Alfred Grosser

Alfred Grosser (1 February 1925 – 7 February 2024) was a German-born French writer, sociologist and political scientist. Although his Jewish family had to move from Frankfurt to France in 1933, he focused on Franco-German cooperation after World War II, was instrumental in the Élysée Treaty in 1963, and writing books towards better understanding between the Germans and the French. He was professor at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris from 1955 to 1995, and contributed to newspapers and broadcasts including La Croix and Ouest-France. He was critical of Israeli politics which caused controversies. His work was honoured with notable awards.

Life and career Early life

Grosser was born in Frankfurt on 1 February 1925. Alfred, his mother, Lily Grosser, and his sister were given French citizenship in 1937 During the war he joined the French Resistance. he learned then that part of his family in Germany had probably been deported to Auschwitz, but refused to think of a collective German guilt. He wrote around 30 books towards better understanding between the Germans and French. In 1992, he retired as the director of studies and research at the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (Sciences Po).

Political opinions Grosser was sceptical of symbolic meetings of French and German politicians, Adenauer and de Gaulle at the Reims Cathedral, Mitterrand and Kohl in Verdun, and Merkel and Sarkozy at the Arc de Triomphe, finding these places symbols of the First World War, while a better symbolic location after the Second World War, in his opinion, would have been Dachau concentration camp where French and Germans were held prisoners together. He was critical of French policies giving little chances to young people with migration background.

Grosser was also of the opinion that Israel's politics inherently invoke anti-semitism. In 2003, Grosser left the board of magazine L'Express because he believed its reporting on the Middle East was unbalanced. He stated that the editor had reluctantly published his positive critique on a book that criticized Israel, while later printing multiple readers' letters attacking Grosser.

Grosser criticized awarding the 2007 Ludwig Börne Prize to Henryk M. Broder through Focus publisher Helmut Markwort, feeling that both were worthy neither of the prize nor of the presentation at St. Paul's Church.

Grosser was invited by the city of Frankfurt to give the main speech at a Kristallnacht commemorative meeting on 9 November 2010 at St. Paul's Church. Mayor Petra Roth was criticized for inviting him by members of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and others, but she stood by her invitation. They threatened to walk out should Grosser "fail regarding Israel". In the end, the speech was delivered without disturbance.

Publications Grosser's publications include: Deutschlandbilanz. Geschichte Deutschlands seit 1945, 1970 (Germany in Our Time- a Political History of the Postwar Years, 1974) Das Bündnis, 1981 Versuchte Beeinflussung, 1981 Der schmale Grat der Freiheit, 1981 Western Alliance V815 (1982, from French) Das Deutschland im Westen, Carl Hanser Verlag, München 1985, Frankreich und seine Außenpolitik, 1986 Mit Deutschen streiten, 1987 Mein Deutschland, 1993 Deutschland in Europa, 1998 Was ich denke., November 2000 Wie anders sind die Deutschen?, 2002 Wie anders ist Frankreich, 2005 Die Früchte ihres Baumes. Ein atheistischer Blick auf die Christen, September 2005 Der Begriff Rache ist mir völlig fremd in: Martin Doerry (editor): Nirgendwo und überall zu Haus. Gespräche mit Überlebenden des Holocaust (Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt), München 2006 (also on CD) pp. 120 – 129 Die Frage nach der Leitkultur in: Robertson-von Trotha, Caroline Y. (ed.): Kultur und Gerechtigkeit (= Kulturwissenschaft interdisziplinär/Interdisciplinary Studies on Culture and Society, Vol. 2), Baden-Baden 2007, Von Auschwitz nach Jerusalem (Über Deutschland und Israel), Rowohlt-Verlag 2009, Die Freude und der Tod, Rowohlt-Verlag

Grosser's awards include: 1975: Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels 1995: Cicero Prize for Rhetoric 1996: Schiller Prize of the City of Mannheim 1998: Grand Prix of the Académie des Sciences morales et politiques 2004: Abraham Geiger Prize of Abraham-Geiger-Kolleg of the University of Potsdam Goethe Plaque of Frankfurt

Interviews Israels Politik fördert den Antisemitismus Martina Doering interviews Alfred Grosser, Berliner Zeitung, 15 August 2006. German Ich muss als Jude nicht für Israel sein Interview by Stefan Reinecke and Daniel Bax with Alfred Grosser in Die Tageszeitung, 4 April 2007. German Tobias Kaufman interviews Alfred Grosser, following his new book "Von Auschwitz nach Jerusalem" (From Auschwitz to Jerusalem), 18 September 2009. German "Ich bin genetisch optimistisch": Talk about "Von Auschwitz nach Jerusalem" with Moritz Reininghaus, Die Tageszeitung 28 September 2009. German

Reviews Of Deutschland in Europa, no author named Michael Hereth: "Alfred Grosser at his best", of Wie anders ist Frankreich Ursula Homann: "Hinwendung zur Welt Warum Alfred Grosser nicht an Gott glaubt", of Die Früchte ihres Baumes. Ein atheistischer Blick auf die Christen.