David Cesarani (13 November 1956 – 25 October 2015) was a British historian who specialised in

Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews, and their nation, religion, and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions, and cultures. Although Judaism as a religion first appears in Greek records during the Hellenisti ...

, especially

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. He also wrote several biographies, including ''

Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; hu, Kösztler Artúr; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler join ...

: The Homeless Mind'' (1998).

Early life and education

Cesarani was born in London to Henry, a hairdresser, and Sylvia (née Packman). An only child, he won a scholarship to

Latymer Upper School (Slowly Therefore Surely) , established = , closed = , sister_school = Godolphin and Latymer School , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , head_label = H ...

in west London and went to

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

, in 1976, where he gained a first in history. A master's degree in Jewish history at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, working with the scholar of Judaism Arthur Hertzberg, shaped the rest of his career. His doctorate at

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economic ...

, looked into aspects of the history of the

interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...

Anglo-Jewish community. Before he started his degree at Cambridge, Cesarani spent a gap year in Israel which involved working at a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

. His involvement in

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...

was to be accompanied by nagging doubts that arose from this period, where he observed local Arabs were not accorded respect. He recalled the shock he felt on discovering that the kibbutzniks had not been forthcoming about the history of the fields where he worked, near

Qaqun Qaqun ( ar, قاقون) was a Palestinian Arab village located northwest of the city of Tulkarm at the only entrance to Mount Nablus from the coastal Sharon plain. Evidence of organized settlement in Qaqun dates back to the period of Assyr ...

. "We were always told that the pile of rubble at the top of the hill was a Crusader castle. It was only much later that I discovered it was an Arab village that had been ruined in the Six-Day war."

Academic career

Cesarani held positions at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

Queen Mary University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

and at the

Wiener Library The Wiener Holocaust Library () is the world's oldest institution devoted to the study of the Holocaust, its causes and legacies. Founded in 1933 as an information bureau that informed Jewish communities and governments worldwide about the pe ...

in London, where he was director for two periods in the 1990s. He was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of Modern Jewish history at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

from 2000 to 2004, and research professor in history at

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

, from 2004 until his death. Here he helped establish and direct the Holocaust Research Centre.

The Arendt affair

In 2005, he published a biography of SS-''

Obersturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Obersturmbannführer'' (Senior Assault-unit Leader; ; short: ''Ostubaf'') was a paramilitary rank in the German Nazi Party (NSDAP) which was used by the SA (''Sturmabteilung'') and the SS (''Schutzstaffel''). The rank of ''Obersturm ...

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was born ...

's account of Eichmann's arrest, trial and sentence. In a review for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', British historian

Ian Kershaw Sir Ian Kershaw (born 29 April 1943) is an English historian whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th-century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is pa ...

wrote that "a central purpose of Cesarani's penetrating and compelling study is to show how wrong Arendt's influential interpretation of Eichmann was, and how misleading the phrase 'banality of evil' has proved." A key charge of Cesarani was that Arendt's account of Eichmann's trial was hindered by prejudice towards the Eastern European Jewish background of the prosecutor, Gideon Hausner. Kershaw commended Cesarani's "expert guidance through the web of lies, deceit, and contradictions built into Eichmann's various tendentious accounts of his life and career. He hammers home the message that, far from being merely an industrious underling dispassionately implementing orders, Eichmann was a convinced anti-Semitic ideologue in a key position where he himself could initiate action and make things happen." He described Cesarani's "revision of Arendt's interpretation" of Eichmann as "an unideological bureaucrat diligently doing his job, the archetypal middle-manager on the lookout for career advancement, but otherwise without motive – 'the classic desk-killer who mechanically and thoughtlessly arranged for millions to die as the culmination of a routinised and sanitised process or destruction'" as "surely correct". Criticising an influential and much-admired writer as Hannah Arendt raised controversy. An editor of ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', Barry Gewen, while praising the "factual density" in Cesarani's book, dismissed what he described as Cesarani's "hostility" to Arendt and even suggested that Cesarani needed to "tear Arendt down to make space for himself." He further said that "Cesarani believes his details add up to a portrait at odds with Arendt's banal bureaucrat, but what is striking is how far his research goes to reinforce her fundamental arguments." He characterised Cesarani's statement, "She had much in common with Eichmann. There were two people in the courtroom who looked up to the German-born judges as the best of Germany and looked down on the prosecutor as a miserable Ostjude: one was Eichmann and the other was Hannah Arendt," as a "slur" which "reveals a writer in control neither of his material nor of himself."

