Essay on The History of Anti-Semitism

Introduction

Anti-Semitism means discrimination of prejudice against an individual Jew or as a group. The foundation of the anti-Semitism is the myths and stereotypes directed towards Jews as a religious group, their beliefs and practices, and their state of Israel (Shoah, 2013). The history of Anti-Semitism began as a religious beliefs conflict that transformed into a systematic political, social isolation, economic, annihilation, degradation, and exclusion (Shoah, 2013). Besides, Anti-Semitism did not end with WWII nor start with the Nazi era (Shoah, 2013). The power of scapegoating rallies behind its continuation today (Shoah, 2013). The Anti-Semitism known today dates back to the biblical days. Abraham, the originator of the three renowned monotheistic religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism), steered his family to Canaan, where Israel, the new nation, formed. At this period before the birth of Christ, the early Jewish Hebrews faced persecution for their refusal to adore the local ruler or religion, which was the order of those times (Shoah, 2013). The facts above demonstrate that the persecution of Jewish has a deep-rooted history even before Christ's birth, which lasts even today.

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Anti-Judaism resurfaced after the emergence of Christianity. Notably, Jesus and his disciples preached Jewish because they were Jews, and thus, Christianity appeared as another form of Jewish (Shoah, 2013). After the destruction of the Jews State in year 70 C.E, they scattered all over the ancient world (Shoah, 2013). A couple of years after the crucifixion of Jesus, followers of both Christianity and Judaism co-existed. However, their co-existing experienced phases of peaceful moments and violent times. As such, religious groups purposed to exercise their faith in a commonplace (Shoah, 2013). Later the conversion of the Roman empire resulted in Christianity being the solo religion that succeeded Judaism. During this time, Judaism's problems escalated for the denial of Jesus Christ as the messiah. Christians and the Roman Empire regarded Jewish refusal as a threat to Christianity and the Roman Kingdom (Shoah, 2013).

In the middle ages, the three centuries between 300 C.E and 600 C.E, a new wave of Jewish discrimination started. The form of discrimination was institutionalized. Jews could not testify against Christian in the court of law, were denied chances of holding government positions, and could not inter-marry with Christians (Shoah, 2013). Jews ostracization was official. There was an extent in Northern Europe that suggested that Jewish had tails and horns, and they murdered Christians through ritual sacrifices (Shoah, 2013). It was a myth that tried to foreshadow the 20th-century Anti-Semitism. Jewish faced pogrom in 1905 as Pope Urban II appealed to Christians to take up the sword and cross to salvage their land from the Muslims. As a result, an army of adults and children known as crusaders destroyed the Jewish nation by raping, looting, and killing them.

The scapegoating of Jews by Christians prevailed in the 14th century when the Bubonic Plague killed at least 33% of the population in Europe (Shoah, 2013). Jews assumed the blame for the disaster due to the myth that linked them with killing Christians through superstition. During this time, a lot of Jews were killed from false accusations, some being burn alive. Some scholars assert that the attack faced by Jews during this period marked the transition from Judaism (failure to acknowledge Christianity) to Anti-Semitism (prejudice of Jews as unholy religion). The discrimination of Jews continued where they were. Christianity deprived them of their civil and legal rights to the point of being forced to wear symbols for recognition. Christians continued their stereotype against Jews to the extent of referring to them as "Money-hungry and greedy" (Shoah, 2013). Anti-Semitism has been twisted to reflect the modern Anti-Semitism and contemporary Anti-Semitism. According to (Shoah 2013), Anti-Semitism did not vanish completely. However, its expression boldly was inhibited after WWII. Chanes (2004) discusses six stages of anti-Semitism: The pre-Christianity Anti-Semitism was ethnically based (Chanes, 2004). The classic Christian Anti-Semitism was founded on religious background and lasted to the present day. Traditional Muslim Anti-Semitism regarded Muslims as a protected religion (Chanes, 2004). Enlightenment and post-enlightenment in Europe as the foundation of Anti-Semitism racially. The Anti-Semitism during Nazism. The contemporary Anti-Semitism is referred to as the new Anti-Semitism (Chanes, 2004). The Rise of Anti-Semitism Before World War II.

Anti-Semitism in Egypt

The relationship between Egypt and the Jews' government was ruined from a bomb blast at the Jewish Quarter that killed and injured dozens of Jews in Cairo in 1948 (Jewish Virtual Library, 2019). From this time, the Egyptian government confiscated Jews property and expelled thousands of Jews while others were detained and jailed. Later in 1956, Egypt's government declared Jews as the enemy of the state and termed them as Zionists (Jewish Virtual Library, 2019). The government was forced out of the country and surrender their property to the government. The situation was similar to what Jews experienced in Germany during the Nazi regime (Jewish Virtual Library, 2019). As such, the attitude of Nazis towards Jews and that of the Egyptian government was similar (Jewish Virtual Library, 2019). Later, the Jewish community in Egypt established a healthy relationship with the government, a move that lead to Jews being accepted in Egypt and started receiving government’s support.

