Chapter 9, Ours to Jew or Die Summary and Analysis

The feature of Celine's work which will be most loathsome and seem least forgivable to the modern reader is his unapologetic Antisemitism. As has been noted, Celine wrote during the rise of National Socialism in Germany (though he himself was French) and was a passionate supporter of the movement, largely because of his agreement with the anti-Jewish sentiments it expressed. He saw his own country as becoming dominated by a secret Jewish conspiracy that existed in banks, the media, and other positions of (usually) non-political authority. He agreed with Hitler that it was time for the non-Jew to reassert his rights and protect himself from the phantasmal, always-imminent Jewish takeover.

It would be rash, however, to completely ignore any value one might find in the Antisemitism. Of course, in the doctrine...