“Why [the Jews] Have Attracted This Undying Hatred”

Abstract

In a 1934 letter to A. Zweig, Freud spoke of the undying hatred of the Jews and related this to his theses about the creation of the Jews by Moses developed in Moses and Monotheism. I explore what appear to be Freud’s outrageous claims in order to show how his insights can help us to understand recent outbreaks of anti-Semitic incidents. Freud was concerned about ever present danger of the breakout of hatred and the constant need to be vigilant in opposing violence.