This book describes the many ups and downs in the relationship between Germany and Israel in the modern era.

With the demise of the Soviet Union and the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, a number of questions regarding the conventional understanding of totalitarianism could now be viewed in the new light. The classical studies of totalitarianism were undertaken when Nazism and Fascism had been vanquished, while the Soviet system still existed: this created an asymmetry which could now be overcome. The ideological Cold War edge which sometimes accompanied debates about totalitarianism was similarly blunted. The impetus which these developments could give to new angles of research and historical perspective was the focus of the conference “Reflections on Europe’s Century of Discontent”, held at the Institute for European Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. More than a dozen participants from eight countries – political scientists, historians, lawyers as well as political activists – took part in what was an exciting exercise in re-evaluation and re-assessments. The results are presented in this volume.

How can communities that have a different way of life and culture exist side by side in one political framework? This question is relevant in many countries and in Israel in particular, and the theory of multiculturalism tries to answer this question. This books features for the first time a paper written by the philosopher and a Canadian public figure Charles Taylor in Hebrew which deals with the following issues: What is the status of anti-democratic communities in a multicultural society? Is an authentic Israeli identity possible? How does the politically correct discourse affect recognition of the various groups? What is the role of traditional observance in secularism and religiosity? How does the disassembly of uniform Israeli identity affect the possibility for solidarity and cooperation? How was the immigration from the Soviet Union accepted? What is the Arab attitude to the Holocaust And more.