Alfred Grosser (born 1 February 1925 in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

) is a German-French writer, sociologist, and political scientist. He is known for his contributions towards the Franco-German cooperation after World War II and for criticizing Israel.

Early life

His father, Paul Grosser, was born in 1880 in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

and died 1934 in

Saint-Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint- ...

, France. A director of a children's hospital in

, socialist, freemason, and Jew, he was forced to immigrate to France in 1933 due to the increasing antisemitism in Nazi Germany. Alfred and his mother, Lily Grosser, were given French citizenship through a decree by the Minister of Justice,

Vincent Auriol Vincent Jules Auriol (; 27 August 1884 – 1 January 1966) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1947 to 1954. Early life and politics Auriol was born in Revel, Haute-Garonne, as the only child of Jacques Antoine Aurio ...

, in 1937; as a result, they were spared possible internment in a French camp following France's declaration of war on Germany, in September 1939, when, under the government of Daladier, German refugees from Nazism were treated as enemy aliens, along with other German residents.

Career

Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F046665-0016, Alfred Grosser

Alfred studied political science and the German language. After 1955, he became a professor at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris. In 1965, Grosser began contributing to many newspapers and broadcasts, including '' La Croix'' and '' Ouest-France''. He was very involved in improving the Franco-German cooperation, and paved the road for the Élysée Treaty in 1963. In 1992, he retired as the Director of Studies and Research at the ''Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques''.

Political opinions

Grosser opposed many Israeli government policies, as well as parts of the French government. When asked to describe the way his statements are received, he referred to the "moral cudgel" (''Moralkeule''), a phrase coined by writer Martin Walser. In 1998, when one of Walser's speeches created huge controversy, Grosser publicly sided with Walser. Grosser also holds to the opinion that Israel's politics inherently invoke anti-semitism. In 2003, Grosser left the board of magazine '' L’Express'' because he believed its reporting on the Middle East was unbalanced. He stated that the editor had reluctantly published his positive critique on a book that criticized Israel, while later printing multiple readers' letters attacking Grosser. Alfred Grosser criticized awarding the Ludwig Börne Prize 2007 to Henryk M. Broder through '' Focus'' publisher Helmut Markwort, feeling that both were neither worthy of the prize nor the handing in the Paulskirche. Grosser was invited by the city of Frankfurt to give the main speech at a

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung, (SA) paramilitary and Schutzstaffel, (SS) paramilitary forces along ...

commemorative meeting on 9 November 2010 in the Paulskirche. Mayor Roth was criticized for inviting him by members of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and others, but she stood by her invitation. They threatened to walk out should Grosser "fail regarding Israel". In the end, the speech was delivered without disturbance.

Selected publications

*''Deutschlandbilanz. Geschichte Deutschlands seit 1945'', 1970 (Germany in Our Time- a Political History of the Postwar Years, 1974) *''Das Bündnis'', 1981 *''Versuchte Beeinflussung'', 1981 *''Der schmale Grat der Freiheit'', 1981 * ''Western Alliance V815'' (1982, from French) *''Das Deutschland im Westen'', Carl Hanser Verlag, München 1985, *''Frankreich und seine Außenpolitik'', 1986 *''Mit Deutschen streiten'', 1987 *''Mein Deutschland'', 1993 *''Deutschland in Europa'', 1998 *''Was ich denke.'', November 2000 *''Wie anders sind die Deutschen?'', 2002 *''Wie anders ist Frankreich'', 2005 *''Die Früchte ihres Baumes. Ein atheistischer Blick auf die Christen'', September 2005 *''Der Begriff Rache ist mir völlig fremd'' in: Martin Doerry (editor): ''Nirgendwo und überall zu Haus. Gespräche mit Überlebenden des Holocaust'' (Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt), München 2006 (also on CD) pp. 120 – 129 *''Die Frage nach der Leitkultur'' in: Robertson-von Trotha, Caroline Y. (ed.): ''Kultur und Gerechtigkeit'' (= Kulturwissenschaft interdisziplinär/Interdisciplinary Studies on Culture and Society, Vol. 2), Baden-Baden 2007, *''Von Auschwitz nach Jerusalem (Über Deutschland und Israel)'', Rowohlt-Verlag 2009,

Honours

* 1975: Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels, for his role as "middle man between French and Germans, non-believers and believers, Europeans and people from other continents"; this gave him an earlier opportunity to speak in the Paulskirche. * 1978: Theodor-Heuss-Prize * 1995: Cicero Redner Prize for Rhetoric * 1996: Schiller Prize of the City of Mannheim * 1998: Grand Prix de l'Académie des Sciences morales et politiques * 2004: Abraham Geiger-Prize of Abraham-Geiger-Kolleg, University of Potsdam * Grand Cross, Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany *

Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

Interviews

''Israels Politik fördert den Antisemitismus''
Martina Doering interviews Alfred Grosser, ''Berliner Zeitung'', 15 August 2006. German
''Ich muss als Jude nicht für Israel sein''
Interview by Stefan Reinecke and Daniel Bax with Alfred Grosser in Die Tageszeitung, 4 April 2007. German
''Sofort heißt es: Antisemitismus!''
Tobias Kaufman interviews Alfred Grosser, following his new book "Von Auschwitz nach Jerusalem" (''From Auschwitz to Jerusalem)'', 18 September 2009. German
''"Ich bin genetisch optimistisch"''
Talk about "Von Auschwitz nach Jerusalem" with Moritz Reininghaus, Die Tageszeitung 28 September 2009. German
I have always wanted Europe"
Interview by Euronews (12 May 2010; retrieved 13 November 2010). English

about his upcoming speech in the Paulskirche on 9 November 2010.

3sat In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) is the problem of determining if there exists an interpretation that satisfies ...

"Kulturzeit": ''Kritik an Grosser. Zentralrat lehnt Politologen als Redner ab.'' From the recapitulation: (Die Kritiker der Einladung) ''begründeten ihre Ablehnung ... mit Grossers Kritik an der Politik Israels sowie dessen Unterstützung des Schriftstellers Martin Walser. ... Walser hatte anlässlich der Verleihung des Friedenspreises des Deutschen Buchhandels 1998 von der "Moralkeule Auschwitz" gesprochen ...'' German.
Author Alfred Grosser is controversial choice for Kristallnacht speech
Deutsche Welle (interview 8 November 2010, retrieved 13 November 2010). English.

Reviews

über das Buch ''Wie anders ist Frankreich.''
Ursula Homann ''Hinwendung zur Welt Warum Alfred Grosser nicht an Gott glaubt''
über das Buch ''Die Früchte ihres Baumes. Ein atheistischer Blick auf die Christen.''

References

External links

Artikel at his 80th birthday in ''Die Welt'', 1 February 2005.

1 June 2005.
Talk with Alfred Grosser
18 June 2008 in Paris.

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

: ''Ist die Meinungsfreiheit für Israelkritiker wirklich bedroht?'' 4 November 2010. Discussion about Grosser's support for Martin Walser and the "Moralkeule" (moral club). Includes precise quotes. {{DEFAULTSORT:Grosser, Alfred German political scientists German essayists Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres French political scientists Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to France 1925 births Living people French essayists Winners of the Prix Broquette-Gonin (literature) French male essayists German male essayists