - guilt and (anti-)discrimination - the article concludes with developing ideas for curricula in religious education.

The article presents basic information and research concerns within the additional study programme Critical Education on Antisemitism for Teaching (ZABUS), which is located at the University of Würzburg/Germany. Initial results are presented on the basis of evaluations and questionnaires of religious education students. The authors provide an insight into the horizon of the three-semester degree programme. They argue for an iterative educational design that interlinks research on antisemitism and teaching and brings together its specific nature with the ressources of the teaching profession.