History of European Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred

 

Historical Narrative

A 2019 report by the United Nations stated:  “Aptly coined, ‘the oldest hatred’, prejudice against or hatred of Jews, known as antisemitism, draws on various theories and conspiracies, articulated through myriad tropes and stereotypes, and manifested in manifold ways; even in places where few or no Jewish persons live. This includes ancient narratives promoted by religious doctrine and pseudoscientific theories offered in the latter half of the second millennium to legitimize bigotry, discrimination and genocide of Jews….” 1

This term antisemitism was coined by Wilhelm Marr in Germany in 1879. In contrast to previous centuries, when hatred of or prejudice against Jews was anchored in anti-religious conviction or anti-Judaism, Marr used the term antisemitism to emphasize the perceived racial inferiority of the Jews.  This occurred during a time when ideas about the biology of race were developing and being used to justify control over minority populations, both in Europe and the United States.

To hyphenate antisemitism or not...In the mid-19th century, the derived word ‘Semite’ became a category to classify humans based on racialist pseudo-science.  There are Semitic languages (e.g. Hebrew, Arabic, Amharic, Aramaic, etc.), but not Semites.  As we noted earlier, the new term, ‘antisemitism’ was used to describe anti-Jewish campaigns at this time. The modern term gained popularity in Germany and Europe, incorporating traditional Christian anti-Judaism, political, social and economic anti-Jewish manifestations, that arose after the Enlightenment in Europe, as well as a pseudo-scientific racial theory that culminated in Nazi ideology in the 20th century. Although it only came into common usage in the 19th century, the term antisemitism is today used to describe and analyze both past and present forms of opposition or hatred towards Jews. Interestingly, the term was never hyphenated in languages such as German (Antisemitismus)2, French (antisémitisme), and Spanish (antisemitismo). 

Scholar William Brustein suggests that there is a level of complexity and persistence involved in antisemitism that isn’t present in most other types of hatred or prejudice. Antisemitism or anti-Judaism has been around for over 2,000 years which is why it’s sometimes called “the longest hatred.”  Judaism is often regarded as both a religion and an ethnicity.  He also identifies four historical roots of antisemitism: religious, economic, political, ad racial which are intertwined throughout history.

Judaism was a monotheistic religion in the polytheistic ancient world.   Jews refused to worship Roman gods and kept their cultural identity as outsiders who resisted total Roman rule.  The man Christians refer to as Jesus Christ was born and died as an observant Jew.  Jesus taught a message of love and how to lead a good life in the tradition of other Jewish teachers. To our knowledge, neither Jesus nor any of his followers left any written records. What we do have is the set of documents that were written and then collected in the generations after Jesus’ death (circa 30 CE.)   Christianity, as a distinct religion, evolved in the decades and centuries following the death of Jesus.

When the Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, many Jews were killed or forced to leave the city of Jerusalem and the land of Judea.  By the 11th century small Jewish communities existed throughout the diaspora in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.  Many who remained were a sect of Judaism that followed the teachings of Jesus. 

In the second part of the Christian Bible (what Christians refer to as the New Testament), the seeds of what become the foundational conflicts between Judaism and Christianity first appear. It’s important to note that the New Testament’s context is critical to understanding what is going on.  The negative depiction of Jews in these texts often reflects an internal debate between Jews who believe Jesus was the Messiah and Jews who did not (the majority).  In time, as more Gentiles (non-Jews) came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah much harder lines were drawn. It should be pointed out that the Gospel texts--Matthew, Mark, Luke and John--were not written by people who knew Jesus directly.  They were written in the 40-70 years after Jesus’ death by Jewish followers of Jesus, and the books were assigned those names much later than that.  One of the ways that Christianity distinguished itself from Judaism was through replacement theology which states that the Christian Church has replaced the Jewish people as God's chosen people.

Jesus was killed by the Romans as were countless others who were seen as threats to Roman rule.  However, early Christians who were angry that Jews did not believe Jesus was the son of God or the Messiah and who wanted Roman citizens to follow their new Christian religion taught that the Jews, not the Romans, were to blame for the crucifixion. Certain New Testament passages have been interpreted as implicating Jews in Jesus' death. For example, 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 mentions that Jews killed Jesus and persecuted prophets, or in Matthew 27: 24-25 Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, washes his hands before the crowd, declaring, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves." The crowd responds, "His blood be on us and on our children!  This declaration, often referred to as the "blood curse," has been interpreted by some as the Jewish people's acceptance of collective responsibility for Jesus' death. These passages have been used to support the false charge, known as deicide, which led to hundreds of years of persecution and was the basis of religious antisemitism.  It may be fair to say that no other charge in history has resulted in so much persecution and death.  Since World War II, various Christian denominations have taken steps to disavow the charge of deicide and blaming Jews. For example, starting in the Catholic Church with Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate in 1965 and continuing with more recent strong statements including in his book on Jesus in 2013, Pope Benedict explicitly exonerates Jews from all blame for the crucifixion and death of Jesus.

