Jüdischer Salon im Grünen Salon

Despite its deep inscription in modernity, anti-Semitism always claims the place of a phantom or a metaphor in our minds, even when it is rubbed in our faces; as if it were shielded from consciousness by a persistent memory disorder. The words of Sigmund Freud come to mind when he stood in front of the Acropolis for the first time: „So all this really exists, just as we learnt it at school!“ (Freud, 1936).   

The reality of anti-Semitism is often accompanied by doubts or briefly recognised, preferably in retrospect, as a relic from the past, indeed as something one „learned at school“. Can the events of 7 October 2023 provide new perspectives on some of the psychological and social functions of this phenomenon? Does contemporary Jew-hatred point to a new form of individual and cultural hyper-technological not-knowing-wanting?

Eran Rolnik is a psychoanalyst, psychiatrist and historian. He is a lecturer at Tel-Aviv University and Medical Director of the Office for Personal Compensation from Germany. In Israel he is known for his persistent commitment to sensitising the public to the value of psychoanalytic thinking, especially for understanding social and political reality. His articles appear in Haaretz. In view of the international reactions to 7 October, he criticised the inability of many on the left to respond emotionally and morally to the atrocities committed by Hamas. In early November 2023, he caused a stir when he made public in an open letter that he had been interrogated by the National Service Commission because of his critical articles about Benjamin Netanyahu. His study Freud in Hebrew. Geschichte der Psychoanalyse im jüdischen Palästina (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013) has been translated into numerous languages; his most recent publication is Redekur – Psychoanalyse verstehen (Brandes & Apsel, 2023).