Promotie: Levi’s eerste kerstfeest. Jeugdverhalen over jodenbekering, 1792-2015

That is the core message of many children’s books on missionary work among the Jews. In this study, Ewoud Sanders investigates eighty of these stories: 13 from a Roman Catholic background, and 67 from Dutch Protestant sources. He elucidates their origin and printing history, relates them to their historical background, analyses their contemporary reception, and examines their narrative structures.

Children’s stories about missionary work among the Jews are by no means a marginal phenomenon; in the 20th century several of these stories were brought out in huge editions. They were published as books, as serials in newspapers, in periodicals, in textbooks, as Christmas gifts, or as plays. Neither have these stories on missionary work and conversion become something of the past.

In most of these stories the philosemitic message – ‘We cherish the Jews’ – has gone hand in hand with antisemitism. Jewish children maltreated by their parents because they want to convert, Jews spitting on the ground whenever they mention ‘filthy Christians’ or ‘filthy goyim’ – right now such stories are recommended reading for children in the Dutch Reformed Church from eleven years onward. 

 

Biografie

Ewoud Sanders (1958) is historicus en journalist. Hij is vaste medewerker van onder meer NRC Handelsblad (waar hij een taalrubriek heeft), Onze Taal en E-Data. Hij heeft ruim twintig boeken op zijn naam staan, o.a. over etymologie, boekgeschiedenis, massadigitalisering en over slimmer zoeken op internet.

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