The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism is a centre of innovative research and teaching on antisemitism, racialization and religious intolerance. It contributes to knowledge and understanding, policy formation and public debate.
The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism was established in 2010 by Birkbeck, University of London and Pears Foundation.
We are the only university centre in the UK dedicated to the study of antisemitism and one of only two in Europe. The Institute is renowned internationally for its innovative research and teaching.
Our work is framed by our conviction that antisemitism is a distinctive form of racism. Through our research and public activity we establish points of connection between the problem of antisemitism and the challenge of racisms more broadly.
Our scholarship contributes to public debate on antisemitism, racialization and religious intolerance and we provide expertise and advice to a wide range of institutions in the UK, Europe and the wider world.
The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism is both independent and inclusive.
Anna Shternshis discusses why anti-Zionist ideas found little resonance in the Soviet Union of the 1970s, yet appear to resonate powerfully among many Jews and non-Jews in contemporary North America.
For many of the refugees who escaped Nazi Germany, there remained a tension between assimilation into British society and their own sense of identity. In this lecture, Jan Rüger asks: how should we think of those who have moved and were forced to move between the two countries in the past?
This report shows how antisemitism is a stain on UK society but current responses to tackling the problem are not working. The report calls for a new approach to both thinking about and combating antisemitism; one that is based on building alliances between Jewish people and other racialised minorities and employs a 360-degree anti-racism.
An interview with David Feldman on antisemitism in Britain today and why the government’s response falls short.
Brendan McGeever on NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’, speaking about antisemitism in Britain today – what is going on and how should we respond?
The Battle of Cable Street is a moment of iconic significance in British Jewish history and in the history of anti-fascism in this country. In the current moment, when the far right is resurgent, when Jewish leaders look to the state for support in the struggle against antisemitism, and when alliances between Jews and the anti-racist left are fragile, this public discussion asks what it should mean to remember Cable Street today.
Faith Hillis offers a new, biographical approach to ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ that provides new answers to the enduring mystery behind the text’s authorship and argues that the original intention of its creators has been largely misunderstood.
The relationship between antisemitism and other forms of racism and exclusion is not only a historical question. It is an urgent issue for today.
Professor David Feldman, Director
