Otto Kirchheimer's The Policy of the Catholic Church Toward the Jews (1943): A Forgotten Chapter of the Frankfurt School's Research on Antisemitism

Abstract

Abstract:This article places Otto Kirchheimer's unpublished essay, The Policy of the Catholic Church Toward the Jews, within the context of the Frankfurt School's studies of antisemitism during the 1940s. It identifies the traces left by Kirchheimer's text on the Institute's subsequent research, and emphasizes the differences between Kirchheimer's approach and the future theory of antisemitism conceived by Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, suggesting that this essay was the starting point for larger research projects on antisemitism by Horkheimer's Institute for Social Research. Kirchheimer's later writings on antisemitism are also discussed.