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Memoirs of a Political Education best of times, worst of times the tauber institute for the study of eu ro pe an jewry series Jehuda Reinharz, General Editor Sylvia Fuks Fried, Associate Editor The Tauber Institute Series is dedicated to publishing compelling and innovative approaches to the study of modern Eu ro pe an Jewish history, thought, culture, and society. The series features scholarly works related to the Enlightenment, modern Judaism and the struggle for emancipation, the rise of nationalism and the spread of antisemitism, the Holocaust and its aftermath, as well as the contemporary Jewish experience. The series is published under the auspices of the Tauber Insti- tute for the Study of Eu ro pe an Jewry— established by a gift to Brandeis University from Dr. Laszlo N. Tauber— and is supported, in part, by the Tauber Foundation and the Valya and Robert Shapiro Endowment. For the complete list of books that are available in this series, please see www .upne .com Eugene M. Avrutin, Valerii Dymshits, Alexander Ivanov, Alexander Lvov, Harriet Murav, and Alla Sokolova, editors Photographing the Jewish Nation: Pictures from S. An- sky’s Ethnographic Expeditions Michael Dorland Cadaverland: Inventing a Pathology of Catastrophe for Holocaust Survival Walter Laqueur Best of Times, Worst of Times: Memoirs of a Po liti cal Education Berel Lang Philosophical Witnessing: The Holocaust as Presence David N. Myers Between Jew and Arab: The Lost Voice of Simon Rawidowicz Sara Bender The Jews of Białystock during World War II and the Holocaust Nili Scharf Gold Yehuda Amichai: The Making of Israel’s National Poet Hans Jonas Memoirs Itamar Rabinovich and Jehuda Reinharz, editors Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, and Foreign Relations, Pre- 1948 to the Present Christian Wiese The Life and Thought of Hans Jonas: Jewish Dimensions Eugene R. Sheppard Leo Strauss and the Politics of Exile: The Making of a Po liti cal Phi los o pher Samuel Moyn A Holocaust Controversy: The Treblinka Affair in Postwar France Margalit Shilo Princess or Prisoner? Jewish Women in Jerusalem, 1840– 1914 Haim Be’er Feathers Immanuel Etkes The Besht: Magician, Mystic, and Leader Avraham Grossman Pious and Rebellious: Jewish Women in Medieval Eu rope Ivan Davidson Kalmar and Derek J. Penslar, editors Orientalism and the Jews Iris Parush Reading Jewish Women: Marginality and Modernization in Nineteenth- Century Eastern Eu ro pe an Jewish Society Thomas C. Hubka Resplendent Synagogue: Architecture and Worship in an Eighteenth- Century Polish Community best of times, worst of times Memoirs of a Po liti cal Education walter laqueur brandeis university press Waltham, Massachusetts Published by University Press of New En gland Hanover and London Brandeis University Press Published by University Press of New En gland, One Court Street, Lebanon, NH 03766 www .upne .com © 2009 by Brandeis University Press Printed in U.S.A. 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or me- chanical means, including storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Members of educational institutions and organizations wishing to photocopy any of the work for classroom use, or authors and publishers who would like to obtain permission for any of the material in the work, should con- tact Permissions, University Press of New En gland, One Court Street, Lebanon, NH 03766. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Laqueur, Walter, 1921– Best of times, worst of times : memoirs of a political education / Walter Laqueur. p. cm. — (The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry series) isbn 978-1-58465-798-9 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Laqueur, Walter, 1921– 2. Laqueur, Walter, 1921—Political and social views. 3. Historians— United States—Biography. I. Title. d15.l35.a3 2009 973.9092—dc22 [B] 2009015174 University Press of New En gland is a member of the Green Press Initiative. The paper used in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper. To the memory of my friend Ruprecht Schulte (1920– 2008) and his father Eduard Schulte (1891– 1966)—the man who broke the silence. contents Preface ix chapter 1 A Surfeit of Politics; 1 or, Why I Would Have Preferred the Nineteenth Century chapter 2 Growing Up under the Nazis; 33 or, Why One Had to Be There to Understand It chapter 3 Marxism, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War; 59 or, The Dream That Failed chapter 4 The Downfall and Partial Resurgence of the Soviet Empire; 86 or, The Strange Fortunes of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, “Finlandization,” and Putinism chapter 5 A Middle East Education; 122 or, Refl ections on Arabia, Israel, Zionism, and