Public activism

Holocaust consciousness

Cesarani was a member of the Home Office' Holocaust Memorial Day Strategic Group and was once Director of the AHRC Parkes Centre, part of the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations. He was co-editor of the journal ''

Patterns of Prejudice Patterns of Prejudice is a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the study of historical and contemporary intolerance and social exclusion. Published by Taylor & Francis, the articles are selected via a double-blind method, and publications ...

'' and the Parkes-Wiener Series of books on Jewish Studies (published by Vallentine-Mitchell). In February 2005, Cesarani was awarded an OBE for "services to Holocaust Education and advising the government with regard to the establishment of Holocaust Memorial Day". Cesarani campaigned against

Holocaust denier Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: * ...

s such as

David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include ''The Destruction of Dresden'' (19 ...

and

Fredrick Töben Gerald Fredrick Töben, more commonly known as Fredrick Töben (2 June 1944 – 29 June 2020), was a German-born Australian citizen who was director and founder of the Adelaide Institute, a Holocaust denial group in Australia. He was the auth ...

, alongside fellow academic

Peter Longerich Peter Longerich (born 1955) is a German professor of history and German historian. He is regarded by fellow historians, including Ian Kershaw, Richard Evans, Timothy Snyder, Mark Roseman and Richard Overy, as one of the leading German authori ...

. With regards to Holocaust denial, he wrote that "the fractional loss of liberty entailed in penalising the expression of neo-Nazi views or Holocaust denial seems a small price to pay compared to what can follow if the far right is shielded all the way into power". Journalist David Guttenplan described Cesarani's position in the wake of the ''Irving v Lipstadt'' trial as "more dangerous than anything David Irving has ever said or written."

Israeli–Arab conflict and Zionism

Cesarani believed that Israel's

right to exist The right to exist is said to be an attribute of nations. According to an essay by the 19th-century French philosopher Ernest Renan, a state has the right to exist when individuals are willing to sacrifice their own interests for the communit ...

is unquestionable, and that " nying the right of Israel to exist begs some serious questions." He was strongly critical of academic and business boycotts against Israel in the United Kingdom. However he was also critical of Israeli government policy, conduct and expansionist sentiments. He was an advisory editor of Engage, a web-based campaign that emerged from opposition to the

Association of University Teachers The Association of University Teachers (AUT) was the trade union and professional association that represented academic (teaching and research) and academic-related (librarians, IT professionals and senior administrators) staff at pre-1992 ...

(AUT) boycott. In his words Engage was "careful to stress that criticism of Israel's Government or Israeli society is not a priori anti-Semitic. What Engage objects to is the demonisation of Israel, the application of double standards intended to criminalise one state and those who support it, and the unique denial to the Jews of any right to nationhood." Cesarani decried anti-Semitic incidents and expressions in relation to the boycotts in British universities as well as the "apathy" of student bodies such as the National Union of Students. Cesarani concluded "It should not be like this. It is possible to support the Palestinian struggle against the occupation and for a viable state without endorsing the murder of innocents or conspiracy theories about Jews. British universities are a meeting place of different nationalities and ethnic and faith groups. The boycott campaign, anti-Israel motions, double standards and violent rhetoric poison this precious environment." Cesarani rejected suggestions that incidents such as the attack on a Kosher shop in Paris following the ''Charlie Hebdo'' shooting in January 2015 were a sign of universal anti-Semitism. He wrote that "The current hysteria about the 'rise of anti-semitism' and the flight of Jews from Europe is deeply regrettable. There is no 'wave' of anti-semitism." The basis of his argument was that Jews were not socially or legally isolated "as they were in the 1930s and 1940s, but find themselves enjoying unprecedented solidarity." He further emphasised that Jewish communities "on both sides of the English Channel rallied and continued to thrive" following targeted attacks by Palestinian Arab terrorists in the 1970s and 1980s and wrote that the "current press hyperbole shows not only ignorance about what the situation was like 70–80 years ago, but what it was like just 20–30 years before now." He also attacked Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

for "fear mongering" and asserted that Jews, non-Jews and Muslims were standing "shoulder to shoulder" against a common terrorist threat. He saw the controversy over the

