This hostility resulted at times in deadly persecution, as in the lateth century Russian pogroms — violent attacks on Jewish communities with the aid or indifference of the government. At the same time, in response to the decline of Christian belief and the growing number of Jews beginning to join the mainstream of European society a trend known as "assimilation" , antisemites turned to the new "racial science," an attempt, since discredited, by various scientists and writers to "prove" the supremacy of non-Jewish whites.
The opponents of Jews argued that Jewishness was not a religion but a racial category, and that the Jewish "race" was biologically inferior. The belief in a Jewish race would later become Germany's justification for seeking to kill every Jewish person in lands Germany occupied during World War II, whether the person practiced Judaism or not.
In fact, even the children or grandchildren of those who had converted to Christianity were murdered as members of the Jewish race. The Holocaust, as this systematic mass extermination between is known, resulted in the death of six million Jews — more than a third of the world's Jewish population. While the rise to power of the Nazis Germany's leaders during World War II in the s and s involved numerous social and political factors, the views that helped turn antisemitism into official government policy included belief in the inborn superiority of "Aryans," or whites; belief that Jews destroyed societies; that Jews secretly worked together to gain control of the world; and that Jews already controlled world finance, business, media, entertainment, and Communism.
In the half-century since World War II, public antisemitism has become much less frequent in the Western world. While stereotypes about Jews remain common, Jews face little physical danger. These stereotypes shaped Christian attitudes towards Jews from late antiquity into the medieval period, leaving Jewish communities vulnerable to periodic outbreaks of persecution. Although it was real people who often suffered as a result of this ugly prejudice, antisemitism as a concept largely owes its longevity to its symbolic and rhetorical power.
And this weapon has been wielded to devastating effect for centuries. The Jew has emancipated himself in a Jewish manner not only annexing the power of money but also through him and also apart from him money has become a world power and the practical spirit of the Jew has become the practical spirit of the Christian people. The Jews have emancipated themselves in so far as the Christians have become Jews … Money is the jealous god of Israel before whom no other god may stand … The god of the Jews has been secularised and has become the god of the world.
It is still language that is being used now. On the far right, white supremacists have been quick to project their own time-honoured fantasies of Jewish malfeasance and power onto contemporary events, however seemingly irrelevant. There is real danger here as the spike in antisemitic hate crimes shows.
This peculiar way of thinking about the world has always retained the potential to turn hatred of symbolic Jews into the very real persecution of actual Jews. In response to these fears, a survey investigating antisemitism within the European Union will be undertaken in , led by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
But an historical awareness of the nature of antisemitism may prove a powerful ally for those who would challenge prejudice.
Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. Become an author Sign up as a reader Sign in. Stained glass depicting the legend of Jews stealing sacramental bread, in the Cathedral of Brussels. Gervase Phillips , Manchester Metropolitan University. Soon after the crucifixion, Roman armies destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. Jews were exiled and scattered—to live as a dispersed minority.
By the 5th century, Christianity had become the dominant religion in the Roman Empire. The early Christian church portrayed Jews as unwilling to accept the word of God; illuminations showed Satan binding the eyes of the Jews. Some church leaders intensified the charge—condemning Jews as agents of the devil and murderers of God.
The accusation was not renounced until the s when the Second Vatican Council officially repudiated the ancient charge that Jews had murdered Christ. For centuries, state and Church laws restricted Jews, preventing them from owning land and holding public office. Guilds excluded Jews from most occupations, forcing them into pursuits like money-lending, trade, commerce. Excluded from Christian society, Jews maintained their religious and social customs. Christian crusaders set off to free the Holy Land from the Muslims.
On the way, they slaughtered thousands of Jews. Throughout the Middle Ages, Christians persecuted Jews. Portrayed as alien, Jews were regarded as usurers. It was said Jews poisoned the wells of Europe, causing the Black Plague. Illustrations depicted Jews as the devil, with horns and cloven feet, and showed them using the blood of Christian children in ritual sacrifices.
These lies came to be taken as truth. But where they were needed, Jews were tolerated. When they were allowed to participate in the larger society, Jews thrived. In many places, secular and religious states forced Jews into segregated districts later called ghettos.
England, France, Spain, Portugal, and many German states expelled masses of Jews—most of whom migrated eastward taking with them their religious convictions and traditions.
The young Luther hoped that tolerance would persuade Jews to convert. What then shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews? Their synagogues. Their houses also should be razed and destroyed. All their prayer books. The German army command spread the myth that the army had not lost the war on the battlefield, but because they had been betrayed.
Hitler bought into the myth: Jews and communists had betrayed the country and brought a left-wing government to power that had wanted to throw in the towel. By blaming the Jews for the defeat, Hitler created a stereotypical enemy. In the s and early s, the defeated country was still in a major economic crisis.
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