conflict & communication online, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2010
www.cco.regener-online.de
ISSN 1618-0747

Björn Milbradt
Grey areas of anti-Semitism research, or An attempt to understand 'Zeitgeist'

This article examines the independent film 'Zeitgeist' in order to elaborate on grey areas of contemporary anti-Semitism research. It offers reasons why 'fixed' definitions of anti-Semitism are in some ways inadequate. 'Anti-Semitism after Auschwitz' is basically characterized by its vagueness and the need to work with allusions rather than with manifest resentments. In 'Zeitgeist' this is accomplished by providing viewers with a description of an alleged international conspiracy and some indications of whom the filmmakers hold responsible for it. 'Zeitgeist' can be interpreted as a document that systematically develops the grassroots of an actualized manifest anti-Semitism. Nevertheless, anti-Semitism researchers have not paid much attention to the film and other such media offerings that do not fit with 'traditional' definitions of anti-Semitism.