Country Case Examples

In order to give some sense of the overall response to the Copenhagen commitments within a country, JBI chose to present profiles of six country case examples out of the 32 responses that we received. The six profiled countries are France, Germany, Hungary, , Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

France

Incidents

Over the past two years there has been a dramatic increase of highly publicized antisemitic incidents in France. Antisemitic physical assaults and verbal threats increased dramatically from 2001 to 2002, and still further in April 2002, likely due to some degree to the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.78 The Government's National Consultative Commission on reported 216 antisemitic incidents in 2001 and 924 incidents in 2002.79 Several in major cities (Strasbourg, Lyon, Paris, and Marseilles) were vandalized in 2002. According to the Representative Council of ' Jewish Institutions in France, while there was a minor decrease in registered incidents from 2002 to 2003, there was an increase in reported violent antisemitic incidents during this time period.81 According to Education Minister Luc Ferry, there were approximately 455 antisemitic or racist acts in public schools during the school year of 2002-2003.82

Protective Measures

Legislation

Article 225 of France's criminal code defines based on origin or membership (either real or supposed) to an ethnic group, nation, race, or religion.83 To respond to the increasing number of attacks on members of the Jewish and Muslim

78 EUMC, Manifestations of in the EU 2002-2003. p. 98. 79 U.S. Department of State, "International Religious Freedom Report 2003", section on France, http://www.state.gOv/a/drl/rls/irf/2003/24357.htm. accessed March 29, 2004. 80 International Helsinki Federation, Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Europe. Central Asia, and North America: 2003. p. 159. 81 The , Antisemitism Worldwide 2002/3. http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti- Scmitism/anruial-report.html, accessed March 27, 2004 AFP, Chirac to chair anti-Semitism cabinet after school bombing, November 16, 2003. 83 European Commission against and Intolerance, Legal Measures to Combat Racism and Intolerance in the Member States of the Council of Europe. Strasbourg. 1998 communities and to strengthen legal protections, France adopted a new law on February 3, 2003 that increases criminal penalties when persons are assaulted or property is damaged based on race or religion. The new law created a new offence category, "destruction of property with respect to places of worship, schools and educational or leisure facilities, or vehicles for the transport of children".84 Additionally, the Ministry of Justice circulated two instructions (in early and mid-April, 2002) to prosecution offices re-asserting the need for a firm response to acts of discrimination when perpetrators of such crimes are identified and for information to be provided to victims on legal proceedings.85

Cases

Three students were arrested in April 2003 for incitement to hatred for their actions during an anti- demonstration. The students had carried posters with the Star of David overlaid by a swastika and an American flag with swastikas on it. The students were released, but charges against them are still pending.86 In September 2003, the mayor of Seclin, Jean Claude Willem, was fined for directing a boycott of Israeli juice by school cafes. Willem was acquitted in March 2003, but the case is now currently on appeal.87

In 2000, Internet surfers in France were banned from auctions selling Nazi paraphernalia through the website of Yahoo!.88

Education

The Government has initiated programs to combat anti-Semitism "through public awareness campaigns and through encouraging dialogue between local officials, police and citizens groups".89

In February 2002, French Minister of Education Jack Lang set up a commission to examine at the University of Lyon III.90

In February 2003, a campaign against intolerance in the school system was launched, including specific steps to create a monitoring committee in Paris, appoint a team of mediators, and publish a booklet for distribution in schools.91

84 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003. p. 96. 85 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003. p. 96 86 The Stephen Roth Institute, Antisemitism Worldwide 2002/3. http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti- Semitism/annual-report.html, accessed March 27, 2004 87 The Stephen Roth Institute, Antisemitism Worldwide 2002/3, http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti- Semitism/annual-report.html, accessed March 27, 2004 88 AP Online, French Court Clears Yahoo! in Nazi Case. February 12, 2003. 89 U.S. Department of State, "International Religious Freedom Report 2003", section on France, http://www.state.aov/a/drl/rls/irf/2003/24357.htm, accessed March 29, 2004. 90 AP, Commission to Study Holocaust Denial, February 11, 2003. 91 The New York Times, French Tell of New and Threatening Wave of Anti-Semitism, March 22, 2003.

