A Road to Nowhere?

This volume arises from an international conference held in May 2009 in Berlin on the theme of "European Jewry--A New Jewish Centre in the Making." The 17 contributions are from scholars based in European countries as well as Israel; they are diverse and sometimes contradictory in their visions of the past, present, and future. Arrangement is in three parts, the first pertaining to the Jewish world context, with discussion of demographic trends, the European Jewish Diaspora, and cultural pluralism as an American Zionist option. Following are contributions on the particularities of Jewish experience within Russian and Ukraine, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and France. The final theme is anti-Semitism, Israel, and Jewish politics. Contributors discuss such topics as xenophobia, the intellectual debate in France regarding anti-Semitism, and post-Communist Hungary, among other topics. The epilogue is a reflection on Europe and Latin America in the globalized world. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Julius H. Schoeps is Emeritus Professor for German-Jewish History at the University of Potsdam. He is the Director of the Moses Mendelssohn Center of European Jewish Studies in Potsdam. His main foci of research are German-Jewish history and Zionism, migration research, modern anti-Semitism and art plunder during Nazi rule in Germany.Olaf Glockner is an historian and project assistant at the Moses Mendelssohn Center of European Jewish Studies in Potsdam. He is specialized in contemporary Russian Jewish Immigration to Israel and Germany and in European Jewish developments after 1989.