Podcast Summary

New Books Network

Episode: Lisa Silverman, "The Postwar Antisemite: Culture and Complicity After the Holocaust" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Host: Paul Lerner
Guest: Lisa Silverman
Date: December 28, 2025

Overview of the Episode

The episode features an engaging and in-depth conversation between host Paul Lerner and historian Lisa Silverman about her latest book, The Postwar Antisemite: Culture and Complicity After the Holocaust. Silverman’s nuanced study interrogates how postwar cultures in West Germany, East Germany, and Austria constructed the figure of the "antisemite"—a projection shaped by guilt, exculpation, and strategies for non-Jews to claim victim status after the Holocaust. Instead of revisiting the well-documented “figural Jew” of European culture, Silverman turns scholarly attention onto the making and uses of the “figural antisemite” in literature, film, and public life from the end of WWII through the decades following. The conversation delves deeply into key concepts from the book, Silverman’s intellectual formation, case studies from postwar culture, and the intersections of antisemitism with gender, race, and power both historically and in the contemporary world.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Lisa Silverman’s Background and Intellectual Formation

• Personal and Academic Background
  • Silverman’s fascination with modern European Jewish history began in college, catalyzed by a personal connection to the German language, which at the time still carried stigma within Jewish communities.
  • Her early career included work with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, involving restitution efforts in the wake of German reunification.
  • Transition from initial studies in political science to a PhD focused on Jewish intellectual and cultural history, notably in Austria—a relatively understudied area when she began.
  • Academic mentorship from influential scholars (Paula Hyman, Sander Gilman, Jeffrey Sammons) who encouraged innovative approaches, including the use of cultural history and sources outside of conventional archives.
  • “Sandra [Gilman]...really helped me take a different path in the sources that I wanted to look at. ... He said, Lisa, you're a cultural historian. That's what you're doing.” – Lisa Silverman [10:57]

Theoretical Framework: Jewish Difference

• Defining "Jewish Difference"
  • Silverman introduces “Jewish difference” to name the structural, often binary, social and cultural framework that divides the world into “Jewish” and “non-Jewish,” a distinction at once artificial but deeply embedded in both culture and scholarship.
  • This framework, she argues, surpasses simplistic binaries of antisemitism versus philosemitism, acknowledging complex gradations, ambiguities, and shifts.
  • Quote: “It's a phrase I like to use because it helps to highlight the constructive categories of the Jew and the non Jew that inform so many of the cultural narratives...it's a framework that people, without even being conscious of it, are sort of socialized into knowing about.” – Lisa Silverman [12:58]

Reframing Sartre and the "Constructed Antisemite"

• Moving Beyond Sartre
  • Silverman's work is in conversation with Jean-Paul Sartre's “Anti-Semite and Jew,” especially the famous idea that “[i]f the Jew did not exist, the antisemite would have to invent him.”
  • She contextualizes Sartre’s formulation by tracing it to earlier sources (notably, the ex-Nazi Hermann Rauschning), revealing how this conceptual reversal is historically charged and intricately connected with the politics of exculpation.
  • Sartre’s construction found resonance because it allowed both non-Jews and Jews to distance themselves from complicity and conveniently contain the problem of antisemitism within a discrete, externalized “antisemite.”
  • Quote: "[Sartre]...formulated this constructed anti Semite...I thought it was interesting that this phrase has lasted. ... Not only was his formulation popular with non-Jews, but also Jews very much involved in countering antisemitism also found this formulation helpful." – Lisa Silverman [21:12]

Comparing Postwar West Germany, East Germany, and Austria

• Cultural Construction of the Antisemite in Three Contexts
  • West Germany:
    • Sought to reframe patriotism as antithetical to antisemitism; “patriot” versus “antisemite” was a central narrative.
    • Key case: the defense of filmmaker Veit Harlan (director of the antisemitic film "Jud Süß") centered on presenting himself as a “true German patriot” rather than an antisemite or Nazi.
    • Quote: “There was a certain sense of, let's reframe German patriotism as something that's antithetical to antisemitism. ...We can then have a certain degree of Germanness without having to answer for the further exclusion of Jews.” [25:12]
  • East Germany:
    • Framed the antisemite as a capitalist foil to the communist, leveraging accusations of antisemitism to reinforce anti-capitalist ideology.
    • Notably, more Jews held leadership roles in East German cultural structures, complicating the narrative.
  • Austria:
    • Relied on the “first victim” myth to distance Austrians from Nazi crimes; constructed narratives of innocence and victimhood while sidelining both antisemites and Jews themselves.
    • Cultural products, such as the film "Erster April 2000," reflected these strategies.

