I think the “Jew Fear” (ca. 1900) came about because of the nature of the Jewish immigration: before 1900, (Jewish) immigrants to the USA were mostly educated Germans, who were either already financially secure, or employed in education, business, etc. The large jewish immigration starting in the 1890’s, were people from the poorest parts of Poland and Russia, who were not educated and spoke no english. Like the earlier Irish and Italians immigrants, they were distrusted and feared, because of their strange appearence and lack of english skills.
There was a big difference betweena Rothschild and a shetle dweller.
Hey, that’s us!! My great-grandfather (and a bunch of family and at least one other whole family), fleeing from an area in the Ukraine somewhere near Rovno and Zhitomir. What never got handed down in the family was the story of how the heck a bunch of Russian Jewish peasants ended up in St. Louis, Missouri in 1893.
The weird thing for me is, I grew up in South Texas, and other than recognizing a traditional Jewish last name, I have zero exposure to any kind of Jewish culture. Certainly not enough to form any opinion, scary or not.
I grew up reading Anne Frank, The Hiding Place, and just about any book I could find on the Holocaust. Fact and fiction. (I was a voracious reader and somewhat morbid child.) I have read lots of histories and novels that revolve around being Jewish and what it’s like, esp. for orthodox Jews (most recently Chaim Potok’s My Name Is Asher Lev) and yet I wouldn’t even recognize a Jewish caricature (like the one Argent Towers linked to). My biggest question as a kid, reading about people “who could pass” as non-Jewish during World War II, was what people looked like who couldn’t? If they didn’t have a yarmulke or a long beard or ear-curls, who could tell if they were Jewish?
I still have no firm grasp of it. People say “Jewish nose” and I think of all the people I know, of all backgrounds, who have large noses. It doesn’t register with me.
Is this just lack of exposure, considering where I live? Or am I just not very observant?
Sorry if this is a hijack. The OP just reminded me of something I’ve always found puzzling.
In Europe Jews were always regarded as a national minority, meaning they were foreigners wherever they went no matter how long they stayed, like Gypsies. In the U.S. they at least had the luck to be accepted as a religious minority, and we’ve always been used to having those around. White gentile Americans never really worried much about Jews until they started arriving in vast numbers in 1880, fleeing renewed vigorous persecution in the Russian Empire (where most of Europe’s Ashkenazi Jews lived – it included Poland and Lithuania).
I think antisemitism as such really got a boost around the time the second Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1915, marking a resurgence of nativism as well as racism. And the rise of antisemitism in Europe washed up on these shores – this false quotation attributed to Benjamin Franklin was first published in 1934 as Hitler was rising to power in Germany.
Nowadays, “White Nationalists” hate Jews for ideological reasons rooted in National Socialism, plus the perception that Jews were heavily involved in (therefore, were responsible for) the Civil Rights movement and all its fruits.
Actually, Jewish monotheism can’t be definitively dated to any earlier than the reign of King Josiah of Judah. See The Bible Unearthed.
It also happened that in the 19teens and '20s, two kinds of commercial culture - pop songs and the movies - became very important to all strata of American society. And these two fields both happened to be heavily populated, if not dominated, by Jewish merchants and (to a lesser extent) craftspeople. Gradually some began to feel the country was awash in a tide of cheap emotion and jazz age hedonism promulgated by an amoral, rootless tribe whose only values were material ones. (And by “material” one might also have meant cloth, because Jews were just as crucial to the mass marketing and production of clothes.)
Well, I’m pale, shorter than the average American woman and relatively slight of build, with dark curly hair, dark eyes, and a slightly strong nose. I wear glasses or contacts*. Do I look Jewish? Sure. Do millions of other people who aren’t? Yup. (In my case, I’m a bit more obvious due to style of dress if you know what you’re looking for, but I’d still ‘look Jewish’ in jeans and a tank top.) In Germany and Poland, where I believe people are on average taller and blonder than here in the US, I might stand out more, although in Holland I’ve been mistaken for a Dutch person, so perhaps I could have blended in there during WWII. I sure as hell don’t look a stereotypical person from Poland, which is where my ancestors are actually from.
Although there’s certainly a type, it’s far from being universally true (I have a ton of redheaded Jewish cousins), and certainly not unique. I’ve always thought it overstated. Also, it leaves out most Sefardic Jews, who tend to look more stereotypically Middle Eastern, although I’m told that in Persian culture, there’s a stereotypical ‘Jewish’ look there as well, and it doesn’t have much to do with the European one. (I think that both include curly hair, but the Persian one has much more to do with shape of eyes and irises.)
*I was in college (my first schooling outside a Jewish educational institution) before I realized that it isn’t the norm for 80-90% of the people in a class to be nearsighted. I think it’s because Ashkenazi Jews are an inbred population, but that’s just speculation.
Gentile men fear Jews because of the many tales (absolutely true) that we have gorgeous penises and know how to use them. So, they must defame us with the Blood Libel and other crap. My cite is in my pants.*
*Photographs and video proof available upon request.
Doc makes (perhaps unintentionally) a telling point. Jewish men are feared. Jewish women are usually just stereotyped.
If there were any justice in the universe, there would be an “Undo Circumcision Damage!” link at the bottom of the page right now.
Jewish men are feared as a collective group. Not individually, the way black men are feared. Nobody gets nervous when they’re walking down the street at night and a Jew wearing a yamaka walks by. The common response to off-color racial jokes or bigotry is “yeah, why don’t you go down to (black neighborhood X) and say that,” the implication being that a bunch of black toughs will fill you with holes or at least knock you into the next week. I’ve never heard anyone make a comparable remark about Jews beating up a bigot. If anything Jewish men are seen as un-masculine, weak, and passive. This is the predominant stereotype about Jewish men. As a group, they may be seen as having financial or political power, but individually a Jewish male has traditionally been portrayed as, basically, a pussy.
This stereotype is true in some ways and false in others. It’s true that historically, Jews have not learned the value of fighting back. Because they were always so heavily outnumbered in Europe, they learned to accept the pogroms, bury the dead, and hope that the next one isn’t as bad. The Jews of Europe never learned to ride, to hunt, to fight - they weren’t accepted by the military nobility, and they weren’t accepted by the Christian peasants. They were the bitch of Europe for a very long time, with a few exceptions.
In America, Jews had to learn to fight in order to survive, which is why they took up boxing and also became involved heavily in organized crime. But that only lasted until they were economically successful, and then they sent the next generation off to college to become professionals. The great heyday of the “Jewish tough guy” in America was basically the early 1900s up until the end of World War II.
Nowadays the stereotypes of Jew-boys as being weak pushovers and intellectual nerds is somewhat fading away, thanks in no small part to Israel’s military being so incredibly badass that even anti-Semites have to at least respect their ability to fight. A high proportion of Jewish males on American colleges today are muscle-bound frat guys, not Woody Allen types, so I think the image is definitely changing.
Interesting post, Argent. I’ve been fortunate enough not to meet many anti-Semites, but as a potential corollary, I think Jews are no longer seen as a model minority. That role has gone over to Asians and South Asians.
Well, I’ll tell you why Jews need to be loathed and feared, but I’ll have to type fast because this site is run by the Chicago Reader, and, as we all know, the Jews run all the newspapers and mass media in the world.
Anyways, the truth is that the murder of Our Lord and Savior was the first step in a long-range plan that culminated with the instigation of World War One to MMMMPPPHHHH!!!
