"The idea of Jewish unity, of a plan, an organization, unfortunately exists only in the brains of Hitler and Streicher"
About this Quote
The intent is defensive, but not in a pleading way. It’s a writer’s counterspell against a story that’s already spreading faster than fact. By naming Hitler and Streicher (the grotesque impresario of Der Sturmer), Zweig points to authorship: conspiracy isn’t discovered, it’s written. Antisemitism here isn’t merely hatred; it’s a narrative technology, manufacturing “unity” so that a scattered, diverse minority can be treated as a single enemy. That’s what makes the sentence work: it refuses to debate the details of the lie and instead exposes the lie’s engine.
The subtext is bleak. Zweig knows that truth has a weak grip in a culture primed for myth. Even as he denies the existence of a Jewish “organization,” he’s acknowledging that the fiction is politically potent precisely because it simplifies a messy reality into a clean target. In interwar Europe, where economic anxiety and national humiliation begged for scapegoats, the fantasy of Jewish coordination offered emotional relief and bureaucratic convenience. Zweig’s irony doubles as warning: the most dangerous “unity” is the one your enemies invent for you, then punish you for.
Quote Details
| Topic | Human Rights |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Zweig, Stefan. (2026, January 16). The idea of Jewish unity, of a plan, an organization, unfortunately exists only in the brains of Hitler and Streicher. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-idea-of-jewish-unity-of-a-plan-an-128401/
Chicago Style
Zweig, Stefan. "The idea of Jewish unity, of a plan, an organization, unfortunately exists only in the brains of Hitler and Streicher." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-idea-of-jewish-unity-of-a-plan-an-128401/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The idea of Jewish unity, of a plan, an organization, unfortunately exists only in the brains of Hitler and Streicher." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-idea-of-jewish-unity-of-a-plan-an-128401/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
