New this month from the University of Nebraska Press: The Catholic Church and the Jews, Argentina, 1933-1945 by Graciela Ben-Dror, and The State, the Nation, and the Jews: Liberalism and the Antisemitism Dispute in Bismarck's Germany by Marcel Stoetzler.

The impact of events in Nazi Germany and Europe during World War II was keenly felt in neutral Argentina among its predominantly Catholic population and its significant Jewish minority. The Catholic Church and the Jews, Argentina, 1933-1945 considers the images of Jews presented in standard Catholic teaching of that era, the attitudes of the lower clergy and faithful toward the country’s Jewish citizens, and the response of the politically influential Church hierarchy to the national debate on accepting Jewish refugees from Europe.

The State, the Nation, and the Jews is a study of Germany’s late nineteenth-century antisemitism dispute and of the liberal tradition that engendered it. The Berlin Antisemitism Dispute began in 1879 when a leading German liberal, Heinrich von Treitschke, wrote an article supporting anti-Jewish activities that seemed at the time to gel into an antisemitic “movement.” Treitschke’s comments immediately provoked a debate within the German intellectual community. Responses from supporters and critics alike argued the relevance, meaning, and origins of this “new” antisemitism. Ultimately the Dispute was as much about Germans and how they could best consolidate their recently formed national state as about Jews and those who hated them.

This week’s edition of Linking in Lincoln will focus on Jewish writers and writings, with a tiny bit of film thrown in, too.

1. One of Nebraska’s most famous authors is Tillie Olsen, who grew up in Omaha and is perhaps best-known for her 1961 short story collection Tell me a Riddle. Though she published relatively few books, Olsen, who died in 2007, is remembered both as an author and as an activist who fought for the rights of women and the poor. Learn about a new film about Olsen at the Tillie Olsen Film Project web site.

2. Olsen is among the authors featured in Jewish American Fiction, edited by Gerry Shapiro and published by the University of Nebraska Press. Shapiro himself is an author of short fiction, including this piece, which aired on NPR’s Hanukkah Lights program late last year.

3. Woody Allen is best known as a director, but he’s an author too. Read about his short story and essay collections at the official Woody Allen web site.

4. The Jewish-American publication Moment Magazine holds an annual short fiction contest. Read 2007’s winning stories here.

5.  In 2002, a book was published to much acclaim that chronicled an American Jew’s journey to Ukraine to find the woman he believed saved his grandfather’s That book, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, was made into a movie in 2005. Visit the movie’s IMBD page here.

I hope you enjoyed today’s links. If they’ve piqued your interest in Jewish history, be sure to check out The Catholic Church and the Jews, Argentina, 1933-1945 by Graciela Ben-Dror, and The State, the Nation, and the Jews: Liberalism and the Antisemitism Dispute in Bismarck's Germany by Marcel Stoetzler.