Comparing Sartre's The Anti-Semite And The Jews

Anti-Semitism changed the French perspective of Jews before and after the Vel d’Hiv Roundup in July 1942, because this Roundup was the first time the French government explicitly targeted foreign and French Jews alike without pressure from German occupiers. The French government explicitly designed and carried out the Vel d’Hiv Roundup where they collected all of the Jews in Paris, France on their own accord and sent them to concentration camps to be exterminated. While holding in scope two years prior, 1940-1, and one year, 1943, following the Roundup, the changing perspective in Paris, France, of mutual obliviousness to sympathy, is evident by the analysis of anti-Semitic legislature, the influence of German occupation, and the leading operations of the French government. The changing perspectives in Paris show that a majority of society will follow their government (without rebelling) until this influence affects society as a whole, and alters the way of life. The government and societal viewpoint of Jews transformed together, but arrived at opposing conclusions – anti-Semitism and pro-Semitism respectively. This transformation became definitive after the Vel d’Hiv Roundup in Paris on July 16-17, 1942. This claim holds relevance to current knowledge and culture by providing an example of profound importance on the influence of governmental actions and its own societal standpoint in connection with world issues. In respect to this claim direct governmental actions

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.

Jean-Paul Sartre is a French philosopher who makes his claims based on a combination of two philosophical traditions – existentialism and phenomenology. Sartre himself is an atheistic existentialist. He summarizes his claims regarding existentialism with three words – anguish, abandonment, and despair (25). In this paper, I will talk about Sartre’s definition of existentialism, its relation to essence, Sartre’s views on the moral choices and how they relate to art.

Anti-Semitism has been prevalent throughout the world since the establishment of the Jewish religion and unfortunately, traces of it can still be found to this day in the United States. What exactly is anti-Semitism? It is the intense dislike for and prejudice against the Jews; it can range anywhere from simple opposition to the Jews to vicious hatred displayed through physical torment. Some examples of the more publicized cases of violence against the Jews include the attack of Irish workers and police on the funeral procession of Rabbi Jacob Joseph in New York City in 1902, the lynching of Leo Frank in 1915, the assassination of Alan Berg in 1984, as well as the Crown Heights riots of 1991. I have

And Why Does it Persist?” uses many facts backed up with logical evidence, making his views on anti-Semitism seem even stronger. The author’s view on anti-Semitism is, “Anti-Semitism is not a mysterious “disease” anti-Semitism is the natural and understandable attitude of people toward a minority.” Following this statement the author gives many examples of Jewish-Zionists who share similar viewpoints on anti-Semitism. An instance being in paragraph six, when the author uses a quote from Chaim Weizmann: “Whenever the quantity of Jews in any country reaches the saturation point, that country reacts against them, this reaction is a universal social and economic reaction to Jewish immigration, and we cannot shake it off.” The author also uses Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionist movement’s, writings to back up his thoughts on anti-Semitism, “Herzl explained that anti-Semitism is not an aberration or a “disease,” but rather a natural response by non-Jews to alien Jewish behavior and attitudes.” Although the author continues to support his statements with evidence many of his opinions are very similar and repetitive. The author fails to provide new information to prove his views on

Europe’s Growing Anti-Semitism is written by Mike Ross, and was published on October 20, 2014. In this article, Ross explains the disturbing anti-Semitic acts that are taking place in Europe and the effects it is having on Jewish communities. For example, in France three Jewish children and a rabbi were murdered in a Jewish school, four people were shot in a Jewish museum in Brussels, and violent riots have emerged outside numerous synagogues in Europe. Due to these

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.

Racial antisemitism was born in the Nineteenth Century when laws were passed in many European countries posing the Jewish people as second-class citizens, not receiving the same rights as others in society. While they had reached a level of religious emancipation in some countries, Judaism had become recognized as an ethnicity as well, and this ethnic difference from the Aryans therefore made them “inferior.” Pogroms began across Eastern Europe in the late 1800’s which resulted in

Anti-Semitism is the hatred and discrimination of those with a Jewish heritage. It is generally connected to the Holocaust, but the book by Helmut Walser Smith, The Butcher’s Tale shows the rise of anti-Semitism from a grassroots effect. Smith uses newspapers, court orders, and written accounts to write the history and growth of anti-Semitism in a small German town. The book focuses on how anti-Semitism was spread by fear mongering, the conflict between classes, and also the role of the government.

