Matthias Küntzel
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Matthias Küntzel (born 1955), is a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
and historian. He was an external
research associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Bachelor's degree such as a master's degree or a PhD. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical Scho ...
at the Vidal Sassoon Center for the Study of Antisemitism (SICSA) at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
from 2004 to 2015. Currently, he is a member of the German Council on Foreign Relations DGAP and of the advisory board of UANI (United Against Nuclear Iran).


Career

From 1984 to 1988, Küntzel served as a senior advisor for the
German Green Party Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Germany in 1990). Th ...
caucus in the Bundestag. He was member of the
Communist League The Communist League ( German: ''Bund der Kommunisten)'' was an international political party established on 1 June 1847 in London, England. The organisation was formed through the merger of the League of the Just, headed by Karl Schapper, and th ...
(''Kommunistischer Bund'', KB) and part of the Anti-Germans movement. Between 1992 and 2021 he held a tenured part-time position as a teacher of political science at a technical college in Hamburg, Germany. In 1991, he received his
doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
in Political Science at the
University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...
. His thesis ''Bonn & the Bomb. German Politics and the Nuclear Option'' (London:
Pluto Press Pluto Press is a British independent book publisher based in London, founded in 1969. Pluto Press states that it publishes "radical, left‐wing non­‐fiction books", and is anti-capitalist and internationalist. It belongs to The Internat ...
) was published in English in 1995. Since 2001, his main field of research and writing have been anti-Semitism in current
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic thinking,
Islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...
, Islamism and
National Socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequ ...
,
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
, German and Western policies towards the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
and Iran. His essays and articles have been translated into sixteen languages and published inter alia in ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'', ''The
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', ''The
Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs The Israel Council on Foreign Relations (ICFR) is an independent, non-partisan forum for the study and debate of foreign policy issues, especially those relating to the State of Israel and the Jewish people. The ICFR publishes a triannual policy ...
'', ''
The Weekly Standard ''The Weekly Standard'' was an American neoconservative political magazine of news, analysis, and commentary that was published 48 times per year. Originally edited by founders Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes, the ''Standard'' was described as a ...
'', ''
Telos Telos (; ) is a term used by philosopher Aristotle to refer to the final cause of a natural organ or entity, or of human art. ''Telos'' is the root of the modern term teleology, the study of purposiveness or of objects with a view to their aims, ...
'', ''
Policy Review ''Policy Review'' was a conservative journal published between 1977 and 2013. ''Policy Review'' was founded in 1977 by The Heritage Foundation and served as the foundation's flagship publication for 36 years, until 2001.Gillian Peele, 'American ...
'', ''
The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...
'', ''
Der Standard ''Der Standard'' () is an Austrian daily newspaper published in Vienna. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Der Standard'' was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and published its first editio ...
'',
Spiegel Online ' () is a German news website. It was established in 1994 as ''Spiegel Online'' as a content mirror of the magazine ''Der Spiegel''. In 1995, the site began producing original stories and it introduced ''Spiegel Online International'' for artic ...
, ''
Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...
'', ''
Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...
'' and ''
Internationale Politik ''Internationale Politik'' (''IP'') is the magazine of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik ). It covers contemporary topics in international affairs under editor-in-chief Martin Bialecki, ...
''.


