The Jews and Europe

In 1939, Max Horkheimer published “The Jews and Europe,” an essay that viewed persecution of Jews not as localized outbursts, but as an outcome of capitalism. Horkheimer argues that Jews had previously served as middlemen in trading and banking, but that in contemporary times these functions had become obsolete. Jews were now considered parasitic enemies of the Aryan state. Writing from exile in the United States, Horkheimer was deeply pessimistic. His essay laid the groundwork for his Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), which he coauthored with Theodor Adorno. “The Jews and Europe” appeared in the Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung (Journal for Social Research), from Frankfurt’s Institute for Social Research, and was published in Paris because the institute had been forced out of Germany.