Eike Geisel
Eike Geisel (1945 – 6 August 1997) was a German journalist and essayist, who became well known in Germany and Israel for his critical essays on German and Jewish history and on Zionism.
Controversial essays and works in cultural history
His essays, studies and polemics led to controversies. A characterization of the book An Eye for an Eye by John Sack in Frankfurter Rundschau (taz had not accepted the article) as „Antisemitische Rohkost“ (antisemitic raw food) stopped the German publishing of the translated book 1986. Geisel published among others in Haaretz, an interview with Tom Segev about Israel's founding fathers led to controversy in Israel as well. Background was a controversial stance about David Ben-Gurion.
Eike Geisel has translated some of the work of Hannah Arendt, essays about Zionism, Palestine and Germany into German. Together with Henryk Broder he has had published essays and a documentary film about Jüdischer Kulturbund (Jewish Cultural Union), a before unknown chapter of Jewish German cultural life during the Nazi era. Geisel left unfinished at his death a projected work on Jewish vengeance, consisting in a series of attacks planned by a unit formed by Abba Kovner to kill against Nazis in the postwar era.
Books
- Vielleicht war das alles erst der Anfang. Tagebuch aus dem KZ Bergen-Belsen 1944-1945 mit Hanna Levy-Hass; Rotbuch Verlag 1979
- Im Scheunenviertel. Bilder, Texte und Dokumente, mit Günter Kunert, Siedler Verlag 1986)
- Lastenausgleich, Umschuldung. Die Wiedergutwerdung der Deutschen. Essays, Polemiken, Stichworte; Taschenbuch 1984
- Das Ende Israels? Nahostkonflikt und Geschichte des Zionismus mit Nathan Weinstock und Mario Offenberg; Wagenbach 1985
- Essays und Kommentare 2. Die Krise des Zionismus von Hannah Arendt, mit Klaus Bittermann; Edition Tiamat 1989
- Premiere und Pogrom. Der Jüdische Kulturbund 1933–1941, mit Henryk M. Broder; Siedler, Berlin 1992 ISBN 3-88680-343-0