Work

In 2003, he delivered the keynote address at the at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. In 2005, he discovered antisemitic tracts at the Iranian stands at the
Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: , FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am ...
, an incident he wrote about in the ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''. In 2007, Telos Press (New York, NY) published his book ''Jihad and Jew-Hatred. Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11''. In 2008, he presented "Jihad and Jew-Hatred in the USA" at numerous universities (
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
,
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
,
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
, UC-Santa Cruz, UC-Irvine,
SUNY-Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public research university in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. The university was founded in 1846 as ...
,
University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...
, and the
Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...
). The book was criticized by Gilbert Achcar as "a fantasy-based narrative pasted together out of secondary sources and thirdhand reports; it aims to demonstrate that there is a direct line of descent from Amin al-Husseini and Hassan al-Banna through Gamal Abdel-Nasser to Osama bin Laden." Alexander Flores has critiqued the book for lacking context about Palestinians' relationship to Zionism: "he draws a grotesquely distorted picture of the general strike and subsequent rebellion of the Palestinians from 1936 to 1939. According to this picture, the rebellion was brought about by the machinations of the mufti who just followed his lust for power and his anti-Semitic leanings and who already at that time colluded with the Nazis. The real background of the revolt, the Palestinians' apprehension at enhanced Jewish immigration, accelerated Zionist upbuilding and the possible loss of their homeland, is absent from this picture."
Jeffrey Goldberg Jeffrey Mark Goldberg (born 1965) is an American journalist who is the editor-in-chief of ''The Atlantic''. During his nine years at ''The Atlantic'' before becoming editor, Goldberg became known for his coverage of foreign affairs. He moderated ...
reviewing the book in the
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
called it a "bracing, even startling, book" and an "invaluable contribution" about an explosion of anti-Jewish hatred. "Küntzel makes a bold and consequential argument: the dissemination of European models of anti-Semitism among Muslims was not haphazard, but an actual project of the Nazi Party, meant to turn Muslims against Jews and Zionism. ..Küntzel marshals impressive evidence to back his case, but he sometimes oversimplifies." He also spoke at conferences organized ''inter alia'' by the
American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right think tank based in Washington, D.C., that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare ...
, the Israel Project, the Anti-Defamation League, and the
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), formerly named the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, is a Washington, D.C.–based, non-profit and think tank. History JINSA was founded in 1976, three years after ...
, and at the " Global Forum For Combating Antisemitism" at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He participated in an international academic workshop on "Antisemitism in the 21st Century: Manifestations, Implications and Consequences", organized by the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies of the
United States Holocaust Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust, dedicated to the documentation, study, and interpretation of the Holocaust. Opened in 1993, the museum explores the Holocaust through p ...
. In 2009, he spoke at the "London Conference on Combating Antisemitism", organized by the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...
of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, and published his book ''The Germans and Iran: The Past and Present of a Fateful Friendship'' (German publisher: Wolf Jobst Siedler, Berlin). 2012 the Persian translation of this book by Michael Mobasheri was published in Cologne-Germany (Forough-Publishing Cologne). In 2010 he became a guest commentator on Germany's main public radio station, ''Deutschlandradio Kultur'', and addressed the "Second Conference of the Interparliamentary Coalition on Combating Antisemitism" in Ottawa, Canada. In 2011, he received the ADL's Ehrlich-Schwerin Human Rights Prize and spoke at the international scholars conference on "Resurgent Antisemitism: Global Perspectives", organized by the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism at
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
. In 2012, he spoke on behalf of the
Henry Jackson Society The Henry Jackson Society (HJS) is a trans-Atlantic foreign policy and national security think tank, based in the United Kingdom. While describing itself as non-partisan, its outlook has been described variously as right-wing, neoliberal, an ...
to Britain's
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
on the 70th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, and at the
Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation ('' German: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: KAS'') is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's head ...
in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
on the current meaning of the Auschwitz day of remembrance. He was the main speaker at a rally against the award of the Adorno Award to
Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American feminist philosopher and gender studies scholar whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In ...
, held in front of St. Paul's Church in
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
. ''The Germans and Iran'' was republished in Persian Translation by Michael Mobasheri. He also published ''Germany, Iran and the Bomb'' (LIT, Münster), which was also a reply to
Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gda ...
. His book "Nazis and der Nahe Osten. Wie der islamische Antisemitismus entstand" (Nazis and the Middle East: How Islamic antisemitism came into being) was published in 2019. According to the reviewer Philip Henning Küntzel has become the most important German voice on this topic. For Küntzel a different position than pro-Israel is impossible. In his book Küntzel according the review selectively displays how NS-propaganda spread in Arabic countries, while and he ignores the many Arabic enemies of the Nazis. The influence of colonialism in the region is not a topic of the book either. However Hennig writes the book an overdue contribution to the awareness of a topic which plays too little a role in scientific and general public discourse. In 2023, Routledge published "Nazis, Islamic Antisemitism and the Middle East. The Arab War against Israel and the Aftershocks of World War II", an expanded English version of "Nazis und der Nahe Osten“.