Anti-Semitism in European

While many links Anti-Semitism in Europe to religious cause, the truth is it was ethnically-oriented and motivated by the political and economic reasons. While France associated Jews with freemasonry, Germans associated Jews with liberalism. The three major Jewish movement that differentiate their beliefs and practices are reform Judaism, conservatism Judaism, Orthodox Judaism. Reform or liberal Judaism concentrates on their Jewish tradition over Jewish laws. Its doctrine is founded on social justice and political progression. In matters of ritual practice, liberal Judaism stresses that personal choices carry the weight. Conservatism Judaism is the blend of both liberal Judaism and Orthodox Judaism. It seeks to preserve the traditional Judaism and still have a room for modernization of beliefs and practices in the religion with little or no radicalization. Orthodox Judaism strictly follows the traditional Jews law

Anti-Semitism begins in ancient times. It did not start with Hitler, as many may think. The truth is the history of Anti-Semitism may be as old as Jews. In 1879, the word Anti-Semitism was used to denote hostility and hatred directed towards Jews. The hatred started when Jews stood against the practicing beliefs of other people. As such, they selected to stand with their culture and rejecting that of their conqueror. Jewish spread in Europe with the rise in Christianity.

Nazi demonstrated hatred towards Jews using propaganda, which took different forms; verbal, physical, and institutional (Voigtländer and Voth, 2015). Accordingly, Nazis figured Jews as a selfish race to advance communism and interest and economic gain. Nazi repression of Jews was built on myths and negativity that existed for a long. When the Nazis rose to power in the early 1930s, the country was in recession. Nazi used Jews as the scapegoat to blame Jews for the social and economic problems faced by Germany. The persecution of Jews in Germany started when Hitler gained power in 1932. When elected, Hitler started an anti-Jews decree used to deny the Jews their rights as citizens. Nazi party introduced policies that facilitated the humiliation of Jews by Hitler, and none of the Germans stopped it. During this time, Hitler's administration did not allow Jews to own property, hold government jobs, or even own businesses. The situation for Jews continued to worsen by Nuremberg Laws that recognized that Germans were superior people while others were inferior (Franck, 2015). As such, the struggle was between superior and inferior races in Germany. Non-Germans were viewed as a threat to the "Master race," which was the German-Aryan race.

The continued effort by Nazis to push Jews out of Germany resulted in introducing a law requiring all Jews to register their properties and assets worth at least $2000 (Boissoneault, 2018). The law was introduced in 1938intended to remove Jews from the economy of Germany. By mid-1938, the German government had registered approximately seven billion Reichsmarks from about 0.7 million Jews (Boissoneault, 2018). The wealth qualified for Aryanization, a state-sponsored theft, or transfer of the Jews' wealth to non-Jews (Boissoneault, 2018). The stealing would mean leaving Jews without any property in Germany, making it easy for the government to expel them from the country's economy. Nazis believed that wealth was stolen from pure Germans (Boissoneault, 2018). Many other measures were put in place by Nazis that discouraged Jews from staying in the country. Some of the torture was being disallowed to have children, paying high taxes, and forcefully taking their livelihood (Boissoneault, 2018). The Nazis created a conducive environment that motivated even the general citizens to steal from Jews (Boissoneault, 2018). While Nazis forced Jews to exile the country, most of the countries could have immigrated to had stricter immigration laws towards Jews. Generally, Europe and America were harsh against Jews at that time.

Conclusion

For many Germans and Hitler, it was hard to accept the defeat during the first world war. The myth of the defeat was that German lost the war at home but not in the battled field because of the betrayal from the social democrats, Jews, and communists (Franck, 2015). These groups were to blame for the loss. However, the perception of Jews about the lost battle was not true. The investigation by the German’s government revealed that may Austrians and German Jews were dedicated in the fight to protect their fatherland (Franck, 2015). Hitler joined politic and since then, he radicalized Anti-Semitism aiming at eliminating Jews. At one point, Hitler referred Jews as a disease or germs, which was very hard to control unless eliminated. The radicalization of Anti-Semitism was followed by mass prosecution of Jews in 1940s (Franck, 2015)..Communism and capitalism were a conspiracy that Hitler had against the Jews. Hitler regarded Jews as influential, which made Germany a weak country (Franck, 2015). The myth was that Jews were after dominating the world (Franck, 2015). Leaders such as Hitler rallied behind capitalism and greed for power linked to Jews to punish them. Hitler did not have a problem only with Jews (Franck, 2015). He recognized that the world was made of high and low people. In this regard, Germans were among the high people, and Jews were categorized as low people. With this mentality, low people had no place in Germany and deserved to be controlled (Franck, 2015). Besides, Hitler showcased that Germany belonged to pure blood and that Jews were contaminating it. The elimination and domination of the inferior race in Germany were perpetrated when Nazis ascended to power, with many people being killed and others sterilization by force (Franck, 2015). The idea Hitler had against Jews continued until his death (Franck, 2015). He did everything he could to eradicate Jews in German. According to Franck (2015), the start of the Holocaust intended to eliminate Jews, and indeed, close to six million Jews died during this war.