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Essays on the history of anti semitism in europe
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In Hanna Arendt’s “Jews and Society”, she argues that the existence of anti-Semitism in Germany, prior to the rise of Hitler and after the defeat in World War I, was not solely the result of political pressure exerted by the Nazi party and its accomplices; but instead the result of a social construction of what it meant to be Jewish. This social anti-Semitism was present long before Hitler came into power and instituted his radical and merciless ideas about dealing with Jews in Europe. The difference between what Arendt saw as harmless social discrimination and the mass extermination of a cultural group was the involvement of politics in mediating these cultural biases. As a result of the division in Germany between Jews and non-Jew Germans, Arendt’s figures of the “Pariah and “Parvenu” were a reaction to the way of thinking that confused Jewish individualism with preconceived connotations. Although stereotypes are still present in every society, to Arendt they are harmless without political interference. Terror and unforeseen events occur when political discrimination, or political anti-Semitism in this case, interfere to achieve a defined goal. Nazi Germany is a prime example where “natural” combined with “political” anti-Semitism escalated the problem to the point where the Holocaust became possible.
Even before Hitler came into power in 1933, there was a tension in Germany that distinguished Germans and Jews disregarding their citizenship. There were perceived characteristics, both physically and mentally, that defined it meant to be Jewish. According to the Arendt, German society judged any Jew to have certain mannerism, thought, malice and behavior that were different, and to an extent inferior, to their own. Arendt ex...
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...s, beliefs and tendencies toward social structure. Personally, Arendt claims that this reality of being different than “real” Germans never “made [her] feel inferior, [and] that was just how it was”(PHA, 8). She explains that members in her family and to an extent Jews in general felt the same manner. However, an inferiority complex was developed among Jews, and especially in Arendt’s case as a result of being the “other”. This conclusion is based on the division that she makes within her “own” people by classifying them into two groups: Pariahs and Parvenus. Connecting to her expressed beliefs, she was also discriminating the Jews into another determined and preconceived group. This shows that not only were Nazis able to put stereotypes on Jews; they were also doing the same to themselves which was, according to Arendt, a natural consequence of society living.
“Modern anti-Semitism, in contrast to earlier forms, was based not on religious practices of the Jews but on the theory that Jews comprised an inferior race. Anti-Semites exploited the fact that Jews had been forced into exile by extolling as ‘fact’ that their ‘rootlessness’ had a genetic basis. A Jew was a Jew not because he or she practiced any particular religion, but because it was a character of his or her blood.”
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.
Kershaw later depicts a comment made by Hitler discussing the dire need to deport German Jews, away from the ‘Procterate,’ calling them “dangerous ‘fifth columnists’” that threatened the integrity of Germany. In 1941, Hitler discusses, more fervently his anger towards the Jews, claiming them to responsible for the deaths caused by the First World War: “this criminal race has the two million dead of the World War on its conscience…don’t anyone tell me we can’t send them into the marshes (Morast)!” (Kershaw 30). These recorded comments illustrate the deep rooted hatred and resentment Hitler held for the Jewish population that proved ultimately dangerous. Though these anti-Semitic remarks and beliefs existed among the entirety of the Nazi Political party, it didn’t become a nationwide prejudice until Hitler established such ideologies through the use of oral performance and
Goldhagen's book however, has the merit of opening up a new perspective on ways of viewing the Holocaust, and it is the first to raise crucial questions about the extent to which eliminationist anti-Semitism was present among the German population as a whole. Using extensive testimonies from the perpetrators themselves, it offers a chilling insight into the mental and cognitive structures of hundreds of Germans directly involved in the killing operations. Anti-Semitism plays a primary factor in the argument from Goldhagen, as it is within his belief that anti-Semitism "more or less governed the ideational life of civil society" in pre-Nazi Germany . Goldhagen stated that a
Jewish emancipation in Germany dates from 1867 and became law in Prussia on July 3, 1869. Despite the fact the prominence which Jews had succeeded in gaining in trade, finance, politics, and literature during the earlier decades of the century, it is from the brief rise of liberalism that one can trace the rise of the Jews in German social life. For it is with the rise of liberalism which the Jews truly flourished. They contributed to its establishment, benefited from its institutions, and were under fire when it was attacked. Liberal society provides social mobility, which led to distaste among those who had acquired some place in a sort of a hierarchy. Although many were, not all anti-Semites were anti-liberal, but most anti-Semites opposed Liberalism’s whole concept of human existence, which provides much equality.
On January 30, 1933, Hitler rose to power, during his time of power Jews had been dehumanized, reduced to little more than “things” by the Nazis. The many examples as to how they had been dehumanized are shown in the novel, Night by Elie Wiesel. For example, the Jews were stripped of their identity, they were abused, and they treated each other with a lack of dignity and voice.
There are many factors which lead to the Holocaust, however anti-Semitism was the greatest cause of the conflict. Anti-Semitism is the common name for anti Jewish sentiments. During Hitler was in power, anti-Semitism was used by the Nazis too carry out the Endlosung, which means “final solution to the Jewish Question” (“The Roots of the Holocaust”). However, anti-Semitism was not something that was created by Germany. Through centuries, Jews were a persecuted people. Jews have faced heavy discrimination throughout the Middle Ages, 1800s and mid early 1900s.
