In an essay in 1945, George Orwell recorded a series of remarks, generally hostile, about Jews that he had heard in the course of the previous year or two. Among these was that of an “intelligent woman on being offered a book dealing with anti-Semitism and German atrocities”. She said: “Don’t show it me, please don’t show it to me. It’ll only make me hate the Jews more than ever.” The reaction may seem counter-intuitive; yet, if one thinks about it, it’s psychologically intelligible. After the war that had led to the slaughter of six million out of the 10 million Jews in Europe, those who remained were not popular anywhere. They were resented for the political, material and moral demands that their very survival imposed on their neighbours.