Walter Ze'ev Laqueur (26 May 1921 – 30 September 2018) was a German-born American historian, journalist, political commentator, and Holocaust survivor. He was an influential scholar on the subjects of terrorism and political violence.

Biography

Walter Laqueur was born in Breslau, Lower Silesia, Germany (today Wrocław, Poland), into a Jewish family. In November 1938 he left Germany, immigrating to Mandatory Palestine. His parents, who were unable to leave, were murdered in the Holocaust. After less than a year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he left to work as an agricultural laborer and guard. In 1942 he became a member of kibbutz HaZore'a. He spoke several languages.

Laqueur was married to Naomi Koch, with whom he had two daughters. His second wife was Christa Susi Genzen. Laqueur died at his home in Washington, D.C., on September 30, 2018.

Journalism and academic career

From 1944, when he moved to Jerusalem, until his departure in 1955 he worked as a journalist for the Hashomer Hatzair newspaper, Mishmar (later, Al HaMishmar), and for The Palestine Post (later, The Jerusalem Post). In addition, he was the Middle East correspondent for journals in the United States and a commentator on world politics for Israel radio.

After moving to London, Laqueur founded and edited Soviet Survey, a journal focusing on Soviet and East European culture. Survey was one of the numerous publications of the CIA-funded Congress for Cultural Freedom to counter Soviet Communist cultural propaganda in the West.

Laqueur was Director of the Institute of Contemporary History and the Wiener Library in London from 1965 to 1994. Together with George Mosse, he founded and edited Journal of Contemporary History.

Laqueur wrote extensively about the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the German Youth Movement, Zionism, the cultural history of the Weimar Republic, Communism and the Soviet Union, the Holocaust, the Cold War, fascism, post-World War II Europe and the decline of Europe, antisemitism both ancient and new. He pioneered the study of guerrilla warfare and terrorism. although in After the Fall he dismisses the "alarmist" notion of Eurabia as popularized by Oriana Fallaci.

Political views

The New York Times described Laqueur as difficult to "pigeonhole politically." He supported Israel but criticized its expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

  • The Changing Face of Antisemitism: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, London and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006
  • The Last Days of Europe: Epitaph for an Old Continent. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2007. / .
  • Best of Times, Worst of Times: Memoirs of a Political Education. Lebanon, NH: Brandeis University Press, 2009. The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series. .
  • A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel
  • After the Fall: The End of the European Dream and the Decline of a Continent. New York: Macmillan, 2011. .
  • Harvest of a Decade: Disraelia and Other Essays. Piscataway, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2012. .
  • Optimism in Politics: Reflections on Contemporary History. Piscataway, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2014. .
  • Putinism: Russia and its Future with the West. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2015.
  • The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict, with Dan Schueftan. London and New York: Penguin Books, 2016. Eighth revised and updated edition.
  • The Future of Terrorism: ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the Alt-Right, with Christopher Wall. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2018. Audiobook available.

Hearings/Testimony

  • Negotiation and Statecraft. Hearings before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee of Government Operations, United States Senate. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1973–1975.

Further reading

  • Andreas W. Daum, "Refugees from Nazi Germany as Historians: Origins and Migrations, Interests and Identities," The Second Generation: Émigrés from Nazi Germany as Historians. With a Biobibliographic Guide, ed. Andreas W. Daum, Hartmut Lehmann, and James J. Sheehan. New York: Berghahn Books, 2016, , 1‒52.
  • Bernhard Valentinitsch: Max-Erwin von Scheubner-Richter (1884–1923) – Zeuge des Genozids an den Armeniern und früher, enger Mitarbeiter Hitlers. Diplomarbeit, Universität Graz, 2012; uni-graz.at (PDF; 5,6 MB). (about Laqueur`s interpretation about Nationalism, Racism, National Socialism and of Scheubner-Richter)

References

  • Walter Z. Laqueur at CSIS
  • Matthew Asprey's review of "Weimar: A Cultural History"
  • Blog in Harvard.edu