Abstract

This article studies eight European countries, investigating how the level of antisemit­ism as registered in national populations relates to the perception of antisemitism by the Jewish population in the same country. Furthermore, the article empirically identifies distinct aspects of antisemitism, deconstructing the concept of antisemitism and breaking it up into three kinds of empirically differently based and composed antisemitisms : classic antisemitism, Israel-derived antisemitism and Enlightenment-based antisemitism. The article also elaborates on some more general implications for the understanding of the character of antisemitism in contemporary Europe, and based on that, presents some perspectives on the development of the three distinct antisemitisms in contemporary Europe.