Antisemitism and Fantasies of National Purity from Mussolini to the Present

On February 23, 2021, the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism hosted a webinar with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University, on “Antisemitism and Fantasies of National Purity from Mussolini to the Present.” In a 30-minute presentation, Prof. Ben-Ghiat discussed the common features uniting authoritarian strongmen-including the ways that shared personality traits manifest themselves in similar tactics or strategies for consolidating power. The presentation was followed by 30-minutes of questions from the audience, moderated by Carolyn Dean and Maurice Samuels.