35 In March 2004, Luc Ferry, the French Minister of Education, recommended including more films about in the school curriculum, stating "For the first time since World War II, antisemitism is now more widespread than racism that is not directed against Jews...".92

International Commitments

France acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political (ICCPR) in February 1981, and its First Optional Protocol in May 1984. France acceded to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of (CERD) in August 1971, and made the declaration under article 14 of the CERD in 1982. Other

The Prime Minister announced the assignment of increased security measures for the Jewish community, after the dramatic increase of antisemitic incidents in April 2002.9' 3 "More that 13 mobile units, totaling more than 1,200 police officers" were assigned to areas with large Jewish communities.94 On December 9, 2003, Prime Minister Jean Raffarin chaired the inaugural session of the Interministerial Committee to Fight Racism and Antisemitism.95

The bombing in occurred around the same time as an antisemitic attack on a school in a French suburb in mid-November 2003. The Government established a new ambassadorial position for Jewish affairs, (including Holocaust restitution).96 Also in reaction to the Turkey bombing, the Government cautioned French citizens to postpone non-essential travel to Turkey.

The French Embassy in Washington has recently created a website with information on antisemitism and racism in France.98

n Reuters in the LA Times, France may add 'Schindler's List' to civics curriculum. March 12, 2004. 93 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003. p. 106. 94 U.S. Department of State, "International Religious Freedom Report 2003", section on France, httD://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/ir£'2003/24357.htm. accessed March 29, 2004 and International Helsinki Federation, Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Europe, Central Asia, and North America: 2003. p. 159. 95 French Prime Ministers Office Release, First Meeting of Interministerial Committee to Fight Racism and Anti-Semitism, http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr/en/p imp^diTi?refz£1738&tltre; Headlines accessed April 15,2004. 96 Jewish Week, France Reaching Out to Jewish Groups: New ambassador to deal with Jewish organizations on antisemitism, restitution. December 5, 2003. 97 AFX European Focus, France calls on citizens to postpone travel to Turkey. November 21, 2003 98 http://www.info-france-usa.org/news/statmnts/2002/antisem.asp. Germany

Incidents

Between 1999 and 2001, the number of antisemitic acts in Germany rose substantially. In 2002, while the number of all incidents decreased, the number of violent acts rose during that period. According to the Federal Office for Internal Security, in terms of overall incidents, there were 1,378 in 1999, 1,406 in 2001, and 1,334 in 2002. There were 29 violent incidents in 2000, 18 in 2001, and 28 in 2002. Comprehensive statistical data was still not available for 2003 at the time of this writing." According to the Stephan Roth Institute " of cemeteries, synagogues, and Holocaust memorials occurred in 2002/3 throughout Germany...".' ° There have been a number of antisemitic incidents over the past year involving Arab youths attacking or harassing Jews in Germany.101

In December 2003, the German Parliament held a debate on anti-Semitism. One member of the parliament, Jiirgen Mollemann, reportedly made antisemitic remarks during the debate, including making a statement that supported Palestinian suicide attacks in Israel. He also made personal attacks on one of the leaders of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.102 Many public leaders distanced themselves from Mollemann's statements, and the Liberal Democratic Party and the Social Democratic/Greens Party both submitted applications to the lower house of parliament "demanding that antisemitic tendencies be eradicated and that anti-Semitism may not be exploited for election campaigns".103

Protective Measures

Legislation

The German Civil Code includes an anti-discrimination bill that makes it illegal to discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, ethnic origin, sex, religion or belief, handicap, age, or sexual identity. The Penal Code includes articles on propaganda offences, incitement to hatred, and contains provisions "aimed at and the approval, denial, or playing down of the committed under the National Socialist regime".10 The Basic Law makes parties that disrupt the public order illegal, stating:

99 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003, p. 60. 100 The Stephen Roth Institute, Antisemitism Worldwide 2002/3, http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti- Semitism/annual-reporthtml, accessed March 27, 2004. 101 U.S. Department of State, "International Religious Freedom Report 2003", section on Germany, http://www.state.gOv/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/24410.htm, accessed March 29, 2004. 102 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003, p. 62. 103 Letter to the JBI by Juliane Wetzel, Zentrum fur Antisemitismusforschung, April 5, 2004. 104 European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, "Second Report on Germany, Adopted 15 December 2000", Strasbourg, July 3, 2001, p.7. "associations, the purposes of which conflict with the criminal laws or which are directed against the constitutional order.. .by reason of their aims or the behavior of their adherents, seek to endanger the free, democratic basic order, shall be declared unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court".105 ECRI noted that despite the German government's efforts to adopt firmer measures "to combat racial violence...[including] improving police methods for monitoring and combating violent right-wing extremists, police surveillance of right-wing groups, banning of several neo- Nazi organizations and investigations by the federal prosecutor on attacks against members of minority groups", antisemitic crimes continue to be a serious problem in Germany.106

Cases

There have been several cases opened against extremist right-wing groups. Members of a banned violent extremist group, the SSS, were brought to trial on charges of incitement and violence in August 2002. Four individuals who attacked an African asylum seeker were given prison sentences "between ten months and three years".'"10"7

Education

In the 1960's Germany started a discussion of how to present in German public schools. This process was revisited again in the 1990's. Today there is a clear curriculum about the Holocaust and the Nazi regime in public schools, however education about contemporary forms of antisemitism and intolerance is lacking and NGO advocates are seeking to address that. For example, the American Jewish Committee's Berlin office has organized a "Task-Force on Education on Anti-Semitism", bringing group of German educators together to meet regularly in Berlin for the past two years to share methodology and design approaches that move beyond a discussion of . The Task Force "expects the German Federal Government to follow up on OSCE recommendations by implementing sustainable measures that will further anchor the issue of anti-Semitism in educational practices".108

In 2003, the Leo Baeck Institute in Frankfurt drafted a working revision of curricula which is available only in the German language. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs in Hessen County then made some recommendations to the German Federal Ministry of Culture and Education. The importance of seeking consultation from German civil society to advance the curriculum has been viewed positively but whether this process will be taken up energetically through the highest political level remains to be seen. 109

IDS The Stephen Roth Institute, Antisemitism Worldwide 2002/3. http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti- Scmjtjsm/annual-report.html, accessed March 27, 2004. 106 European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, "Second Report on Germany, Adopted 15 December 2000", Strasbourg, July 3, 2001, p.7. 107 International Helsinki Federation, Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Europe. Central Asia, and North America: 2003. p. 178. I OS American Jewish Committee Berlin Office, Task Force Education on Anti-Semitism, Draft of "Cornerstones of a Pedagogical Practice to Address Anti-Semitism". 109 Interview with Barbara Schaeuble, Coordinator, AJC Task Force Education on Anti-Semitism, Berlin.

38 The Ministry of Domestic Affairs is also addressing the issue and preparing a more detailed response, this is a move that was inspired by the upcoming OSCE Conference on Antisemitism in Berlin. They recently produced a brochure in German about the German Coalition for Tolerance and Democracy: Against Extremism and Violence.110 Founded in May 2000 by the Federal Ministry of Interior and Justice, this coalition consists of over one thousand groups.

International Commitments

Germany ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political (ICCPR) in March 1976, and its First Optional Protocol in November 1993. Germany ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in June 1969, and made the declaration under article 14 of the CERD in 2001.