Emperor Constantine in 313 CE, in the Edict of Milan, legalized Christianity and allowed for freedom of worship throughout the empire. But he initiated a more and more hostile policy toward the Jews, restricting many of their activities.  Subsequent emperors fully embraced Christianity.    Emperor Theodosius I (ruled 379-395 CE) issued decrees that effectively made Christianity the official state church of the Roman Empire.   The Theodosian Codex, which codified anti-Jewish laws was adopted by Theodosius II in 438 CE.

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, with the growth of decentralized feudalism, political power in the Middle Ages was linked to the Church.  The Church controlled all aspects of life (economy, education, social organization, etc.) which was seen only as preparation for a life after death.  Anyone who was not a Christian was regarded as the enemy.

An example of the widespread authority of the Church and the religious fervor of the Middle Ages are a series of nine religious wars known as the Crusades.  In 1096, Pope Urban II called for the liberation of Jerusalem from what he called “the infidel” or non-believing Muslims.  Zealous Christian Crusaders, setting off to free the Holy Land, massacred Jews who lived in the communities, especially in the Rhineland, en route to the Middle East.

In addition to continuing the restrictions on Jewish life and religious practice set out by the Romans in their legal codes, Christians added laws in the medieval period that further prohibited fraternization between Jews and Christians.  The 1215 Lateran Accords, for example, required Jews to wear something distinctive, such as a hat or a yellow badge on their clothing.    Jews were marginalized, forced to live in separate streets or areas of towns, and excluded from all activities in mainstream society.  These areas were often gated and locked at night.   The first “ghetto” was in Venice.

The Middle Ages led to an increase in false accusations against Jews rooted in religious prejudice.  Since most of the peasants could not read, their beliefs and prejudices were informed by sermons by the clergy or visual images in stained glass windows or church statuary.   Jews were accused or blamed for having killed Jesus, spreading the plague, ritual murders (blood libel), desecrating the Host, being sorcerers and vampires, or being agents of the devil.

Economic antisemitism also developed in the Middle Ages.  Jews had few career options.  Under the manorial system, they could not own land (and farm).  They weren’t allowed to join the craft guilds.  Working as traveling merchants or peddlers, as jewelers, or in the glassblowing arena were among the limited professions available to them. Moneylending was one of the few professions permitted to Jews, since church or canon law prohibited usury.  They were often employed by feudal lords or later by medieval monarchs, as tax or rent collectors.  People disliked paying taxes or owing money which led them to resent Jews more.  Though Jews were not the only ones involved in lending money at interest, eventually finance became identified as a “Jewish practice.   Violence against Jews increased.  Jewish stereotypes related to money grew out of these medieval experiences.

Anti-Jewish prejudices resulted in Jews being expelled from most areas in Western and Central Europe beginning in the 12th century.  Rulers, such as Edward I in 1290, drove Jews from their home.  Many migrated eastward, especially to the more tolerant kingdom of Poland-Lithuania, whose rulers promised Jews safety,  allowed them to trade and travel freely, and to practice their religion. A vibrant eastern European or Ashkenazic culture developed, as the Jewish population grew.   Many of the Spanish Jews, or Sephardim, migrated throughout the Mediterranean Sea areas – North Africa, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire – after their expulsion by Christian monarchs Ferdinand and Isabel in 1492.   

In 1517, Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic monk in Germany, attacked the Pope and the corruption within the Church, beginning the Protestant Reformation.  Luther disputed Church policy with respect to the sale of indulgences (a partial remission of the punishment for a sin) and its deviation from the original teachings of the early Church fathers.  The young Luther hoped that tolerance would persuade the Jews to convert, but when they did not embrace his reformation form of Christianity as he had hoped, Luther lashed out at the Jews in his 1543 vitriolic treatise, Concerning the Jews and Their Lies. His views are not original and represent much of Christian thought at this point in time. Recent historical studies have focused on Luther’s influence on modern antisemitism with a particular focus on Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

For centuries these anti-Jewish laws remained in force, but over time the ignorance and superstitions (based upon religious teachings) that demonized Jews began to slowly fade away.   Beginning in the late 17th century a group of people searched for scientific explanations to understand how the world and universe worked.  In the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, Church teachings that God decided people’s place in society were challenged, as new ideas about freedom and equality took hold in the upheavals that ensued. 

