Part 1 of The Origins of Totalitarianism, by Hannah Arendt.
Overview#
Chapter 1: Antisemitism as an Outrage to Common Sense#
This chapter develops the main argument. Jews played a significant role in the development of antisemitism (as opposed to what she calls "Jew-hatred"):
Modern antisemitism must be seen in the more general framework of the development of the nation-state, and at the same time its source must be found in certain aspects of Jewish history and specifically Jewish functions during the last centuries. (9)
Arendt is careful to note that this is not to blame Jews for their own persecution. (Victims of crimes often do things that make those crimes possible or even likely, but the crimes are no less crimes for all that.)
The remaining chapters flesh out this thesis in more detail.
Chapter 2: The Jews, the Nation-State, and the Birth of Antisemitism#
Chapter 3: The Jews and Society#
Chapter 4: The Dreyfus Affair#
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