Other

Attitudes in German society toward Jews have been the subject of various studies. The American Jewish Committee released a poll on December 17, 2002 that "found that 52 percent of Germans believed Jews were exploiting the memory of the Holocaust for their own purposes."1

Hungary

Incidents

Official statistics on antisemitic incidents were not provided by the Hungarian Government, nor was the JBI able to find such statistics in other research. Thus, it appears that there is not a systematized reporting mechanism to record antisemitic incidents in Hungary.

The vice president of the Alliance of Jewish Communities in Hungary, Ferenc Olti, stated in March that " against Jews had grown dramatically over the past several years".112 While there have not been reports of violent antisemitic incidents directed at persons over the past year, there have been incidents of vandalism with antisemitic slogans on property and Jewish tombstones.113

Protective Measures

110 Officially titled "Bundnis for Demokratie und Toleranz" in German. ''' The American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Yearbook. 2003. Section on Germany by Toby Axelrod, p. 468. 112 American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Yearbook 2003. Volume 103, p. 527. 113 U.S. Department of State, "International Religious Freedom Report 2003", section on Hungary, http://www.state.gOv/R/drl/rls/irf/2003/24412.htm. accessed March 29, 2004.

39 Legislation

The response to JBI by the Hungarian Deputy Secretary of State describes two new legislative initiatives that aim to enhance legal protections against discrimination. "Both bills," the letter described, "affect Hungarian Jews eminently and if enacted will provide strong legal protection against all forms of discrimination, (including)...anti- Semitism".1 4 The Government submitted an anti-discrimination bill entitled "The Promotion of Equal Treatment and Equal Opportunities" to Parliament on September 10, 2003. The Deputy Secretary of State described in the letter to JBI that the bill "distinguishes the concepts of direct and indirect discrimination.... (and)... reverses the traditional burden of proof (i.e. the person accused of the violation of the law is supposed to prove that he or she has not committed any discrimination".''5 The Hungarian Parliament also adopted a proposal in December 2003 to amend the criminal code to impose harsher punishment for any person who publicly incites hatred against any national, ethnic, or religious group."6

Cases

A case is currently in progress against Lorant Hegedus Jr., a then member of Parliament and vice president of the Hungarian Justice and Life Party (an extremist right-wing party), for antisemitic comments made in an article he published in 2001. In an interview by JBI with Hungary's General Deputy of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr. Albert Takacs reported that Mr. Hegedus had been found guilty of incitement to hatred against minority groups, sentenced to eighteen months in prison. The charges were later dismissed by the Budapest District Court, and the case is currently being considered by the General Prosecutors Office of Appeal.111'"7

Education

In Hungary's response to the JBI, Ambassador Simonyi described that in 2000, the Minister of Education initiated Holocaust Commemoration Day, to be held on 16th of April each year (the day that deportations started from Hungary). The Commemoration Day "requires schools to commemorate accordingly the memory of fellow Hungarian Jews who perished and suffered under the Holocaust"."8 The Government initiated an annual program that brings 25 high school teachers to Yad Vashen Institute to learn about the Holocaust, "prepare teachers to commemorate the deportations and combat hate in the classroom". Lastly, the Government will be opening a new Holocaust Museum and

4 Hungarian response to JBI survey, November 24, 2003, p.2. 115 Hungarian response to JBI survey, November 24, 2003, p.2. 116 Hungarian response to JBI survey, January 21, 2004, p.3. 117 JBI meeting with Dr. Albert Takacs, General Deputy of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, April 1,2004. 118 Hungarian response to JBI survey, January 21, 2004, p.3. 119 p HHungariai n response to JBI survey, JanuarJ y 2121 , 2020040 , p.3.

40 Documentation Centre on April 16, 2004 to "promote the understanding and tolerance of the young generations".120

International Commitments

Hungary ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political (ICCPR) in March 1976, and acceded to its First Optional Protocol in December 1988. Hungary ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in January 1969, and made the declaration under article 14 of the CERD in 1989.

