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The Antisemitic Background to Jewish Persecution in Europe, and Hitler's Emergence and the Rise of Nazism Week 1 Unit Learning

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The Antisemitic Background to Jewish Persecution in Europe, and Hitler's Emergence and the Rise of Nazism Week 1 Unit Learning WEEK 1 The Antisemitic Background to Jewish Persecution in Europe, and Hitler’s Emergence and the Rise of Nazism Prepared by Tony Joel and Mathew Turner Week 1 Unit Learning Outcomes ULO 1. evaluate in a reflective and critical manner the consequences of racism and prejudice ULO 2. interpret the political, social, economic, and cultural factors that enabled the Nazi Party to come to power in Germany Introduction This learning module is divided into two sections. We commence by examining the historical background of antisemitism in Europe prior to the Nazi period. Section 1 identifies and explains three forms of antisemitism: traditional (or religious-based) antisemitism; modern (or “scientific”) antisemitism; and Nazi antisemitism. The first section concludes by considering the role of antisemitism in shaping Hitler’s worldview (Weltanschauung). Section 2 explores Hitler’s emergence as a leading political figure in Germany following the First World War, and the Nazi Party’s rise as a popular movement and an electoral force. It starts by setting out the relevant historical context, tracing the various political and economic crises that plagued Germany between 1918-32 and led to Hitler coming to power. The Nazi Party emerged within this context, establishing its political platform and developing its methods of propaganda and intimidation through violence. Ultimately, the Nazis became by far the single most electorally popular political party in Germany. Section 2 questions whether this happened in spite of, or perhaps because of, Hitler and his Nazi Movement being so open in their hatred of Jews. This learning module concludes by inviting you to reflect on some important questions. To what extent was antisemitism a core idea of Nazism? What role, if any, did antisemitism play in the Nazis’ growing popularity and electoral success leading up to Hitler becoming German chancellor? What does this tell us about the possible motivations of German voters who supported the Nazis? After completing this learning module, you will be in a position to begin evaluating, in a reflective and critical manner, the consequences of racism. Furthermore, you will be able to interpret the political, social, economic, and cultural factors that enabled the Nazi Party to come to power in Germany. LEARNING MODULE 1. Section 1: The Historical Background of Antisemitism in Europe 2 SECTION 1. The Historical Background of Antisemitism in Europe prior to the Nazi Period In this section of the learning module we consider whether there was something different about Nazi antisemitism that contributed to the Holocaust. To attempt to answer this question, we start by tracing the evolution of European antisemitism from the Middle Ages until the rise of Nazism. In doing so, this section distinguishes between two main forms of antisemitism: first, what is termed traditional antisemitism, which was based on religious prejudice against Jews; and, second, modern forms of antisemitism, which were secular in nature and had originated from eighteenth-century Enlightenment thinking and then drew on later-nineteenth-century racial theories. Finally, this section looks at Nazi antisemitism and the ways in which an irrational hatred of Jews helped to form Hitler’s worldview as he embarked on his political career in the 1920s. a) Forms of Antisemitism: Traditional Antisemitism Although prejudice against or hatred of Jews had been a common feature of European culture for centuries, it went without a general name until the late 1800s when the German editor and publicist Wilhelm Marr popularised the phrase “antisemitism” (German: Antisemitismus). In 1879, Marr produced a pamphlet entitled The Path to Victory of Germandom over Judaism (Der Weg zum Siege des Germanenthums über das Judenthum) in which he employed the scientific-sounding term “antisemitism” as a euphemism for the general German term Judenhass meaning a hatred of Jews. Portrait of Wilhelm Marr (c.1860) and a facsimile of the cover of his 1879 pamphlet in which he popularised the term “antisemitism.” Sources: “Wilhelm Marr,” DadAWeb. http://www.dadaweb.de/wiki/Wilhelm_Marr [Accessed 25 January 2017] “Der Weg zum Siege des Germanenthums über das Judenthum,” Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek. https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/36QVBH2DYA5AFVK3UZTPPU7EZXIOJ7NW [Accessed 25 January 2017] LEARNING MODULE 1. Section 1: The Historical Background of Antisemitism in Europe 3 The emergence of the term antisemitism was indicative of the resurgence in anti-Jewish agitation and accompanying theories designed to explain perceived Jewish failings that followed German unification in 1870-71. Common sense