José Moskovits Antisemitism Collection

The collection includes the letters, drawings, scholarly articles, newspaper clippings, and official declarations that Moskovits received in response to his inquiry; copies of his original letter and survey, and additional data regarding the names, titles, and addresses of the recipients of the survey included in various lists of the addressees. To each and every addressee, Moskovits sent a form and an accompanying letter explaining that as a Holocaust survivor, he had a very specific approach to anti-Semitism and he was interested in the recipient's opinion on the questions of the survey. Unlike the letter, the survey forms were not uniform: a separate form was designed for Arabic and Muslim countries as well as to Israelis. Both the accompanying letter and the questions were sent out in Spanish, English, German, Portuguese, Italian, and French, depending on the addressee. An Israeli member of the Knesset expressed disapproval that Moskovits did not send the survey to Israelis in either Hebrew or Yiddish. Others, with few exceptions, replied in the language Moskovits had addressed them. Hence, the letters in the collection are in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Hebrew, and Yiddish, most of them are typed.

In July 1978, a statistical analysis of the correspondence was created, which showed the ratio of answers received compared to the number of surveys sent out. The data is organized by the country and profession of the addressees. Moskovits grouped the addressees into six categories based on their profession or occupation: statesmen, diplomats, authors, religious dignitaries, academics, journalists, and miscellaneous, the latter of which included artists, business leaders, and representatives of very different organizations. The replies in each of these categories, regardless of country of origin, were collected in separate binders; the answers of German statesmen, however, were housed separately from the rest of the politicians.

Moskovits's statistics suggest that his letters were sent to 150 countries. In contrast, replies arrived from only 87 nations. For example, only two letters arrived from East Germany and none from the other countries in the Soviet Bloc (Cuba included). The USA (592) and Argentina (512) received the highest number of inquiries. To Israel and to Federal Germany almost the same number of surveys, 336 and 338 respectively, were sent. The rate of response, however remained low: until July 1978 around 15 percent. Only in the case of countries where only one or two surveys were sent, such as Belize, Lichtenstein, Tonga, or the Cayman Islands, was the response rate 100 percent. With regard to the professional division, politicians were the largest group (1500) and their response rate is the highest among all the groups: 295 replies, which is close to 20 percent.

After receiving the answers, each letter was filed with an accompanying form that contains the name, address, country included, and the title of the addressee. It also records what type of survey (A to D) was sent out in which language. The received letters were also numbered.

In addition to the invaluable statistical summary, originally housed in two binders, a two-binder long alphabetized index by country lists all the names of the addressees noting if they responded to Moskovits's inquiry. Additional exchanges of letters, the different forms, and photocopies were kept in a separate folder.

Patrons in the Price Library will find the documents in the collection rehoused in archival sleeves kept in archival binders and in two archival boxes. The collection is divided into two series. In the first series the documentation regarding the creation of the survey, including different versions of the survey, lists of addressees, including the above mentioned two-binder index, Moskovits's drafts of introduction, copies of Moskovits's files and several letters, and oversized materials can be found. The photocopies of correspondence are housed in 9 folders, each containing a lists of the names of the addressees. Oversize materials in folder 11 are letters or newspaper clippings that do not fit the sleeves. They were photocopied to appropriate size and the copies are inserted instead of the original document into the binders of the second series, which includes the answers that Moskovits received. The received letters are kept in an order that generally follows Moskovits's design. In addition to make slight alterations in some of the designations, the categories that he established, separate categories of visual artists, performing artists, royalty, diplomats, lawyers and justices, social leaders and organizations, and business leaders were created. The letters in each category are arranged by sender, according the alphabetical order and are numbered. Different letters by the same person are kept together and arranged according to chronological order, together with Moskovits's letter if available. Additional material sent to Moskovits is kept together with the accompanying letters except for oversize materials and newspaper clippings and full issues in folder 10 of box 1. The names of all the corresponding partners are compiled in a separate list housed in a binder. There are correspondences with 923 addressees in total included in the collection.

The answers Moskovits received not only demonstrate a very broad variety of opinions and views on anti-Semitism, but on related issues as well, such as human rights, freedom of speech, religious freedoms, theological questions, and more. The collection highlights the influence of the Cold War on the discussion of anti-Semitism worldwide and provides diverse views on the role of religious beliefs shaping modern antisemitism. Additionally, the reaction of Hassan II, King of Morocco, for example, illustrates the impact of the Arab-Israeli conflict on the interpretation of antisemitism in the 1970s and the effect of the UN resolution on the tone of "soft politics" initiated by Moskovits.

The letters sent by leading intellectuals, politicians, artists, journalists, and thinkers, such as Isaiah Berlin, Zbigniew Brzezinski, John Glenn, Elie Wiesel, Otto von Habsburg, Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Herman Hesse, Alan Sillitoe, are fascinating and thought-provoking. As they are placed next to answers from Holocaust survivors, on the one hand, and people who had little direct connection to or first-hand experience of the Holocaust, on the other, they offer an insight of significant breadth and depth into the intellectual and emotional impact of past and current anti-Jewish sentiments and acts globally.