Other

The Medgyessy Government reached an agreement with the Confederation of Hungarian Jewish Communities to create a compensation fund for survivors of the Holocaust and their heirs. However, only those individuals that applied prior to a 1994 registration deadline are eligible to participate in the program.12

Russia

Incidents

Each month, numerous reports are received around Russia of antisemitic vandalism, i.e. painting of slogans on public monuments and destruction of Jewish cemeteries, antisemitic comments from public officials and journalists, and harassment of Jews. In Nizhny Novgorod, Pyatigorsk, and Kaluga in the last month, for example, the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former reports that vandals have targeted synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. Arrests were made only in the Kaluga case, and police did not characterize the case as a . Beatings and even murders of Jews continue to be reported. According to the Stephan Roth Institute, the number of incidents of violence and vandalism with clear antisemitic motivation in Russia rose from 37 in 2001 to 73 in 2002. In 2002, there was a 50 percent rise in violent assaults on Jews, as well as in attacks, shootings and attempts to blow up synagogues.

There were a series of explosions around Russia involving booby-trapped signs with antisemitic slogans. In 2002, Tatyana Sapunova, 28, was driving along a road outside Moscow when she spotted an antisemitic sign; when she attempted to dismantle it, it exploded and injured her eye permanently. At least 15 such signs, many with the same phrase "Death to Yids" were discovered in various cities, some with real explosives,

120 Hungarian response to JBI survey, November 24, 2003, p.2. 121 U.S. Department of State, "International Religious Freedom Report 2003", section on Hungary, http://www.state.gOv/e/drl/rls/irf/2003/24412.htm. accessed March 29, 2004.

41 some with fakes. Police refused to link the incidents, saying some are copycat incidents, or "hooliganism" that does not qualify as a hate crime. According to the U.S. State Department, the Moscow police referred to one such sign as a "practical joke". Although President Putin awarded Sapunova the official Order of Courage and received her in the Kremlin in July 2002, the gesture of support did not translate into police sensitivity and deterrence at the local level. In September 2003 in Kaliningrad, a bomb with a tripwire and a poster was planted in the yard of a kindergarten. Two teenagers approached the poster, and one, Aleksey Sapozhnikov, 14, was hospitalized in serious condition with a leg injury. While several arrests have been made of suspects in a few of the sign cases, no cases have come to trial and there have been no convictions.

In October 2003, Robert Aminashvili died of head injuries he received on the night of Yom Kippur when he was attacked on a Moscow street. Mr. Aminashvili, 25 years old and an observant , was severely beaten after he left a downtown Moscow yeshiva. To JBI's knowledge, no arrests appear to have been made in the case.

The number of cases of antisemitic vandalism have increased dramatically over the past few years. Near St. Petersburg, a bronze statute of Lenin was removed from a public square when antisemitic graffiti was found chiseled on its base. Another well-known incident occurred when antisemitic graffiti appeared at the famous Mars Field monuments. Perpetrators of these attacks have still not been found, and similar such incidents continue all over Russia.

There have been a number of antisemitic comments from public officials and parliamentarians, such as Nikolai Kondratenko, the notorious former governor of , listed second on the Communist Party's roster in last December's parliamentary elections. During a heated discussion of a bill on extremism, a member of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia attacked a liberal MP, Sergei Vulf, saying should be included as a criminal offence along with antisemitism in the bill. A Communist then shouted, "How many people are there in the LDPR whose ancestors, thanks to the [1917] Revolution were able to crawl to the center of Russia from the Pale of the Settlement?" Last December, besides the LDPR, two other parties that have expressed extremist viewpoints, including anti-Semitic statements, gained seats in the parliament.