Controversy over cancelled lecture at the University of Leeds

On 14 March 2007 Küntzel was due to address
University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...
in England on the topic ‘Hitler’s Legacy: Islamic Antisemitism in the Middle East.’ The university's student Islamic society complained about what they called the lecture's "provocative" title and the university removed the words "Hitler" and "Islamic" with the title amended to read: "The Nazi Legacy: The Export of Anti-Semitism to the Middle East." However, several hours before the talk was due to take place, the talk was unexpectedly cancelled due to "security concerns," following protest e-mails from some of the university's Muslim students claiming the lecture was an "open racist attack".University is accused of censoring anti-Semitic Islam lecture
by Sean O’Neill,
Times Online ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fo ...
, March 15, 2007
Küntzel said he had given similar addresses (at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, as well as universities in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
and
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
) around the world and there had been no problems. "I know this is sometimes a controversial topic," he said, "but I am accustomed to that and I have the ability to calm people down. It's not a problem for me at all. My impression was that they wanted to avoid the issue in order to keep the situation calm. My feeling is that this is a kind of censorship." Dr. Küntzel also said that the contents of emails described to him did not overtly threaten violence but "they were very, very strongly worded". He added: "It's stupid, because I also talk about Christian anti-semitism." Members of the German department at Leeds accused the university of "selling-out"
academic freedom Academic freedom is the right of a teacher to instruct and the right of a student to learn in an academic setting unhampered by outside interference. It may also include the right of academics to engage in social and political criticism. Academic ...
.


Awards and honors

In 2011, Matthias Küntzel was presented with the Anti-Defamation-League's (ADL) Paul Ehrlich-Günther K. Schwerin Human Rights Award. In 2011, Matthias Küntzel was (together with Colin Meade) the recipient of the Best Book Review Award of the ''Journal for the Study of Antisemitism''. In 2022, the German-Israeli Society in Hanover awarded him the Theodor Lessing Prize for enlightened thinking and acting.


Books

* ''Nazis, Islamic Antisemitism and the Middle East. The Arab War against Israel and the Aftershocks of World War II'', Routledge 2024 * ''Nazis und der Nahe Osten. Wie der islamische Antisemitismus entstand'', Hentrich & Hentrich 2019 * ''Germany and Iran: From the Aryan Axis to the Nuclear Threshold'', New York, 2014. * ''Deutschland, Iran und die Bombe''

LIT Verlag 2012. * آلمانی‌ها و ایران- تاریخ گذشته و معاصر یک دوستی بدفرجام ترجمه مایکل مبشری (Germany and Iran: The Past and Contemporary History of an Unhappy Friendship) 2012. Paris: Khavaran. ISBN 978-3-943147-18-6. OCLC 829906934. Translated by Michael Mobasheri. * ''Die Deutschen und der Iran'', wjs-Verlag 2009. * ''Islamischer Antisemitismus und deutsche Politik'', LIT Verlag 2007 * ''Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11'', New York, 2007. * ''Djihad und Judenhaß: über den neuen antijüdischen Krieg'', Ça Ira, Freiburg, 2002 * ''Der Weg in den Krieg. Deutschland, die Nato und das Kosovo'' (The Road to War. Germany, Nato and the Kosovo), Elefanten Press, Berlin, 2000 * ''Goldhagen und die deutsche Linke oder: Die Gegenwart des Holocaust'' (Goldhagen and the German Left or: The Presence of the Holocaust), ed. Matthias Küntzel, Ulrike Becker, Klaus Thörner et al., Elefanten Press, Berlin, 1997 * ''Bonn & the Bomb: German politics and the nuclear option'', Transnational Institute (TNI),
Pluto Press Pluto Press is a British independent book publisher based in London, founded in 1969. Pluto Press states that it publishes "radical, left‐wing non­‐fiction books", and is anti-capitalist and internationalist. It belongs to The Internat ...
, London; Boulder, Colorado, 1995. * ''Bonn und die Bombe: deutsche Atomwaffenpolitik von Adenauer bis Brandt'', Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt/Main; New York, 1992


Notes


External links


Homepage

English articles at matthiaskuentzel.de

Interview with Matthias Kuntzel
from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuntzel, Matthias Anti-Germans (political current) German political scientists 1955 births Living people Scholars of antisemitism Islam and antisemitism Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem University of Hamburg alumni