Nazi’s hated Jews. We all know this. It is universal fact and today we have neo-Nazis that still hate Jews.
But does anyone actually know why? Sure, the Nazi’s claim that they are an inferior race and that they are to blame for just about any and all of society’s ills.
But is there any reason for thinking this? And if not, then why have the Jews been so persecuted throughout the centuries (not just by Hitler but for centuries before) and kicked out of almost every country in existence?
Going back to 1922, Joyce published Ulysses (set in 1904) and Antisemitism (depicted in an ill light) is there and it was noted back then that the Jews had a LONG history of persecution a full 35 years before WW2.
Can it simply be a case of them being a people without a homeland and therefore and easy target for anyone looking for a minority to beat? Or maybe there’s some truth to it being fuelled by Jewish elitism and their sometimes unwillingness to interbreed with non-Jews?
Thanks in advance.
PS: I am in no way shape or form an Anti-Semite. Although it does sometimes irk me that so much weight is given to the holocaust when other genocides before during and since WW2 (i.e. Cambodia, the Russian Pogroms, Maoist China, Armenia, Serbia, etc.) are so often ignored.
From the fear-monger’s perspective, it’s purely to create an “us vs. them” mentality. Pick a group, any group, that isn’t in the majority. Create a bunch of negative stereotypes. Ones that make them a threat are especially good. Give some hate speeches. Work the crowd into a frenzy. Then take over. Simple.
Use phrases like “those people”, “not like us”, “aren’t real <nationality>”, "hangs around <people not in our religious group>.
Remember, make people afraid. Also come back around to fear.
Jews were simply an easy to identify, well known minority. Throw in religious superstition and you’ve made it.
Please expand on “Jewish elitism.” Do you mean respect for education?
And I’d suggest using “intermarry” rather than “interbreed.” Historically speaking, for every Christian/Jewish marriage, you’ve usually had two families convinced the young folks are Hell Bound.
Just some friendly suggestions to someone who is not trying to come off as an anti-Semite. On his very first post in his very first thread!
There’s also the widespread Christian belief that the Jews killed Jesus, and that their descendants inherited that guilt. From what I’ve read, Russian pogroms often coincided with Easter. See also German “passion plays”.
There is also the issue that some Jews were moneylenders, due to Christian law that prohibited Christians from charging interest on loans to other Christians, and to occupational restrictions imposed on Jews. Guess what happens when the King is deeply in debt to Jewish bankers and would rather not pay them back?
Don’t forget that the Nazis also hated Gypsies, Mediterranians (though allied with Italy, oddly enough), Slavs and all Africans (despite which the Arabs are today the most fanatically neo-nazi). There were other reasons. The most serious religious objection was that Jews had the chance to accept that Jesus was the Messiah and rejected him. I think this was the religious thinking behind the claim that Jews were the killers of Jesus (of course, it was the Romans). Then there was the fact that Jews were the moneylenders are mentioned above. As for Jewish elitism, see what Sarah Palin thinks of “celebrities”, by which she seems to mean people with some intellectual qualifications. No doubt, Jews appreciated book learning and there isn’t much of that among her “real Americans”.
To be perfectly blunt, the history of anti-Semitism is completlely intertwined with the history of Western Civilization. It’s only in comparatively recent times that most Christians haven’t been at least casually anti-Semitic.
According to the little bit of reading that I’ve done, Christian anti-semitism has roots all the way back in the early days when Christianity was a minority offshoot of Judaism. That far back, Judaism was a form of establishment against which the early Christians were rebelling.
Jews have always had laws designed to keep them for assimilating into the larger cultures. This has made them stand out. People are suspicious about others who do things differently. A long time ago this had a biological basis as strangers could be bearing diseases which native populations had no resistance to. This distrust of strangers leads to distrust of people who do strange things. In most areas Jews were the only ones who were conspicuously different. This led to antisemitism. Usury laws and restrictions on land ownership led many Jews into banking while most people were farmers. When harvests are poor, bankers are very unpopular amoung farmers, listen to John Cougar Mellencamp for example. Hatred and envy of bankers plus distrust of strangers leads to antisemitism.
Not integrating into mainstream culture is the worst thing a minority can do. Just see all the fear nowadays about Hispanics not integrating into Anglo culture. Everything would be forgiven if they would just renounce their perverted ways and integrate but the SOBs just won’t do it and are therefore guilty as charged and a present and imminent threat which must be dealt with.
Perhaps. Though that didn’t work for a great many Jews who, oh, I don’t know, converted to Christianity and were then tortured by the Inquisition, or assimilated to Viennese society and were sent to concentration camps anyway. As one of my friends once said, argue about identity all you like, but when they come for the Jews, they’re coming for you.
A hallmark of pre-Christian anti-Semitism is the regime of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who ruled the Syrian Grecian territory in the 2nd century B.C. and brutalized the Jews who would not assimilate & conform to Hellenist culture. The revolt against him by the priestly Maccabeans is the basis for Hannukah.
Basically, Jews try to keep themselves distinct from the surrounding culture, they tend towards intelligence & success, they may oppose some of the surrounding culture’s depravities (sex shrines, animal abuse, infanticide), and add on “they killed/rejected Jesus” to the mix, and you get a simmering hostility that occasionally boils over.
Also, we’re different, and we lived near Christian European communities. It’s easier to get someone fired up against the weird people who are nearby than weird people far away. Racists in the US probably focused on black people rather than some other race for similar reasons. They were nearby, and they didn’t have the political power to retaliate against someone who beat on them.
There’s also a religious angle to Christian anti-Semitism. We share a holy book with the Christians (the Hebrew Bible, which is the same as the Protestant Old Testament). We say it means one thing, and Christians say it means something else. Jews are hardly the only people to be persecuted in medieval or Renaissance Europe for differing from the authorities on the meaning of a holy book.
And, in the case of modern anti-Semitism, you also have pseudoscientific theories having to do with the inherent depravity and degenerancy of the “Jewish race.” This is what susan was referring to in her post. The “new” anti-Semitism came with the supposedly solid backing of the latest discoveries in evolutionary “science.” Of course it was 100% crackpottery but it proved to be far more pernicious and destructive. As bad as the “old” religious-based anti-Semitism was, at least one could be “saved” if he or she converted. Under the “new” anti-Semitism, you could be persecuted even if your family had been Christian for several generations.
I’d like some citations for Jews having converted and were tortured by the Inquisition only because they had previously been Jews. I don’t think it worked that way.
**Susan **was referring to the Conversos. These were Spanish Jews who converted to Christianity rather than face expulsion during the 1400s. However, despite converting, there was still widespread suspicion that this was only for show and that behind closed doors, they were still secretly practicing Jewish rites and plotting against Christians. That was one of the reasons why the Spanish Inquisition was established.
Didn’t they?
I only vauguely remember what I was taught, but didn’t a Jewish mob demand that Jesus be executed, and strongarm the Romans into doing so by threatening to riot? And, didn’t the Romans try their best to reason with them?
And didn’t they agree to let an evil serial killer go free in order to murder an innocent man of peace?