The “Other Germany”? Antisemitism and Antizionism in the German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)

Abstract

The article examines the question of the existence of antisemitism in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), a subject that continues to generate debate within contemporary German historiography. It also investigates the emergence of antizionism as an official state policy of the GDR toward Israel, alongside the regime’s pro-Arab orientation. This political stance stemmed from the ideological framework of the ‘struggle against imperialist evil,’ within which the GDR’s communist leadership consistently portrayed Israel as a primary representative of imperialism.

It is concluded that, on the ideological level, the leadership of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) drew upon the “assimilationist” concept of the Communist International in addressing the so-called Jewish Question. According to this approach, Jews were expected to assimilate into the communist movement regardless of their sociocultural background, primarily through the renunciation of their Jewish identity. Within this framework, their role was to contribute to the struggle for a classless society in which antisemitism would, in theory, be rendered obsolete.

Antisemitism, deeply rooted in German society since the 19th century, resulted in a multifaceted hostility toward Jews in the German Democratic Republic. First, it manifested in the form of institutional antisemitism within state structures; second, in the marginalization of Jewish victims of National Socialism from the public memory; third, in the support provided by state security agencies to antisemitic Palestinian terrorist groups; and fourth, in latent, everyday antisemitism among the population. Catalysts for these everyday expressions included the rise of anti-Polish and anti-Soviet sentiments, which were projected onto all refugees from the East, as well as public debates surrounding the restitution of Jewish property expropriated during the Third Reich.

The transformation of Israel into a “tool of imperialism” in the ideological scheme of the SED was combined with the denial of guilt for the crimes of National Socialism, since “prescribed anti-fascism” shifted this responsibility to the Federal Republic of Germany. Thus, latent anti-Semitism developed into state anti-Zionism, which began to manifest itself in propaganda during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.