suggests that without the development of such antisemitic theories the Holocaust would be inconceivable. Despite centuries-long widespread hatred and persecution of Jews across Europe, however, nothing like the Holocaust had occurred. A detailed medieval woodcut depicting an alleged Host Desecration carried out by Jews in the German town of Passau in 1477. It depicts Christian hosts being stolen and sold to local Jews who pierce them in a ritual. When questioned by guards, the Jews unsuccessfully attempt to burn the hosts who are subsequently saved when they are transformed into an infant carried away by angels. Once proven guilty, the Jews are arrested, tortured, and beheaded and then burned while the Christian who sold the hosts to the Jews is punished, too. The final tile shows Christians kneeling and praying outside a church. Source: “Host Desecration,” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_desecration [Accessed 25 January 2017] LEARNING MODULE 1. Section 1: The Historical Background of Antisemitism in Europe 4 In the medieval and early modern periods (roughly 900-1500 AD) hatred and persecution of Jews was justified on religious grounds. Catholicism (the dominant intellectual force of the Middle Ages) vilified Jews as the killers of Christ. Jews were portrayed as the devil incarnate, as witches, as unscrupulous moneylenders and subjected to ongoing harassment and even expulsions. As early as the twelfth century, Jews were accused of blood libels (ritual murders) of Christians in both England and France. During the plague of the fourteenth century, across Europe Jews were accused of poisoning wells and forced out of towns where their communities may have been located for centuries. “The Jew” was perceived as symbolising evil and, moreover, as embodying a danger beyond social control. READING EXCERPT: Please read the short excerpt by Anna Sapir Abulafia entitled “The Theological Sources of Modern Anti- Semitism.” Abulafia describes how, in the context of the Crusades that began in the eleventh century, Christian thinkers increasingly rationalised the hatred of Jews by equating “the Jew” with animal, baser instincts that stood in stark contrast to Christian “reason” that acknowledged Christ as the saviour. In the medieval imagination, Jews became fantastic creatures who allegedly desecrated sacred Christian religious symbols, sucked the blood of Christian children, and purposefully spread disease. In times of crisis, Jews were scapegoated. At best, they were segregated from the Christian community, marked with special badges, and forced to limit their occupations to trade and commerce. At worst, Jews were expelled. A German medieval woodcut of “the Jew-Pig” (die Juden-Sau) dated c.1465-1480. According to Judaism, the pig is an unclean animal. Here Jews, identified by their pointed hats they were forced to wear by medieval law, are suckling from a sow and eating its excrement. The scrolls contain messages that mock Jews. Source: “Die Juden-Sau,” Virtuelles Kupferstichkabinett: Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. http://wolfgangcapito.wordpress.com/category/modern-thinking/ [Accessed 25 January 2017] LEARNING MODULE 1. Section 1: The Historical Background of Antisemitism in Europe 5 Such religiously-based prejudice persisted long after the Middle Ages, despite the spread of Enlightenment ideas. In the years prior to the outbreak of the First World War, a wave of violent attacks (pogroms) on Russian Jews was precipitated by claims that Jews were murdering Christian children in order to use their blood as part of Passover celebrations. (Passover, or Pesach, is the festival commemorating the Jews’ release from Egypt. Because the Last Supper of Christ was a Passover meal, Easter typically coincides with Passover. Anti-Jewish hysteria often became heightened in this period.) These totally unfounded allegations of “ritual murder” illustrate the gullibility of a poorly-educated peasant population and the unscrupulous manipulation by authorities (both government and church leaders) of prejudice in order to distract attention from their own failings. Front cover of a 1939 edition of Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer featuring the fanciful depiction of the ritual murder of Christian children by Jews. Source: “Permanent Exhibit: Room 4,” Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz. http://www.ghwk.de/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf-wannsee/ausstellung/raum-4.pdf [Accessed 25 January 2017] LEARNING MODULE 1. Section 1: The Historical Background of Antisemitism in Europe 6 Top: Depiction of the infamous blood libel trial conducted in the Hungarian town of Tiszlaeszlár in 1882. Local Jews had been accused of ritual murder after teenage Christian girl Eszter Solymosi went missing. All the defendants were acquitted, but the trial was a catalyst for rising antisemitism across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bottom: Hungarian fascists and antisemites
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