Racism And Nativism

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.

Consistent with Rossel, Germany has had a past of anti-Semitism, starting in 1542 when the great German Protestant leader Martin Luther wrote a booklet called Against the Jews and Their Lies. Even earlier the Catholic Churches had taught that the Jewish people killed Crist and should therefore be hated (10). Early teachings of anti-Semitism lead to a hating of the Jewish community, but with the German’s calling themselves the “Aryan Race” and the Jewish people calling themselves the “chosen one’s” there was bound to be competition on who was superior.

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

Germans in the beginning of the Nazi era were campaigning to eliminate any signs of Jewish intellectualism or anti-socialist ideas within the public. This is eminent when the author states in the article “Book Burning” that, “German govt was trying to create support for the Nazi cause, by driving in the nazi ideas in social and cultural groups”(Book Burning, Holocaust

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

In the documentary “America and the Holocaust”, the view learns that anti-Semitism was prevalent in America. Many are unaware that

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.

In our society, there are a handful of people who believe that anti-Semitism is a matter of the past, and do not realize that it still exists today. Countless of Jews face it more than once in their lifetime, whether it may be an

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).

Nativism is the feeling that immigration and foreigners are detrimental to native-born Americans. Unfortunately, nativist’s feelings are not based on political convenience or logical theories, but on ignorant assumptions that produce religious, racial, and cultural discrimination. Many nativist groups or individuals, both in the past and presently, have one thing in common- the fear of not being in control. The basic thing one has to see is that misinformation and short-sighted fear can often produce the absence of fairness and human dignity. The Ku Klux Klan was a racist group who also committed atrocities in the name of nativism. The KKKs were formed because many people were started to get afraid of the “rising power of the blacks” and

I have learned that after World War I, Europe experienced severe economic and political problems that intensified anti-Semitism almost everywhere. This added to the old charges that Jews were unpatriotic and greedy and there was the accusation that they were behind the spread of Communism. In Germany, Adolf Hitler, who had become a racial anti-Semite as a youth in his birth country of Austria, made attacks on the Jews from the beginning of his career in the Nazi party in postwar Munich. Such attacks became the mainstay of Nazi propaganda throughout his rise to power, but he did not always use them. Hitler and his followers used these attacks when it played for their position and not when it served against them.

Nativists are people who believe that foreigners who come into the country and “take” their jobs and are the cause of all problems. To prevent these “problems” nativists took certain precautions like: the Chinese exclusion act, not helping the Irish during the potato famine, and basically forcing all immigrants to live in poverty. All of these were very effective, and unfortunately, there is still nativism in today’s society.

Before the nineteenth century anti-Semitism was largely religious, based on the belief that the Jews were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion. It was expressed later in the Middle Ages by persecutions and expulsions, economic restrictions and personal restrictions. After Jewish emancipation during the enlightenment, or later, religious anti-Semitism was slowly replaced in the nineteenth century by racial prejudice, stemming from the idea of Jews as a distinct race. In Germany theories of Aryan racial superiority and charges of Jewish domination in the economy and politics in addition with other anti-Jewish propaganda led to the rise of anti-Semitism. This growth in anti-Semitic belief led to Adolf Hitler's rise to power and eventual

On his article regarding Xenophobia, Massino Pegliucci takes a scientifically approach describing xenophobia as a condition that will be very difficult to eradicate. He believes that humans have a natural

The word ‘xenophobia’ has originated from the Greek terms ‘xenos’ means foreign and ‘phobos’ means fear, which basically means a fear of foreign, foreigners . According to the Webster’s Dictionary the term is described as, “the fear and hatred of strangers and foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign”.