Thinking with Bevereley Skeggs - Stockholms universitet

In Palestine and SwedenAfter the Second World War many of the surviving Jews cameto live in The British Mandate Palestine, later Israel. Rachel wasone of them. During the interviews she describes her first years inPalestine as almost the best years she can remember.One Jewish woman writes about her surprise at all the blondepeople in Palestine, when she arrived there in 1946 (Frey 2006:69). In telling her life story she reflects upon the Nazi propagandathat depicted Jews as dark and dangerous. It seems, she writes,that not only Germans were indoctrinated by the propaganda;also she herself had obviously been affected by it since she couldnot imagine Jews as blonde and blue-eyed (ibid.).Although Rachel did not talk about if it was problematic for herto be considered blonde in Palestine during her time there, blondeseems to have been a loaded term. And considering that Rachel hadbeen exposed to the same propaganda as the woman cited above, itat least must have been an ambivalent position for her.Other instances in the interviews when talk about appearancesactualized norms of whiteness were when Rachel talked andworried a great deal about those of her grandchildren who sheconsidered dark. She was concerned that their curly dark hairand dark skin colour would let them be mistaken for immigrantsand/or Muslims and because of that they would be subjected toracism. Rachel also worried about growing anti-Semitism as aconsequence of the growing Muslim population in Sweden. Bythat logic, Rachel’s dark grandchildren are placed in an inevitabledilemma; on the one hand, their darkness makes them targets ofracism, on the other hand, if claiming their identity as Jews, theywill be exposed to the perceived threat of anti-Semitic Muslims.In Rachel’s view there is really no way out if you are considereda dark Jew in Sweden in the beginning of the 21st century (cf.Goldstein 2006:224).In Rachel’s opinion Muslims represent a threat and a dangerto Jews, and to the Western world, as she knows it. Her attitude70