This episode takes a deep dive into the role of antisemitism in the far-right ecosystem, focusing in particular on the United States and Germany. Whether it’s Elon Musk performing a straight-armed salute during Trump’s inauguration celebrations before going on to champion Germany’s far-right AfD party, or the widespread “great replacement” conspiracy theory that claims Jews are leading an effort to inundate majority-White Christian societies in the West with migrants, antisemitism is frequently at the heart of global far-right movements that are increasingly interconnected. Prof. Dr. Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, a professor of German-Jewish history and antisemitism, and Elad Nehorai, a writer and activist, share their learnings about how antisemitism operates on the Far Right, where it interacts with other forms of far-right bigotry, and how some of these ideas are going mainstream. Elad Nehorai is a progressive thinker, writer, and activist. Learning from his time in the Hasidic community and studying extremism, he has become an outspoken pro-democracy voice. Since October 7, he has drawn on his Israeli background to inform his work building coalitions among those who share a vision of solidarity for the future. Elad's writing focuses on extremism, antisemitism, marketing, and how the three intersect. You can find Elad’s writing on MSNBC.com, the Daily Beast, Huffpost, the Forward, Haaretz, and beyond. Prof. Dr. Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Professor for German-Jewish History and Antisemitism, Director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism, TU Berlin; 2001-2011 Director of the Institute for German-Jewish history in Hamburg; since 2011 Director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism, since 2012 Co- Director of the Selma-Stern-Center for Jewish Studies, both in in Berlin, and since 2020 Director of the Berlin branch of the Center for Research on Social Cohesion. Fields of research: Jewish, German and Spanish History, Gender History. Recent publications: Unerwünscht. Die westdeutsche Demokratie und die NS-Verfolgten, Frankfurt a.M. 2025; Gender History of German Jews, New York 2024; Four Years After: Antisemitism and Racism in Trump’s America (ed. with N. and M. Zadoff, H. Paul), Munich 2020; Gender and the Politics of Anti-Semitism, in: American Historical Review 123 (2018), pp. 1210–1222. Resources Diaspora Alliance. “The Global Far Right and Israel.” 2023.Lorber, Ben. 2023. “Conspiracy at the Core: Five Years After Tree of Life, Antisemitism Continues to Animate the MAGA Movement” Political Research Associates.Nehorai, Elad. “Fascists Are Using Antisemitic Tropes to Target Other Groups.” 2025.Schüler-Springorum, Stefanie. “The Dark Side of Modernity? Rethinking Antisemitism and Sexuality.” Bulletin of the German Historical Institute 73 (Spring 2024): 99–122. Lifting the Curtain on Antisemitism is a collaboration between Political Research Associates and Diaspora Alliance. The show is produced by Olivia Lawrence-Weilmann. Our hosts are Ben Lorber and Shoshana Brown. Original score by Aakash Desai. Artwork by Zoe Newton. Our fact checker is Natasha Roth-Rowland. Sound design and mixing by Thick Skin Media. Also thank you to Natasha Roth-Rowland, Simone Zimmerman, Em Hilton, and Koki Mendis for your insights and thought partnership.
