# Jew Fear in the US in the early to mid 1900's - What was so scary about the Jews?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 28, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224 "2008-04-28T15:09:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/1 "2008-04-28T15:09:32Z")
[In this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465802) some posters have noted some of the insanely draconian restrictions on Jews owning property, or even being allowed on various properties.
I know the early to mid 1900’s wasn’t all that progressive re civil rights, but this seems way over the top. What were people scared of? Why did the Jews inspire such fear and loathing in that time period?
---
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/2 "2008-04-28T15:14:55Z")
Well, it wasn’t as bad as for the blacks, but antisemitism was a common force throughout history. It wasn’t even all that logical, but was based on all the stereotypes of Jews that had been common over the years.
Ultimately, it’s like all other prejudices: xenophobia. The Jews were different. Therefore, you wanted them to keep away from you.
---
### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/3 "2008-04-28T15:52:59Z")
Dude, have you ever SEEN a [Jew?](http://www.jrbooksonline.com/jew-bwa-ha-ha.gif)
They’re fuckin’ scary. I’m sorry, they just are.
---
### Author:  [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/4 "2008-04-28T16:06:59Z")
[QUOTE=astro]
[In this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465802) some posters have noted some of the insanely draconian restrictions on Jews owning property, or even being allowed on various properties.
I know the early to mid 1900’s wasn’t all that progressive re civil rights, but this seems way over the top. What were people scared of? Why did the Jews inspire such fear and loathing in that time period?
[/QUOTE]
“That time period”? It wasn’t just then; we encountered things like pay swimming pools, public service organizations, etc. that didn’t allow Jews quite commonly, even through the 70’s. I see less of it now, but I don’t get out as much as I used to. I don’t have my name on my mailbox; my neighbors don’t care, but it only takes one loon down the road who thinks it’s his christian duty to harass me till I move or kill me. I don’t think there’s really much less prejudice now, but that it’s just considered less acceptable to express it publicly. I wouldn’t expect any non-Jew to be very aware of prejudice against Jews, just as I’m certain that I’m not as aware of racism as a black person in the US would be.
Why? Well, we’re all rich, hook-nosed baby-eating God-killers, who are trying to take over the world!. I mean, dang, check out **Argent Towers** ’s picture! Bwaaa-ha-ha-ha-haaaa, we killed your god (doesn’t that make us supremely bad-ass?), and you’re next!!
Honestly, I really can’t explain it any better than **RealityChuck** did.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/5 "2008-04-28T16:21:46Z")
Well, it’s _really_ 'cause them Jewish chicks are so cute, they lure us nice wholesome goyboys into dens of depravity…
Yeah, I know, making light of unspeakable horror…
Do I get my den of depravity now? 😉
---
### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/6 "2008-04-28T16:25:44Z")
And if that wasn’t bad enough, we send out guys like Gene Simmons to fuck thousands of your women and impregnate them with hairy, swarthy, evil Jew genes.
---
### Author:  [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/7 "2008-04-28T17:26:32Z")
Judaism was as oppressed and persecuted when it first arose as is any new sect. But it was never partuclarly evangelical, so the Jews weren’t very aggressive in spreading their religion. Indeed, adopting the identity as God’s chosen people makes the club fairly exclusive. From a historical and cultural aspect, that may have been the mistake that led to their continuing and unrelenting persecution. Had they been more evangelical, Judaism may have been the predominant religion in Europe and Russia, and Christianity may never have gained the power it did. Christians and, later, Muslims, learned from that mistake and made evangelism a central tenet of their religions.
The enmity toward and fear of Jews no doubt comes from something as stupidly simple as “they are not us,” thus they are to be suspected and feared.
---
### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/8 "2008-04-28T17:31:44Z")
[QUOTE=Sunrazor]
Judaism was as oppressed and persecuted when it first arose as is any new sect. But it was never partuclarly evangelical, so the Jews weren’t very aggressive in spreading their religion. Indeed, adopting the identity as God’s chosen people makes the club fairly exclusive. From a historical and cultural aspect, that may have been the mistake that led to their continuing and unrelenting persecution. Had they been more evangelical, Judaism may have been the predominant religion in Europe and Russia, and Christianity may never have gained the power it did. Christians and, later, Muslims, learned from that mistake and made evangelism a central tenet of their religions.
The enmity toward and fear of Jews no doubt comes from something as stupidly simple as “they are not us,” thus they are to be suspected and feared.
[/QUOTE]
Judaism is a “new sect”?
Just what does it take to be considered an _old_ sect? 😉
---
### Author:  [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/9 "2008-04-28T17:47:28Z")
[QUOTE=Malthus]
Judaism is a “new sect”?
