How Antisemitism Persists Across the Left and Right Through Shared Myths

Born to a German-Jewish immigrant in Philadelphia, the writer’s grandfather altered his surname in 1918 to avoid the era’s anti-German and anti-Jewish hysteria, later marrying outside his faith and raising children without religious affiliation. The author reflects on modern DNA testing that would have labeled him a “Mischling of the second degree” under Nazi law, highlighting how bureaucratic definitions reduce lived experience to bloodlines.

He contends that present-day antisemitism, whether expressed by right-wing conspiracists branding Jews as hidden puppet masters or by left-wing critics who portray Israel as the ultimate colonial power, employs the same structural myth. Both extremes replace individual humanity with a convenient abstraction to explain complex social anxieties. By comparing historical persecution with today’s rhetoric, the essay underscores that the hatred is less about belief and more about the scapegoat the antisemite needs. The author concludes that despite the political divide, the mechanism of projecting blame onto Jews endures, echoing his grandfather’s futile attempt to escape a prescribed identity.