Antisemitism: Changing established ways of thinking

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FAU investigates prevention of antisemitism in schools in collaborative project called “Dis_Ident”

31 July 2025

80 years after the end of the Second World War, the culture of remembrance is under pressure. In addition to gaps in historical knowledge, new biases are emerging, also with regard to antisemitism related to Israel. In education in particular, this poses major challenges. In conjunction with partners, the Chair of Psychological Assessment, Quantitative Methods and Forensic Psychology at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has therefore set itself the goal of developing effective political educational and preventive strategies against antisemitism related to Israel and Islamic radicalization at schools. In the collaborative project “Desinformation und Identitätskonstruktion in der demokratischen Gesellschaft“ (Disinformation and identity construction in democratic society), or “Dis_Ident” for short, researchers are examining social media, the curriculum and textbooks as well as the perspectives of young people and teaching staff.The aim is to bring young people to move away from established ways of thinking about Israel and Judaism to take an inquiring stance by the end of the project. This is the goal being pursued by Professor Dr. Mark Stemmler with his work in the context of the Dis_Ident project. The Chair of Psychological Assessment, Quantitative Methods and Forensic Psychology is concerned about antisemitism related to Israel gaining a foothold in schools.

“We are currently observing new antisemitic narratives shared via social media that is spreading into classrooms and school yards,” says Professor Dr. Mark Stemmler, who is also one of the two speakers of the collaborative project being funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) with a total of 9.5 million euros. Around 775,000 euros of this amount has been awarded to FAU. Terms like “Zionazi” suddenly appear. Suddenly, social media is dominated by stories about Jews controlling the cryptocurrency system and where Israel is deliberately killing children in the Gaza Strip in order to break the will of the Palestinians.

Educational and preventive strategies in practice

A semantic scientific analysis of which new conspiracy theories are spread is one aspect. The other involves developing effective political educational and preventive strategies against antisemitism related to Israel and Islamic radicalization in young people both in school and outside school. Researchers from FAU are working with researchers from Heidelberg University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich, and the University of Cologne to put exactly these strategies into place.

An educational institution called “Mind Prevention” from Berlin led by German-Israeli psychologist and author Ahmad Mansour, whose workshops established all over Germany about promoting democracy and preventing Islamism are at the center of the Dis_Ident project. With his team, Professor Dr. Mark Stemmler is evaluating the efficacy of these workshops that have been extended to include antisemitism in a sub-project in conjunction with LMU using surveys (quantitative analysis) and interviews (qualitative analysis). In addition, they are conducting interviews with teaching staff and workshop leaders. The information gathered will be used as a basis for drawing up suggestions for improvement.

Strengthening democratic values through personal development

The efficacy of all educational and preventive measures in the collaborative project will be evaluated in a sub-project. “We are interested in finding out what teachers know about Israel, if anything, how they react in their position as the teacher, when for example, a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf is worn in class and in which form dealing with antisemitism is anchored in the curriculum and textbooks,” says Professor Dr. Mark Stemmler. The aim is to illustrate all these aspects by the end of the project in 2028.

The goal is to formulate specific recommendations for political decision makers and to develop approaches for action in education, starting with adapted and extended curricula and textbooks and handouts for teaching staff. Professor Dr. Mark Stemmler underlines: “We want to make a contribution to breaking down antisemitic and antidemocratic patterns of thought in young people and to strengthening democratic values through personal development.”

Further information:

Prof. Dr. Mark Stemmler
Chair of Psychological Assessment, Quantitative Methods and Forensic Psychology
psydia-disident@fau.de