While exploring the cycle as it applied to slavery, we examined Fields’ theory that oppression leads to feelings of inferiority as the ideology relates the racism historically back to slavery. However, one can look at the cycle in a very different context when applying it to the fear of the Jewish people in the Holocaust. In the African slave trade, the individuals who became slaves were captured and were the easiest targets for the Europeans. However, the Jewish people were resented by society for years prior to the Holocaust and already suffered prolonged oppression before the tragedy occurred. For example, rules that comprised the foundation of the Magna Carta were based on the premise of anti-Semitic principles (Magna Carta). The differences of the Jewish people, the rules they follow and the rules they did not, fostered resentment in society, which resulted in their inferior treatment and ultimate oppression. So in this example, resentment escalated into inferior treatment and then the cycle of oppression since the fear of difference was not the direct trigger for the oppression but rather the resentment and jealousy of the

For thousands of years, the Jewish People have endured negative stereotypes such as the "insects of humanity." As Sander Gilman pointed out, the Nazi Party labeled Jews as "insects like lice and cockroaches, that generate general disgust among all humanity" (Gilman 80).1 These derogative stereotypes, although championed by the Nazis, have their origins many centuries earlier and have appeared throughout Western culture for thousands of years. This fierce anti-Semitism specifically surfaced in Europe’s large cities in the early twentieth century, partially in conjunction with the growing tide of nationalism, patriotism, and xenophobia that sparked the First World

Sartre believes the actual content of truth frightens the Anti-Semite. The idea of there being other views is ignored by the Anti-Semite. He chooses to remain "innate". They want to come to a conclusion right away, and consider only the factors that benefit him.

In order to fully understand the impact of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, one must first understand the origin of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is usually only discussed in relation to the Holocaust; however, anti-Semitism runs much deeper than that. It is said that the first half of the twentieth century was the high point of anti-Semitism. The term “anti-Semitism” was first coined by Wilhem Marr in the 1879 in his pamphlet titled The Victory of Judaism over Germanism. Anti-Semitism is the hatred of and insensitivity toward Jews. People tend to associate anti-Semitism with the Holocaust because Hitler persecuted millions of Jews in concentration camps during the Holocaust. However, anti-Semitism was prevalent throughout the western world decades before the Holocaust.

Many religious conflicts are built from bigotry; however, only few will forever have an imprint on the world’s history. While some may leave a smear on the world’s past, some – like the homicide of Semitic people – may leave a scar. The Holocaust, closely tied to World War II, was a devastating and systematic persecution of millions of Jews by the Nazi regime and allies. Hitler, an anti-Semitic leader of the Nazis, believed that the Jewish race made the Aryan race impure. The Nazis did all in their power to annihilate the followers of Judaism, while the Jews attempted to rebel, rioted against the government, and united as one. Furthermore, the genocide had many social science factors that caused the opposition between the Jews and Nazis.

From the continental European perspective shared by Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, two groups would have stood out as the most historically marginalized; women and Jews. For much of European history, both Jewish people and women were denied the rights and privileges afforded to even the least privileged Christian men. They could not hold their own lands, were barred from all but a select few professions, and lived with the constant threat of organized violence ready to be turned against them if they ever stepped out of line. In a sense, both woman and Jew are used as an other for their outgroups, male and Gentile respectively, to define themselves apart from. Accordingly de Beauvoir and Sartre manage to illustrate substantial similarities between the two groups in their respective analyses that greatly affect their ultimate treatment, even as through their limited scope and personal biases. Chiefly among these similarities is how both the idea of “woman” and “Jew” are created classes, social constructs made in bad faith. While there will obviously be female humans and Jewish people, the identities of woman and Jew exist only because those who were not female and Jewish have labeled them as such. “If the Jew did not exist,” writes Sartre in Anti-Semite and Jew, “the anti-Semite would invent him.” (8) However, one key difference exists between the two: Jews present a hidden and existential threat to their foes that women never will. Even the most strident opponent