Antisemitism During The Holocaust

One event that encouraged Anti-Semitism and increased tensions leading up to Kristallnacht and beyond was the announcement of the Nuremberg Laws in September of 1935. This set of laws created by the Nazi party made sharp distinctions between the rights and privileges of Germans and Jews (Sigward 291). This redefined citizenship in the Third Reich and laid the groundwork for a racial state. For example, the Reich of Citizenship Law stripped Jews of their citizenship, claiming they didn’t have “German blood” (Sigward 291). Those of Jewish descent were denied the right to vote and the ability to obtain a valid passport or visa to leave the country. This law completely dehumanized Jews living in Germany and made them stateless, which caused those of the Aryan race or pure German descent to feel superior. In the Nuremburg Laws, Article 5 of the First Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Law defined a Jew as a descendant of three or more Jewish grandparents or two Jewish parents (Sigward 293). These laws lead to the Jews being persecuted for who they were, rather than the faith they believed during previous years. As a result of these laws being carried out, German nationalism and Anti-Semitism across the Reich increased drastically .

Robert S. Wistrich defined antisemitism as hostility and/or prejudice against the Jewish people or their religion of Judaism. Many people in today’s world instinctively associate antisemitism with Nazi Germany because of the mass genocide that took place. Hostility towards the Jewish people dates back thousands of years ago when the Roman Empire forced them away from their homeland that is now known as Israel. With the Jewish population forced from their homes they began to spread out all over the world and so did the prejudice against them. The Judaism religion was looked down upon in many parts of the world and people felt like it was their duty to treat the Jewish people with inequality. Antisemitism took a different turn when statesmen begin to use it in their campaign to gain the citizens support.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the one of the world’s oldest conflicts, and it is still an ongoing problem in the world. Zionists and Arabs: two groups with conflicting beliefs who both claim Israel as their own. In wake of the Holocaust the U.N decided to gift the Jews a homeland for the lives lost in the genocide. In 1947, the U.N Partition divided the land of Israel (Historic Palestine) into two separate states: Arab and Jewish. Since then, the state of Israel has been the center of conflict between the Arabs and the Zionists. As time passed the Zionists gained more land from winning the Six-Day War, and consequently the Palestinians had to live as refugees in other Arab countries. Additionally, more than 75% of the land belonged to

Jews are a standout amongst the most stereotyped religious social orders ever, with the media every now and again utilizing negative pictures at whatever point they write about Judaism and the Jewish race. History demonstrates that Jews were constrained from their country and turned into an itinerant individuals, spreading all through Europe. Regarded as untouchables in Europe, local people were suspicious of the Jews and made numerous myths and pessimistic generalizations about them which are propagated today. Numerous limitations on callings were put on the Jewish individuals in the medieval times. The Catholic Church and numerous Christians accepted that loaning cash for premium was a wrongdoing and was prohibited. This pushed Jews into cash giving and rent gathering sort occupations which the congregation saw as second rate. This prompted the generalization that Jews are ravenous, shabby, mean and even degenerate.

If one hates someone or something that means they have an intense dislike towards them. Sometimes this hate can be so large it can be an influence for mass destruction. We have learned, or even have seen examples of hate turning into something bigger throughout our history. These examples include the multiple wars, terrorist’s attacks, and genocides. Many of these incidents were drove by hate, and did not end well. What drives this hate? How can people turn on one another with just feeling hate towards them? The Holocaust being one of the many genocides in our history was indeed influenced by an intense dislike. That intense dislike was towards certain types of people it ended up taking multiple lives.

Antisemitism, the hatred for the Jewish people, has been called the longest hatred in history. This history is deep rooted and has existed for thousands of years, taking different forms throughout its existence, and intensifying up until and through the Holocaust, to then diminish to an extent but still be prevalent in most societies. Antisemitism exists in different forms, religious, ethnic, and political. The presence of Christianity as the predominant religion in Europe can be noted as a driving factor in religious and ethnic antisemitism, as can the Holocaust. Whereas instances such as the Islamic view on Judaism can be