Notable Cases and Cultural Texts

• Erster April 2000 (April 1st, 2000) (Austria) [32:38]
  • Satirical Austrian film functioning as propaganda, showcasing the country's supposed peacefulness and innocence, deflecting responsibility for Nazi crimes.
  • “This bitterness is borne out not first of all, when they tried to show it internationally, it wasn't very popular. ... More of this victim status and how the film really reflects how Austria felt victimized by the rest of the world and being called to account for crimes they did not commit.” – Lisa Silverman [35:58]
• Billy Wilder’s The Emperor Waltz [36:48]
  • Wilder, whose family perished in the Holocaust, created a nostalgic depiction of prewar Austria that attempts to subtly criticize antisemitism through satire and veiled references, but ultimately reveals longing for a lost, imagined inclusive Austria.
  • “Is this a film that's critical of Austria? No. ... But I think that overall, the plot of it shows that he has a real longing for an Austrian...culture that is inclusive of Jews as long as they're not...recognizable as Jews, perhaps, but also not compatible with Nazism and anti Semitism.” – Lisa Silverman [38:56]

Gender and the Figure of the Antisemite

• Is the Antisemite Always Male? [43:07]
  • Silverman complicates assumptions by identifying moments where women occupy the role of the antisemite or become symbols for the projection of guilt.
  • Example: Karina Niehoff, a “half-Jewish” witness in the Veit Harlan trial, becomes a target of public vitriol and scapegoating; her testimony catalyzes a cultural drama about victimization and blame.
  • Example: Bundestag commemoration of Kristallnacht, where Ida Ehrer’s recitation of Paul Celan’s "Todesfuge" is retroactively blamed by a male politician for triggering his downfall and health crisis.
  • Quote: “She ended up being a figure that really in my mind represented this as a woman. It was no, she was somebody who was a woman who could occupy as a so called half Jew, this liminal space of Jew and non Jew.” – Lisa Silverman [47:53]
  • The antisemite figure can thus be constructed as male or female; the dynamics of gender help reinforce or challenge victim narratives and projections of blame.

Extending the Analysis: Race, the US, and Intersectionality

• American Context: Race, Antisemitism, and Passing [53:28]
  • Silverman ends the book by contrasting the European and American postwar handling of Jewish difference and antisemitism, especially in relation to Black/white racial dynamics.
  • Cases: "Gentleman’s Agreement," Josephine Baker vs. Walter Winchell at the Stork Club.
  • In the US, "antisemite" and "racist" become dueling categories, deflecting responsibility while maintaining the status quo; Jews are protected by whiteness, and the focus shifts from systemic discrimination to personal mudslinging.
  • “In the American context, it was interesting how the antisemite works in tandem with the racist...everyone's eye is now on the mudslinging and not on how racism and anti Semitism work.” – Lisa Silverman [56:00]
  • The film "Gentleman’s Agreement" demonstrates both a progressive stance against antisemitism and a reinforcement of white privilege (“pass[ing] as white”) without interrogating the structure of race.

Contemporary Reflections and Lessons

• Relevance Today [60:59]
  • The ongoing battle over who gets to define “antisemitism” is, for Silverman, a legacy of the immense moral power that category conferred in the wake of the Holocaust.
  • She cautions that scholars, activists, and institutions today must recognize the persistent framework of “Jewish difference” and the temptation to wield victim status or accusations instrumentally, whether on the left or right.
  • Quote: “Everybody loves the Jewish underdog hero of so many classic movies and films, and I get that. But if you're a scholar of anti Semitism and you want to understand not just how it works, but why it's so powerful and persistent, you have to be willing to understand that it's a framework that we are all at risk of engaging instead of doing away with.” – Lisa Silverman [63:10]

Notable Quotes

• “Jewish difference... helps to highlight the constructive categories of the Jew and the non Jew that inform so many of the cultural narratives...” – Lisa Silverman [12:58]
• “This phrase [from Sartre] has lasted... Not only was his formulation popular with non-Jews, but also Jews very much involved in countering antisemitism also found this formulation helpful.” – Lisa Silverman [21:12]
• “I'm not afraid to look at unpopular and even, shall we say, bad films because they're so interesting as historical artifacts.” – Lisa Silverman [32:52]
• “If you're a scholar of anti Semitism and you want to understand not just how it works, but why it's so powerful and persistent, you have to be willing to understand that it's a framework that we are all at risk of engaging instead of doing away with.” – Lisa Silverman [63:10]
• “The figure of Niehoff...really crystallizes this idea that, oh, here's Harlan, here's the perfect figure for Harlan to show that he's been victimized by her. She becomes for him this anti Semite who is tormenting him in that moment.” – Lisa Silverman [48:54]

Major Timestamps

• [03:49] Lisa Silverman’s academic background and path into Jewish/German/Austrian studies
• [12:46] Definition and importance of "Jewish difference"
• [18:44] Sartre’s concept and Silverman’s critique
• [24:29] Comparative summary: West Germany, East Germany, Austria
• [32:38] Case Study: April 1st, 2000 (Austrian propaganda film)
• [36:48] Case Study: Billy Wilder’s The Emperor Waltz
• [43:07] Gender and the figure of the antisemite
• [53:28] The US context, racism, antisemitism, and postwar constructions
• [60:59] Reflections on contemporary antisemitism
• [64:11] Silverman’s forthcoming trial-focused research projects

Conclusion and What’s Next

The episode concludes with Silverman describing her future research interests—namely, a broad project on courtroom trials as cultural and historical narratives that intersect with antisemitism, gender, and race. She hopes to work on both a textbook (possibly with her colleague Chaya Halberston) and a continuation of her focus on Germany and Austria, exploring how witness testimony, legal roles, and performative narrative shapes justice—or its absence—with lasting impact.

Recommended Listening

For listeners interested in deep cultural history, the mechanisms of collective memory, and the persistence and reinvention of social categories after atrocity, this episode provides both scholarly rigor and accessible, thought-provoking discussion.