Self-victimisation

Abstract

Abstract Victimhood is a complex notion, embedded into a variety of cultural norms and practices. It can be argued that the victim has become a central identity position in modern politics, which cuts across all ideologies. It constitutes a major gateway to social engagement, a pivotal means by which groups and individuals perceive themselves and constitute themselves as political actors. Antisemitism produces real-life victims, through demonisation and exclusion, oppression, violence and eventually large-scale extermination during the Holocaust. But, the memory of Jewish suffering has had to contend with virulent counter-victimisation narratives which have sought to justify continuing discrimination and marginalisation against Jews. Self-victimisation constitutes one of the core mechanisms of “moral disengagement:” by viewing themselves as faultless victims which merely acted in response to provocation, people evade moral responsibility; thus, not only are one's own injurious actions justified, but one even can feel self-righteous in the process. Nazi propaganda abundantly used this rhetoric, portraying Jews as aggressors and the German nation as a victim.

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