Anti-Semitism as a term to describe hatred of Jews was not used until the second half of the nineteenth century, but a bias against Jews had existed for thousands of years. This resentment of the Jews as a people can be traced back to theological roots as well as practical concerns in early Europe. The most significant and accepted origin of anti-Judaism is the death of Jesus. Jews were branded as the murderers of Christ and Jesus’ followers developed a deep hatred of them. This undertone to Christianity endured over time and became an inherent facet of the religion. Later, when Jews attempted to assimilate into European societies, they faced strong discrimination and resistance. Other citizens viewed them as economic competition. In addition, negative stereotypes evolved about the Jews in relation to their

At the same time new forms of antisemitism emerged. There were leaders in Europe that wanted to establish colonies in Africa and Asia. These leaders argued that whites were superior to other races and therefore had to spread and take over the weaker and less civilized races. A lot of writers applied this argument to Jews, mistakenly defining Jews as a race of people called Semites who shared common blood and physical features. With this type of antisemitism Jews remained Jews even if they did convert to Christianity.

Anti-Semitism is the discrimination against Jewish people as individuals and as a group. (A Brief History of Anti-Semitism) People may think that anti-Semitism began with Adolf Hitler but they are mistaken. There is so much evidence of anti-Semitism as far back as the ancient world. (History.com, n.d.) There are three examples of anti-Semitism in Europe prior to World War One that I will discuss.

Anti-Semitism seemed to be very popular in the European countries. Anti-Semitism is the “prejudice against or hatred of Jews (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). A man named Wilhelm Marr originated the term in 1879. Violent riots against Jews were often and encouraged by the government officials and pogroms were violent attacks against the Jews by non-Jewish people (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

“Though it be to die, we will fight… We will fight not for ourselves, but for future generations… Although we will not survive to see it, our murderers will pay for their crimes after we are gone. And our deeds will live forever.” -Izhak Katznelson. The Holocaust illustrated the consequences of racism, prejudice, as well as stereotyping upon our society, which compelled us to realize what our conducts have led to in the future. Similar to the quote by Izhak, a myriad of Jews had the desire of dying, for they couldn’t manage to attempt to continue living any longer because they were either forced to attend labored camps or were enduring through the suffering of being in hiding. The Holocaust and all the horrors associated with it became a reality

From 1933 through 1945 was a period of history called the Holocaust. During the Holocaust, people were being killed for their looks, race, and disability. About 11 million people were killed in brutal and tragic ways. Adolf Hitler, the leader, wanted to create a pure race. Racism helped Hitler organize the population into the way he wanted. He wanted people to support the cause of making a pure race. If people opposed, they would be persecuted. Racism allowed Hitler to influence the German people into following his leadership even if it meant genocide.

The Holocaust one of the worst showings of genocide and anti-sentimen. In the Holocaust Jews and many other religions were being sent to concentration camps and being killed because of what their belief was. Lucky enough people hated what the Nazis were doing to the Jews and stood up and tried to help save from their doom. When the Nazis were killing innocent people, normal everyday citizens wanted to stand up for what was right to rescue the Jews.

Although officially forbidden as a form of ethnic and racial chauvinism, antisemitism came to be commonly used as an instrument for personal conflicts in the Soviet Union, starting with the conflict between Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky (who was Jewish), and continued through numerous conspiracy theories spread by official Stalinist propaganda. Antisemitism in the Soviet Union reached new heights after 1948 during the campaign against the “cosmopolitans”, in which numerous Yiddish-writing poets, writers, painters and sculptors were killed or arrested. This culminated in the so-called The Doctors' plot. Shortly before he died on March 5, 1953, Josef Stalin accused nine doctors, six of them Jews, of plotting to poison and kill the Soviet leadership.

Anti-Semitic means discrimination toward Jews just because they are Jewish. Hostility towards Jews dates back to ancient times; from the days of the bible to ancient times ,Jewish people have been criticized and pushed just because they have a different religion and did not fit in with everyone else. The rise of Christianity greatly increased the hatred towards Jews. Instead of just considered outsiders Jews were now seen as people who rejected Jesus and crucified him. By the middle ages Jew were considered to be barely human and they were called Christ killers. Jewish people were forced to live in the ghettos, they were accused of poisoning the wells and rivers in times of major disease epidemics. In the 19th century thing started to get a little easier for Jewish people as there was a decline in Christianity and a rise in the Jewish belief. But later on in World War two they became Germany's justification seeking to kill every Jew. between 1939 and 1945