The Vampire: – An Allegory of the Jew as ‘Other’?

Guardian newspaper sports writer Jacob Steinberg has complained that Twitter refuses to suspend a neo-Nazi account holder who sent him an image portraying Jews as vampires.

However, it appears that Steinberg has a strong case against the social media giant with the coincidental publication of research tracing the horror genre’s deeply antisemitic roots,

Chloe Hyman, a graduate research student at The Courtauld Institute of Art, points out in 'The Satanic Jew: Antisemitism in Nosferatu' how in the silent horror movie classic, which is an unauthorised screen adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, there is “grotesque treatment of Count Orlok’s body, which becomes a site of projection for many Weimar anxieties, including fear of racial degeneration and the Jewish Other”.

Debate still rages about the origins of the word  ‘Nosferatu’, but while it is generally agreed that it was introduced into print  via British 19th century writer, Emily Gerard, it does not mean ’undead’  or ‘vampire’ but instead has an etymological link, either  to  the Greek nosophoros (νοσοφορος; "plague-carrier"), or the Romanian nesuferitul ("the insufferable one").

Meanwhile, Hyman’s heavily illustrated essay goes on to show how the “development of vampire lore in Germany is intrinsically tied to medieval Christian fears of the Devil and the Jewish Other”.

© Natalie Wood (19 March 2019)