Those of half and quarter Jewish descent remain largely forgotten in the history of the Third Reich and genocide of the Holocaust. Known as Mischlinge, persons of deemed “mixed blood” or “hybrid” status faced extensive persecution and alienation within German society and found themselves in the crosshairs of a rampant National Socialist racial ideology. Controversially, these people proved somewhat difficult to define under Nazi law that sought to cleave the Volk from the primarily Jewish “other”, and as the mechanization toward Hitler’s “Final Solution” the Mischlinge faced probable annihilation. The somewhat neglected status of Mischlinge necessitates a refocusing on German racialization as well as reconsideration of the implications wrought by the alienation and ultimate persecution of the thousands of half and quarter Jews subjugated in Nazi Germany.
Although Niewyk presented these interpretations in depth, his criticisms of Weiss's long history approach and Friedlander’s scientific interpretations are flawed. In reaction to Weiss’s argument, he proposes the question, “If Germans harbored such intense loathing for the Jews, why were no substantial steps taken against them before Hitler came to power in 1933?” Friedlander’s argument is met with the supposition that “only the Jews were singled out by the Nazis for total annihilation and warn against anything that might detract from the particular dimensions and characteristics of the Jewish tragedy.”
The history of the Jewish people is one fraught with discrimination and persecution. No atrocity the Nazis did to the Jews in the Holocaust was original. In England in 1189, a bloody massacre of the Jews occurred for seemingly no reason. Later, the Fourth Lateran Council under Pope Innocent III required Jews to wear a badge so that all would know their race, and then had them put into walled, locked ghettos, where the Jewish community primarily remained until the middle of the eighteenth century. When the Black Death ravaged Europe in the medieval ages, many Europeans blamed the Jews (Taft 7). Yet, the one thing that could be more appalling than such brutal persecution could only be others’ failure and flat-out refusal to intervene. Such is the case with the non-Axis coutries of World War II; these nations failed miserably in their responsibility to grant basic human rights – even the right of life – to Jewish immigrants prior to World War II.
During World War II, Germans responded to conflict negatively, which only resulted in destruction and death. Adolf Hitler encouraged the Germans to respond to their troubled times in negative ways. The Germans learned to point their fingers at Jews and blamed them for their problems. They began to treat them in inhumane ways. The result of Germany’s actions was severe but well deserved. Those who were responsible for the brutal war crimes were sentenced to death.
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 War in 1914. Today, one often learns the history of this critical, pre-WWI era from the perspective of Europe’s anti-Semitic population, while the opposite perspective—that of the Jews in early twentieth-century European society—is largely ignored. Questions like: "How did the Jews view and respond to their mistreatment?" and "How were the Jews affected mentally and psychologically by the prejudices against them?" remain largely unanswered. Insight into these perplexing social questions, while not found in most history books, may be discovered in a complex and highly symbolic story of this era: "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka. Through the use of an extended metaphor, "The Metamorphosis" provides both a basic summary of the common views held against Jews and offers an insight as to what may be the ultimate result of Europe’s anti-Semitism. This work serves as a social commentary and criticism of early twentieth-century Europe. It fulfills two main functions: first, it provides an outline of the s...
“All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach,” Adolf Hitler (The National World War Museum). The German Nazi dictator utilized his power over the people using propaganda, eventually creating a sense of hatred towards Jews. After World War 1, the punishments of the League of Nations caused Germany to suffer. The Nazi party came to blame the Jews in order to have a nationwide “scapegoat”. This hatred and prejudice towards Jews is known as anti-semitism.
“The modern German anti-Semitism was based on racial ideology which stated that the Jews were subhuman while the “Aryan” race was ultimately superior,” ("Nazi Propaganda"): (Goebbels)“I beg you and particularly those of you who carry the cross throughout the land to become somewhat more serious when I speak of the enemy of the German people, namely, the Jew, ("Nazi Propaganda"). “Streicher declared: "You must realize that the Jew wants our people to perish. That is why you must join us and leave those who have brought you nothing but war, inflation, and discord",” ("Nazi Propaganda"). “We know that Germany will be free when the Jew has been excluded from the life of the German people,” ("Ministry Of Public Enlightenment"). After Goebbels 's started to target the Jew’s with mean propaganda: It made blaming Jews a lot easier for Germany’s
The first author to broadly assess the European pillaging in Africa to totalitarianism and genocide predates Horst Drechsler. Hannah Arendt, in her 1951 The Origins of Totalitarianism becomes an essential starting ground for scholars in connecting the Third Reich to German colonialism. Because Arendt's conclusions are general to European aggression and not strictly German, she is placed in the second rounds of debates, as scholars draw from her ideas and apply it directly to the linkage between Germany’s Herero and Jewish Holocaust. Arendt’s book did not gain much ground until the 2000’s, due in part to the popularity of the Holocaust in literature. The ‘uniqueness’ of the Holocaust dominated the field, and many did not want to acknowledge