 As a result of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, the religious-based ideas, which had influenced the laws that had discriminated against Jews, were gradually abolished.   The French Revolution created a new category of “citizen” that granted equal rights to everyone (in theory).  Some French, however, questioned whether the Jew were capable of being “French enough” to be entitled to political rights, like other French citizens.  In the end, France was the first European country to emancipate Jews in 1791, guaranteeing them equality of all of its citizens, regardless of their religion.  To the Jews this meant, full citizenship without any conditions.

By the 1800s, Jews in most Western and Central European countries had also been emancipated.  Many Christians expected that Jews would give up their religion and adopt the lifestyle of the majority of the population; in other words, they would assimilate and stop being Jewish.  But, many Jews did not give up their beliefs and traditional ways of life, and some non-Jews resented this.  Jews were now free to leave the ghettos and live and work alongside their non-Jewish neighbors.  Some Jews became central to the intellectual, financial and industrial pursuits in Europe. This became a troubling issue for many non-Jews who perceived Jews as “the other” and as a threat to the fabric of European society.   The fact there were a number of very wealthy Jewish families, such as the Rothschilds, fueled economic anti-Jewish sentiment.  This often resulted in increased discrimination in housing, occupations, and educational opportunities.

In the 19th century, with the rise of nationalism, antisemitism shifted from being rooted in religious terms to being framed in more secular and political terms.  New nationalist ideologies further led to the rejection of Jews as unwanted foreigners, not citizens.  These attitudes were reinforced by the migration of Jews from rural areas of former Poland (now part of the Russian Empire) to the west to seek greater economic and educational opportunities.   Unlike the Jews of Western and Central Europe, many Jews living under tsarist rule were still marginalized, ill-treated and oppressed. 

In a period of intense nationalism following the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1872), Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a   Jewish officer in the French army, was falsely accused in 1894  and convicted of treason by allegedly passing military secrets to Germany. Although Dreyfus was later exonerated (1906), the fact that he was convicted revealed the reality that a significant sector of the French population was predisposed to believe the worst about even a much-assimilated Jew.   Despite being the most democratic country in Europe, deep-rooted antisemitism prevailed.  The trials deeply divided France (and Europe).  Theodor Herzl, a Jewish journalist from Vienna and founder of political Zionism, reporting on the trial of Dreyfus, witnessed French mobs shouting “Death to the Jews!”

While in the Western and Central European states, Jews finally became emancipated step by step during the 19th century, this did not happen in Imperial Russia where most of the European Jewish population lived. The tsarist government required Jews to settle only in a certain area of Russia, the so called “Pale” of Settlement.  Here and in areas Russia had taken over after the partition of Poland in the late 18th century, most Jews lived in great poverty, crammed into towns often making up the majority of the inhabitants. Only some members of the small Jewish upper class were permitted to live in Moscow or St.  Petersburg. The legal discrimination against the Jews increased during the late 19th century because the Tsarist government regarded the Jews as a potential revolutionary element. In 1881, Jews were blamed for the assassination of Tsar Alexander II.   By 1887 a quota system for Jewish students was introduced, which allowed Russian Jews to study abroad in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.  During the reigns of Alexander III and Nicholas II, to divert popular discontent at the appalling living conditions and autocratic control, Russian authorities encouraged antisemitic violence.  Many anti-Jewish riots or pogroms took place during the next three decades.   About two million Jews left Russia between 1881 and 1914, mostly immigrating to the US. It was only when the Russian Revolution ended tsarist rule (1917) that the Russian Jews were finally emancipated. 

Tsar Nicholas II’s power over his Empire was fading as revolutionary groups – socialists, anarchists, nihilists, populists -- plotted to overthrow him.  In 1905 The Protocols of the Elders of Zion claimed to be a secret plan of a group of powerful Jews who were plotting the collapse of all Christian countries to bring about Jewish world domination.   In reality, the book was a clever fabrication by the Russian secret police intended to make it look as if revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow the tsar were controlled by Jews.  Despite being a complete hoax, the Protocols promoted the conspiracy theory of Jewish world economic domination and was published in many languages.  In the United States, the pamphlet was published by industrialist Henry Ford, an avowed antisemite. Long repudiated as an absurd and hateful lie, Protocols is entirely a work of fiction, intentionally written to blame Jews for a variety of society's ills. It can still be found today in many bookstores Arab countries

In 1859 the British scientist Charles Darwin published a book called The Origin of the Species in which he said that all life on earth had evolved over millions of years. Austrian Gregor Mendel's pea plant experiments conducted between 1856 and 1863 established many of the rules of heredity; he gained posthumous recognition as the founder of the modern science of genetics.  Some people (Social Darwinists) misused these ideas to claim that humans had evolved into distinct groups or races.  They thought that white Europeans or the so-called Aryan race were superior to all other groups, and that Jews were a separate inferior Semitic race.  For those obsessed with the Jews, the idea of a Semitic race meant that Jews were born different from other people and so could never become part of mainstream society.  Today we know these ideas are untrue.  Modern science shows that there’s only one human race.  