Just what does it take to be considered an _old_ sect? 😉
[/QUOTE]
Cthulhu. Now THAT’s an old sect.
😃
---
### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/10 "2008-04-28T18:18:13Z")
[QUOTE=Wargamer]
Cthulhu. Now THAT’s an old sect.
😃
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but that doesn’t get them any love.
I mean, you can’t put up a “no Jews need apply” sign in your subdivision anymore, but I bet you could get away with a “no Cthulhu Cultists” sign. In spite of the latter’s relative antiquity. 😉
---
### Author:  [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/11 "2008-04-28T18:44:58Z")
My husband theorizes it’s because back in the day God kept telling the Jewish tribes to attack and destroy their neighbors, and take all their stuff. I mean, with that kind of history, would _you_ want them living next door? They might take a fancy to your pink flamingos…
Of course, back in the day everyone was attacking everyone else and taking all their stuff, so I admit this theory may have some holes in it.
---
### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/12 "2008-04-28T19:10:00Z")
[QUOTE=Sunrazor]
Judaism was as oppressed and persecuted when it first arose as is any new sect. But it was never partuclarly evangelical, so the Jews weren’t very aggressive in spreading their religion. Indeed, adopting the identity as God’s chosen people makes the club fairly exclusive. From a historical and cultural aspect, that may have been the mistake that led to their continuing and unrelenting persecution. Had they been more evangelical, Judaism may have been the predominant religion in Europe and Russia, and Christianity may never have gained the power it did.
[/QUOTE]
Yet it’s this very thing that may have given us the willpower and tools to survive over the centuries.
---
### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/13 "2008-04-28T19:19:43Z")
Remember, a lot of people then really thought that Jews were a separate race from white people, and that racial mixing was bad. Racial anti-semitism like that is rare now, but it was quite common then.
If you believe that racial mixing is bad, what’s especially bad is if there are people carrying “contaminated” blood from another race, but who look enough like other white people to “pass”. Some Jews can do that, because the difference in looks between Jews and other white Americans isn’t always that huge. I converted to Judaism as an adult, but I can “pass” for Jewish by birth, although I am mostly British and Scandinavian by descent.
---
### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/14 "2008-04-28T19:20:33Z")
In the next world, all goyim will be our slaves, and we will put saddles on you and ride you like beasts of burden while we go to and from our various harems filled with your women. Just letting you know in advance, so you can like, start lifting weights and stuff.
---
### Author:  [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/15 "2008-04-28T20:31:28Z")
Back in high school circa 1960, here in calm, serene Maine I did a research project that involved reading a ton of local newspapers from the 1910’s through 1930’s. I was just blown away by the derogatory references to the local Jewish community, the local Russian community, the local Greek community and the local Albanian community. They were all targets of envy, hatred and derision. I never got the sense that it was inspired by religion.
It was inspired by fear. A mill town only has so many jobs. The Irish and the French arrived here first and fought hard to build the mills and then run them. By 1900 they had reached a peace and begun the process of intermarriage and assimilation.
When the Hebrews, the Greeks and the Albanians began arriving and were willing to work for slightly less, the mill owners were happy and the mill workers were terrified.
Once the jobs left in the 1940’s through 1960’s for cheaper labor in the South, the local climate settled down and everyone got along.
---
### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/16 "2008-04-28T20:51:08Z")
[QUOTE=Wargamer]
Cthulhu. Now THAT’s an old sect.
[/QUOTE]
What, you want to be eaten first? Getting you eaten second I’m barely breaking even, but for you I make an exception just this once!
---
### Author:  [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/17 "2008-04-28T21:08:29Z")
[QUOTE=Malthus]
Judaism is a “new sect”?
Just what does it take to be considered an _old_ sect? 😉
[/QUOTE]
No, it was a new sect 6,000 years ago, and was relentlessly persecuted for its “one god” heresy by the Baalists and other ancient people. :dubious:
---
### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/18 "2008-04-28T21:40:48Z")
New sects, old sects, I don’t care as long as it’s hot sects.
---
### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/19 "2008-04-28T22:46:17Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers]
And if that wasn’t bad enough, we send out guys like Gene Simmons to fuck thousands of your women and impregnate them with hairy, swarthy, evil Jew genes.
[/QUOTE]
And Gene Simmons is just an amateur compared to Ron Jeremy, another one of ours!
---
### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224/20 "2008-04-29T00:48:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> And Gene Simmons is just an amateur compared to Ron Jeremy
Literally. Mr. Jeremy gets paid for it!
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jew-fear-in-the-us-in-the-early-to-mid-1900s-what-was-so-scary-about-the-jews/447224.md?page=2)