Antisemitism chapter 6 Think Tanks and Po liti cal Intelligence; 149 or, Why It Is So Diffi cult to Predict chapter 7 Guerrilla Warfare and Terrorism; 171 or, What Systematic Study and Theory Can Mean chapter 8 Eu rope, 1945– 2008; 201 or, A Short Study in Hope and Frustration viii contents Postface 221 Works by Walter Laqueur 225 Index 229 preface When my grandchildren were growing up I decided to write an autobiography, not because of their insatiable curiosity as far as my early life was concerned; I love them dearly but their interests are quite different from mine, ranging from the theory of probability to issues of social policy such as the adoption of chil- dren. I called my autobiography Thursday’s Child Has Far to Go, which I thought was fairly original, but later I discovered that there were at least half a dozen other books with the same title, including the autobiography of Eartha Kitt. I described my personal experiences and ended my narrative in the early 1950s, for two reasons. Many of those whom I would have had to mention writing about the later years were still alive, and I did not want to have to look over my shoulder when writing about them. But more important, I was not at all sure whether my life during the years after, in America and Eu rope, was suffi ciently remarkable or unusual to be of interest to readers. Thursday’s Child steered clear of my intel- lectual interests, of politics, of history. These are the experiences and interests I have tried to recount in the present volume. I was lucky to have survived, whereas most of those closest to me did not. I have not always fully appreciated my luck, hence the question that often preoc- cupied me and that I try to answer in the beginning of this book— which historical period, which country, which culture, which profession would have been prefera- ble had there been a choice. There was too much politics, too much history in my time, too little culture, too little entertainment, too little joie de vivre. If I could start all over again, I probably would not be dealing with history and politics. I have been a generalist in an age of specialization, and I deal with a great many topics in this book, beginning with my thoughts on Nazism based (how could it be different) on my own experience growing up and attending school in Nazi Germany. This book is both personal and impersonal; it is based on per- sonal experience but is essentially about what I have learned over the years. However, I also deal with issues for which I did not always fi nd satisfactory an- swers and explanations— the Soviet Union and the Cold War, the fate of Eu rope in the twentieth and twenty- fi rst centuries, the Middle East, Israel and Zionism, and the terrorist conundrum and the question of intelligence: Why is it so diffi - cult to anticipate po liti cal (and economic) developments even to a modest degree? Writing this book gave me a chance to look back and to reexamine my thoughts of yesteryear in the light of subsequent events and the views of others. x preface This is not a book of ambitious theoretical breakthroughs or predictions. I have encountered too many of them in my lifetime not to have developed a great deal of skepticism in this respect. It is an attempt to summarize certain experi- ences gained, certain mistakes made, certain wrong tracks past and present that might have been evaded, certain issues that remain. The present book was originally conceived as a series of interviews or conver- sations; I am grateful to Barry Rubin for his help concerning earlier versions of Chapters 2, 3, and 6. And I would like to express deep gratitude to Sylvia Fuks Fried and Ann Hofstra Grogg for their editorial help. Walter Laqueur Washington, D.C., 2008 chapter 1 A Surfeit of Politics or, Why I Would Have Preferred the Nineteenth Century hen Marcel Proust was a boy of thirteen, he was given a questionnaire to Wfi ll out. The questions concerned his favorite heroes in literature and real life, his favorite color, his favorite composer, and also some very personal ques- tions, such as, What is your current mood? and, On what occasions do you lie? This kind of parlor game has been repeated many times since. Years ago I was given such a questionnaire for publication, and I provided answers with some reluctance, for I wondered how interesting these personal details would be to others and how genuine and spontaneous my answers could possibly be, with someone looking over my shoulder. One question asked if writing was my favor- ite occupation. My fi rst article was published in 1942, my fi rst book in 1947 (I believe it was 1947; I do not now think highly of it and have been reluctant to check it).
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