1. The History of Anti-Semitism, Part II
Prejudice Against the Jews
Holcaust Literature 2007
10/4/15

2. Golden Age and Inquisition in Spain
Unlike Jews in other parts of Western Europe, the Jews of Spain enjoyed a “Golden Age” of political influence and religious tolerance from the 11th to the 14th centuries.
When Spain conquered Granada in 1492, both Jews and Muslims were expelled from Spain after this unification (under Ferdinand and Isabella).
Unification was aided by the Catholic Church, through the Inquisition, insisted on religious conformity.
Loyalty to country became equal to loyalty to Christianity.
From , the church-led Inquisition burned thousands of Jews at the stake for their religious beliefs.
Holcaust Literature 2007
10/4/15

3. Protestant Reformation
This reformation split Christianity into different branches in the 16th century did little to reduce anti-Semitism.
Martin Luther, who lead the Reformation, was very upset at the refusal of the Jews to accept his approach to Christianity.
He referred to them as “bitter, poisonous worms” and suggested they be banished from Germany or forcibly converted.
He advised that, “…their synagogues should be set on fire,…their homes should be broken down and destroyed,…they should be put under one roof, like gypsies,… they should be deprived of their prayerb0ooks,… and their rabbis should be forbidden, under pain of death, to teach anymore…”
Holcaust Literature 2007
10/4/15

4. Separated in Ghettos
Religious struggles plagued Reformation for over 100 years. Many terrible wars between Catholics and Protestants. Jews were not involved in these struggles.
Jews had been separated into ghettos (Middle Ages). Most ghettos were surrounded by very high walls and gates.
Jews were allowed out during the day, but at night, they were locked in and guarded by Christian sentries.
On Christian holidays, Jews were locked in day and night.
Ghettos froze the Jews’ way of life. They were segregated and not permitted to mix freely. They established their own synagogues, schools, and developed a life separate from the rest of the community.
Holcaust Literature 2007
10/4/15

5. Enlightenment and France
In the 1700,s the Age of Faith gave way to the Age of Reason. In the period known as the Enlightenment, philosophers stressed new ideas about reason, science, progress, and the rights of individuals.
Jews were allowed out of the ghettos.
The French Revolution helped many western European Jews get rid of their second-class status.
In 1791 an emancipation decree in France gave Jews full citizenship.
In the early 1800s, the German state of Bavaria, Prussia, and other countries passed similar orders.
Although this new equality spread, many Jews were not comfortable being in the “outside world.” They spoke their own language (Yiddish) and not the language of their countrymen.
Since the outlook of thinkers of this period shifted from a traditional way of looking at the world to a more modern belief in reason, new semi-scientific reasons were used to prove the differences between Jews and non-Jews to set them apart again.
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10/4/15

6. Nationalism in Germany
In the early 19th century, strong nationalistic feelings stirred people in Europe.
Much of this was a reaction against the domination of Europe by France in the Napoleonic Era.
In Germany, thinkers and politicians looked for ways to increase political unity.
Tried to see solutions to German problems in a great national Germanic state.
French diplomat Joseph Arthur Gobineau is often referred to as the father of modern racial thought.
He was an early believer of Nordic supremacy. He wrote (between ) that the “decline of civilizations should be blamed on the interbreeding of superior and inferior racial groups.”
The white race, or the Aryans, were the superior race; German and Nordic peoples were considered “racially superior.”
The Nazis later defined Aryans as tall, blond, and blue-eyed.
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10/4/15

7. Race Replaces Religion as Basis for Prejudices
The word anti-Semitism first appeared in 1873 in a book entitled The Victory of Judaism over Germanism by Wilhelm Marr.
Marr’s book marked an important change in the history of anti-Semitism.
In his book, Marr stated that the Jews of Germany ought to be eliminated because they were members of an alien race that could never be fully part of German society.
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8. Aryan Superiority
Marr’s ideas were influenced by other German, French, and British thinkers who stressed differences rather than similarities among people.
Some believed that European Caucasian Christians were superior to other races.
Semitic refers to a group of languages, not to a group of people, but these men thought of elaborate theories to prove the superiority of the Nordic or Aryan people.
Houston Stewart Chamberlain (German of British descent) wrote of the “superiority of the Germanic race and his fears of its dilution through mixture of inferior races.”
Sir Herbert Spencer, a Social Darwinist, believed that,” cultures evolve through natural selection and the survival of the fittest. He argued that cultural groups with superior physical and mental traits would eventually dominate inferior groups.”
Holcaust Literature 2007
10/4/15

9. Russian and France in the Late 1800s
Anti-Semitism took different forms in other parts of Europe
In 19th century Russia, pogroms, massacres of Jews by orders of the czars, occurred.
In parts of the former Soviet Union, these attacks on Jews continued into the 20th century.
In Ukraine, between , between 100,000 and 200,000 Jews were massacred in an estimated 1300 pogroms.
In France from , the Dreyfus Case revealed the depth of anti-Semitism in that country.
Captain Dreyfus, the first Jew to be appointed to the French general staff, was falsely accused of giving secret information to Germany.
He was cleared of all charges, but his trial brought strong anti-Jewish feelings to the surface.
Idea of Jews now being a race instead of a religion became the way of thinking. Jews could not convert; it was a question of birth and blood.
Under the Nazis, traditional Christian-based anti-Semitism would combine with pseudo- scientific racism, economic depression, and political instability to set the stge for the Holocaust.
Holcaust Literature 2007
10/4/15