1. Seedbed to the Holocaust
Modern Antisemitism
Seedbed to the Holocaust

2. Focus Questions
1. How does a society get to this point? Why did Western nations do so little and so very late to save the victims? 2. Why were the Jews the chief victims? 2/3 European Jews killed; 1/2 world 3. Why have people hated Jews since ancient times? Why were the Jews persecuted?
4. How did Jews become scapegoat per excellence?

3. Transition to Modern Age
( )
Renaissance: Humanism; voyages in exploration and discovery
Reformation: Division and reform in Church; Protestantism ends religious unity in Europe
1453: Fall of Constantinople (end of Middle ages)

4. Modern Era “-ism” 16-17th century: Rise in sovereignty: secular states
Absolutism
Mercantilism
Capitalism
Late 1600s: Rationalism, scientific revolution: secular and scientific world, heliocentric, Galileo, Newton challenge Church

5. Foundations of Modern Antisemitism in 19th c.
Following Englightenment, Industrial Rev., French Rev.
Liberalism
Conservatism
Industrial capitalism
nationalism
racism
Social Darwinism

6. Entry to the Modern Period
“As Jews were allowed to enter the mainstream of society in one western European country after another, there has occurred perhaps the deepest revolution of all in the long history of the Jewish Diaspora. To understand ... we must begin by briefly considering the effects of 2 historical processes which would profoundly affect the whole course of European history. The 1st is the Enlightenment of the 17th & ... The 18th centuries ... The 2nd is the French Revolution of ”
Landau, Ronnie S. The Nazi Holocaust. London-New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd Publishers,1992, p. 48

7. Englightenment Age of Reason (17-18th c.)
secular-based persecution becomes prevalent
Jews really begin participating in society
“educated elite” – Rationalism
the belief that truth can be determined solely by logical thinking/reason
Roots in Scientific Rev of 1600s (Newton, Galileo, Kepler, Bacon, Descartes)

8. 3 Assumptions of Enlightenment
the entire universe is fully intelligible and governed by natural rather than supernatural forces;
the "scientific method" can answer fundamental questions; and
the human race can be "educated" to improve itself, even to overcome limitations of birth and class.

9. Enlightenment Mainstream
Politically moderate
Critical of the clergy and all rigid dogma
tolerant in religious matters
France was the center of the Enlightenment
Tried to apply rational analysis to existing social/political problems

10. Jew Hate Arose
Voltaire, leader of the Enlightenment, denounced and attacked “Jewish particularism”
stubbornness
perversity
greed
Enemies of Jews quoted Voltaire to prove that not only was their religion bad, but inner character narrow-minded and bigoted

11. 18th C. “Judensau” “Jew Pig” Shows Jews performing indecent
acts with pigs

12. French Revolution
Pre-1800s, Jews had to convert to Christianity to become citizens in Europe
Spawned liberalism/nationalism
New parties
Left: liberal, Republicans
Right: Conservatives, Church, army aristocracy
Jews’ rights guaranteed by law after Rev.

13. Industrial Revolution
Age of machine, investor—new urban social order
Rising middle class that derives power from wealth
progress required energies and abilities from all
Marxism—belief in necessity of revolution to overthrow capitalism to be replaced by Communism—authoritarian socialism (property and means of production by gov’t—extreme left)

14. Jewish pop. Explosion
Industrial Rev. and citizenship causes population boom for Jews
Jewish children now permitted to attend school
Poor Jewish working class in Eastern Europe
Westernized Jewish assimilated middle class
Jews leave ghettos, start participating in many activities previously closed to them
Gain legal equality throughout Europe

15. Jews Split Into Sects
Orthodox
Conservative
Reform

16. Transition to modern antisemitism
Traditional hatred of the Jews stemmed from:
the deicide accusation
an irrational fear and hatred of outsiders
Jews were cursed for rejecting Christ
Jews deserved punishment for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah
Resentment of the Jew focused on the stereotype that the Jew was possessed by the Devil (tails, horns, used blood of Christian children)

17. Transition (cont’d)
Hostility appears in social and economic forms—socialist thinkers accuse Jews of initiating capitalism (the Rothschild banker family served as a stereotype)
Jewish conspiracy theories—Jews’ desire to control the world

18. Wilhelm Marr
1873
Nationalism: beginning 19th c. Europe, single most powerful ideology of modern world
pride in one’s national heritage
shared sense of religious and cultural identity
shared glories and sufferings
loyalty to nation instead of loyalty to dynasty
Jews, outsiders, did not share the common culture, religion, values, were suspiciously seen as threats by extremists in the nationalist mvmt.

19. Marr (cont’d)
Social Darwinism: Darwin’s principle of organic evolution and the “survival of the fittest” in the universal “struggle for existence” were wrongly applied to the social order—to apply science to society—to create social Darwinism
Herbert Spencer—British, applied natural selection to human society (biological racism)—poor not worthy of survival “survival of the fittest”
Divided humanity into racial superiors and inferiors, regarded racial/nat’l conflict as biological necessity

20. Core Notion of Nazi Party
Divided humanity into racial superiors and inferiors, regarded racial/nat’l conflict as biological necessity
This notion of the struggle of races for survival
became a core doctrine of the Nazi Party

21. Scientific Racism