Reports and Brief Communications: Antisemitism in Sweden and Finland A documentation and a psychoanalytic discussion

Political developments in Sweden during the last decade, including a period of increased activities of the extreme right, coincide with a resurgence of previously suppressed antisemitic sentiments in the media and among politicians of different affiliations. Classical, often traditional Christian, antisemitic formulations are published in both Sweden and Finland in connection with media reports of the confl ict between Israel and its neighbors. An increase of signs of anti-Jewish hatred among young Muslim immigrants in Sweden is described, as is the Rami-Bergman affair in the 1980s at Uppsala University in which a Professor of Theology testified under oath that there is a compelling Biblical commandment for Jews to kill strangers. Recent antisemitic statements made by high-ranking Finnish dignitaries of government, parliament and church against the background of 20^th century Finnish history are discussed and a government decision to deprive Israel of Finnish-made gasmasks during the American war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq is noted. We contend that traditional antisemitic thought patterns are visible in the Nordic countries and that they can be understood in terms of envy, the narcissism of small differences, the return of the repressed, and as representing an unconscious resentment against truthfulness.

Key words: antisemitism - narcissism of small differences - return of the repressed - xenophobia