G. Daniel Cohen

My book project investigates the emergence of "philosemitism" in Western Europe after the Second World War. Despite many ambiguities, expressions of empathy towards Jews have challenged the exceptionality of the Jewish condition in European history. Yet while the literature on antisemitism is vast, there is not a single comprehensive study on the positive meanings of Jewishness in post-Holocaust Europe. In this book, I trace the evolution of "philosemitic" discourse and sentiment from 1945 to the present. As I demonstrate, the Jewish trope allowed prominent theologians, intellectuals and political figures to reconstruct European ethics in the second half of the 20th century. This movement did not hinder the persistence of anti-Semitism and at times reified old anti-Jewish themes under the cover of Judeophilia. It nonetheless laid the foundations for an unprecedented moral revolution in contemporary European history.