Israeli West Bank barrier The Israeli West Bank barrier, comprising the West Bank Wall and the West Bank fence, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. It is a contentious element of the Israeli–Palestinian c ...

as being unimportant, and that it is used as a photo opportunity for the world's media. Of the wall itself "it's a concern if land is misappropriated from the Palestinians, or if Palestinian lives become intolerable, but its true significance is in the total disintegration of trust between Jews and Palestinians", though he also believed some reactions to the barrier have been under-reported, for example that "some Arab towns, especially in southern Galilee, have welcomed the wall as a means of preventing Palestinians entering Israeli towns and adding to the unemployment and instability."

Death

David Cesarani died on 25 October 2015, after he had had surgery the previous month to remove a cancerous spinal tumour. He had been diagnosed with the cancer in July 2015. He spent the week before his operation checking the footnotes for his final book at the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hous ...

in London, and was still writing ten days before his death. He had completed two works which were both scheduled to be published in 2016: ''Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews 1933–1949'' and ''Disraeli: The Novel Politician''.

Bibliography

As author

* ''Justice Delayed: How Britain Became a Refuge for Nazi War Criminals'' (Heinemann, 1992) Reissued by Phoenix Press in 2001. * ''The

Jewish Chronicle Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and Anglo-Jewry 1841–1991'' (Cambridge University Press, 1994) * ''

: The Homeless Mind.'' (Heinemann, 1998) Reissued by the Free Press. * ''

Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Farran Farran () is a village in County Cork, Ireland, in the parish of Ovens. It lies on the southside of the River Lee. Farran is west from Cork City on the N22 road. The village has a primary school, creche and Montessori school, a church, comm ...

's Hat: The Untold Story of the Struggle to Establish the Jewish State'' (Da Capo Press, 2009) * '' Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews 1933–1949'' (Macmillan, 2016) * ''

Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...

: The Novel Politician'' (Jewish Lives, Yale University Press, 2016)

As editor

* ''Port Jews (2002)'' *''The Making of Modern Anglo-Jewry'' (1990) * ''The

Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...

: Origins and Implementation'' (1994) * ''Genocide and Rescue:

The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, 1944'' (1997) * ''Port Jews: Jewish Communities in Cosmopolitan Maritime Trading Centuries, 1550–1950'' (2002) * ''"Bystanders" to the Holocaust: A Re-evaluation'' (2002) * ''Citizenship, Nationality and Migration in Europe'' (with Mary Fulbrook 2003, first ed. 1996) * ''Holocaust. Critical Concepts in Historical Studies''. 6 vols. (2004)

Awards

* 2006:

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.

References

Sources

Stone, Dan (2019) British Jewry, antisemitism and the Holocaust: the work and legacy of David Cesarani: an introduction, Patterns of Prejudice, 53:1, 2-8, DOI:10.1080/0031322X.2018.1557962

External links

Page on Professor David Cesarani at the RHUL History Department website
*

of Cesarani's biography of

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Book Review, ''A World Without Jews: The Nazi Imagination from Persecution to Genocide''
– ''

Fathom Journal The Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) is a UK-based organisation which acts to promote awareness of Israel and the Middle East in the United Kingdom. BICOM publishes materials such as briefings and a journal, ''Fathom'', ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Cesarani, David 1956 births 2015 deaths Academics of Queen Mary University of London Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London Academics of the University of Leeds Academics of the University of Southampton Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Columbia University alumni English Jews English historians Historians of the Holocaust Jewish German history Jewish historians Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Latymer Upper School Academics from London Scholars of antisemitism