Russian antisemitism and anti-Muslim hostility drew directly on Western European texts

Evidence

At the same time, and much as in our own era, antisemitism and hostility towards Islam and Muslims were ideologies that transcended borders. Russia gave the world the imagery of the pogrom and the tragic figure of the Jewish conscript. Yet Europe played a key role in shaping how Russians formed antipathies towards Jews and Muslims alike. From the scholarly to the sensationalist, books and articles by Western European authors on topics ranging from the ‘Blood Libel’ and ‘white slavery’ to the biography of the Prophet Muhammad and jihad circulated in Russian reading circles. — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 548

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader claim (in this project’s focus) that antisemitism and Islamophobia are a shared, border-transcending ideological history, not separate phenomena.