Anti-Semitism in Allied democracies was concealed but widespread during the war

Evidence

Events in the part of the world ruled by the National Socialists, and reactions to them in Allied countries, focused the attention of some observers on the Anglo-Saxon version of the movement which was having such horrific consequences on the continent. These observers claimed to perceive a more or less concealed form of anti-Semitism which was combined with support for democracy. This confirmed the suspicion that anti-Semitism was much more widespread than generally supposed. Widespread awareness of the prevalence of anti-Semitic feeling, and unwillingness to admit sharing it' was how George Orwell summed up his experience of it in an article on Anti-Semitism in Britain’, which appeared in April 1945 in the Contemporary Jewish Record, published by the American Jewish Committee: This feeling that anti-Semitism is something sinful and disgraceful, something that a civilized person does not suffer from, is unfavorable to a scientific approach, and indeed many people will admit that they are frightened of probing too deeply into the subject. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1482

Categorization

• SHARE: Orwell’s 1945 formulation ‘widespread awareness… unwillingness to admit sharing it’ is a precise articulation worth sending to anyone working on covert prejudice or the sociology of stigma.
• XREF: connects to: WWII anti-Nazi propaganda delegitimized racism as antidemocratic — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3357; Anti-Zionism serves as a respectable cover for anti-Semitism where direct prejudice is discredited

Broader Connections

• WWII anti-Nazi propaganda delegitimized racism as antidemocratic #contradicts (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3357
• Anti-Zionism serves as a respectable cover for anti-Semitism where direct prejudice is discredited #exemplifies (0.72)