In the 1870s in Germany, Wilhelm Marr and his fellow antisemites did not believe that people stopped being Jewish if they had converted to Christianity.  For them, Jews were members of the so-called Semitic race whatever their religion, so hatred of Jews for religious or societal reasons was now joined by a new idea that Jews were an inferior race.   This belief led antisemites to support the notion that Jews should leave Europe.  Antisemitic political parties surfaced in several European countries, such as Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1879 Marr founded the League of Antisemites the first German organization committed specifically to combating the alleged threat to Germany posed by the Jews and advocating their forced removal from the country.

As Jews became politically active, they were viewed as proponents of radical/dangerous political beliefs that might threaten societal equilibrium.  For example, because figures such as Karl Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, and Leon Trotsky were of Jewish descent, people came to associate Jews with anarchy and communism, even though most Jews new not. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion make it appear as if revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow the tsar were controlled by Jews.   Some Jews, as well as many non-Jews, were socialists who wanted a better and supported the Revolution in 1917; some were even members of the more radical group, the Bolsheviks who took control of Russia under the leadership of Lenin in October 1917.  After the Communists took power in Russia, the Protocols were reprinted throughout Europe and the United States.  The book was especially popular in Germany, still reeling from defeat in World War I in 1918.  Its readership included an Austrian army captain named Adolf Hitler.

Germany's defeat in World War I in 1918, the demeaning peace Treaty of Versailles, the hyperinflation of the 1920’s, the Depression of 1929, and the fear of a communist revolution (a la Russia) fueled mass discontent with the Weimar Republic and its complex multiparty system.  The outstanding feature of this period was the polarization between the unprecedented integration of Jews in every sphere of life, and the growth of political antisemitism among various organizations and political parties.  This radicalized the pre-existing rightwing antisemitic political parties and gave rise to the National Socialist Democratic (Nazi) Party.  The presence of the assimilated Jews in German society made them convenient scapegoats with writers and political agitators who found the Jews convenient scapegoats for all of German’s problems.     

Hitler believed all of the lies that had ever been made about Jews since the early days of Christianity.  He believed that the Jews were the greatest threat to the so-called Aryan race and that either the German people would defeat the Jewish race or be destroyed by what he saw as a Jewish Communist menace.  In Mein Kampf (1925), he accused the Jews of conducting an international conspiracy to control world finances, controlling the press, inventing liberal democracy as well as spreading Marxist socialism, promoting prostitution and vice, and using culture to spread disharmony.  Hitler demonized Jews by referring to them as parasites, maggots, eternal blood suckers, and the destroyers of Aryan humanity.

The Nazi Party gained in political strength throughout the late 1920s into the 1930s taking advantage of Germany’s weak economic situation and lack of experience with parliamentary democracy. Adolf Hitler was legally appointed Chancellor of Germany in January 1933.  Even though Hitler did not assume the presidency until Hindenburg’s death in August 1934, under the Enabling Act, he began to dismantle the Weimar Republic and to implement an antisemitic program.

1 p. 4 https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Religion/A_74_47921ADV.pdf

2  All nouns are capitalized in the German language.

Questions for Discussion

How did the United Nations describe antisemitism in its 2019 report?

What does historian William Brustein suggest about the persistence and complexity of antisemitism?  What are four interwoven factors in the evolution of antisemitism?

What was the impact of the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 CE on Jewish communities?

How did Christianity's teachings, particularly the concept of replacement theology, impact Jewish-Christian relations?

What economic activities were denied Jews during the Middle Ages?  As a result, what areas of livelihood did Jews pursue?  How did this contribute to antisemitism in later centuries?

What were the Crusades, and what were their purpose?  How did they impact Jews?

What role did economic antisemitism play in medieval Europe, and how did it contribute to the marginalization of Jews?

Why were Jews expelled from western European countries, and where did they settle?

Why did the treatment of Jews worsen after the Protestant Reformation?

How did the Enlightenment and French Revolution contribute to Jewish emancipation?  What practical changes did emancipation bring to Jews?

How did nationalism in the 19th century affect the relationship between Jews and non-Jews in Europe?

How did the rise of Social Darwinism in the late 19th century influence antisemitic beliefs about Jews?

What role did the League of Antisemites, founded by Wilhelm Marr in 1879, play in the development of political antisemitism?

What were pogroms?  Why were they instituted beginning in the late 19th century?

What were The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and for what purpose were they written?

Who was Captain Alfred Dreyfus?  Why was his case in 19th century France significant?