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Anti-Semitism
means persecution, or discrimination against Jews.
The
Nazis used Anti-Semitism as a propaganda
tool in order to gain support for their Party. However anti-Jewish
attitudes started over 2,000 years ago with rivalry between
Christians and Jews in the Roman Empire. For years the Jews
suffered from religious persecution and were blamed for society's
ills.
They
were often victims of massacres and pogroms,
particularly as the Jews had been wrongly blamed for the death
of Jesus Christ. Jesus was Jewish and some Jews believed that
he was the Messiah,
whilst other Jews did not accept this. This led to the formation
of a new religious movement. Those that believed in Christ
the Messiah were called Christians. After Christ's crucifixion,
the Jews were blamed for his death (Deicide). The Christian
church passed on this myth for centuries and it is only very
recently that the Vatican has made a public statement denying
it.
Over
a long period of time this religious persecution of Jews changed
and instead Jews were hated as a separate, inferior race.
By the 19th century German Jews were hated as foreigners and
blamed for all of Germany's ills. William Marr first used
the term, anti-Semitism, in 1879, as a way of describing anti-Jewish
attitudes. Anti-Semitism had been deeply ingrained in Europe
for centuries and was not exclusively a German prejudice.
The Nazis
used many of these anti-Jewish arguments for their own propaganda
purposes. They also exploited a variety of other myths entrenched
in European culture against the Jews. This is one of the reasons
the Nazis found so many willing adherents to the Nazi cause
against the Jews. As Jews were a minority in these occupied
countries, they often became targets of persecution (Ukraine,
Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary and Romania). In 1937, the Christian
church seemed to do relatively little to defend the Jews,
apart from those who converted to Christianity. The Pope at
the time denounced Nazi racial ideas, but not the anti-Jewish
decrees implemented by the Nazis in Germany and occupied German
countries.
Examples
of anti-Semitic incidents
1190
The Third Crusade
England showed support for the Crusades
where the Jews were killed for supposedly murdering Jesus.
Pogroms
took place against Jews all over the country. The Jews of
London were killed on the day of the King's coronation.
In York, the Jews of the city took refuge in a castle, but
with no hope of survival after three days' fighting, all
five hundred of the Jews chose to commit suicide rather
than be butchered by their attackers.
1290
Jews were expelled from England.
Other
examples
- Jews
were often forced into specific jobs such as money lending
and accused of being corrupt and avaricious. (In fact, the
Old Testament specifically demands fairness in all financial/business
practices).
- Jews
were accused of murdering Christian children and using their
blood in Jewish rituals. (In fact, the Old Testament has
specific rules on Jews not having any contact at all with
blood of any kind).
- Jews
were accused of poisoning wells and spreading disease such
as the Plague. (However, it is now believed that due to
the rules of Kashrut (strict rules on how to keep and cook
food) listed in the Old Testament, fewer Jews died of the
Plague and hence rumours spread that the Jews were the cause
of the Plague).
The Nazis
used many of these myths and stereotypes for their own propaganda
purposes.
Historian
Raoul Hilberg has summed up the pattern of anti-Semitism
as follows:
- 12th
century Crusades - "You have no right to live amongst
us as Jews".
- 16th
century ghettos - "You have no right to live amongst
us".
- 20th
century Nazis - "You have no right to live".
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