Russian human rights groups monitoring racism and discrimination such as the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Center for Development of Democracy and Human Rights have repeatedly spoken of the problem of denial by officials. Failure to prosecute violence against minorities and antisemitic incitement is itself a tacit form of official responsibility that verges on encouragement in some localities. The Interior Minister said that case of Sapunova's injury was "promoting " in a general way, and copycat cases were not related. He characterized the Kaliningrad case as a "property dispute" and a case of another exploding anti-Semitic sign in Kemerovo as posted by a teenager "who merely wanted his village to be on the TV news program".

42 Protective Measures

Legislation

The Russian legal code contains a number of laws which can be used to address antisemitism, ranging from laws governing how non-governmental organizations are registered, to media law, to criminal code provisions against the incitement of , i.e. Art. 282, punishable by up to 5 years in prison, "incitement of hatred against segments of the population or attacking human dignity by insulting, maliciously degrading or defaming segments of the population". This legislation is seldom used to combat hate crimes, and in some cases has even been used on liberal democratic activists combating the racism of local officials against minorities, or used to protect the Russian majority against other minority critics.

Cases

Vladimir Torbok, former vice premier of Gorny Altai, may face a criminal investigation on the grounds of antisemitism for his outburst against President Putin's appointment of Mikhail Fradkov to the post of prime minister.

The Yekaterinburg Public Prosecutor's office began criminal proceedings under Art. 282- 1 against the regional diocese of the Russian Orthodox for publication and dissemination of anti-Semitic materials. One book cited in this case, "Close to the Doors" by Sergei Neil's, contained part of the notorious "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and was sold in Orthodox church shops. The prosecutor brought in experts to study the publications in their historic, religious, linguistic, and cultural aspects, and the Russian Orthodox Church mounted a defense saying the works were spiritual, and had no intent to incite ethnic hatred, which would run counter to the principles of Orthodoxy. In March 2002, the case was dismissed. The Moscow Helsinki Group cited the case as a clear illustration of many of the chronic difficulties in mounting such cases: "the impunity enjoined by disseminators of anti-Semitic literature; lack of intervention from the upper echelons of the Russian Orthodox Church in anti-Semitic policy on the ground; the inability or unwillingness of the prosecutors' offices to take these cases to court; anti- Semitic leanings of an array of Russian parliamentarians and the unwillingness of federal forces to demonstrate any political will in the area of preventing anti-Semitic propaganda and other methods of inciting ethnic hatred".

Education

Programs within the official education system to identify and combat antisemitism, to teach the lessons of the Holocaust, to promote balanced discussion of events of the Middle East, common in Western democracies, are essentially absent in Russia, except at the initiative of a few innovative teachers acting in isolation.

The government has launched an ambitious but under funded (only 25 million rubles per year) five-year federal program to promote tolerance. Combating antisemitism is

43 included among the goals of the program at the end of a list of 's (i.e. those characterized as "ethno phobia, migrant phobia, Caucasus phobia"). While affirming the need for greater cooperation with UN bodies and treaties, the program shies away from words like "racism" or "discrimination" using a more abstract approach to address the problems that resulted from the greater "diversification" of Russia which accompanied large population movements after the break-up of the Soviet Union, and less border control, as well as greater freedom of expression and assembly. The program asserts that among the reasons why tolerance must be built are to establish a "negotiation culture" and for ''the increase in economic efficiency". The focus is on the state's own role in moderating society. Again, given Russia's social , the program promotes "the state's task as an organ of searching consent to different fields of life, not only as an organ of compulsion". This tolerance program is largely in the research and monitoring stage. NGOs in Moscow have complained about lack of access to planning and dearth of evidence of analysis of results, but the program's officials say they have involved 47 participants from around Russia in their work, including academic experts and NGOs. The program, under the auspices of the Department of Education, provides some pilot projects in schools but is not attempting an overall revamping of curriculum.

International Commitments

Russia ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political (ICCPR) in March 1976, and its First Optional Protocol in January 1992. Russia ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in March 1969, and made the declaration under article 14 of the CERD in 1991.

Sweden

Incidents

In 1997, the Swedish Government tasked the Swedish Security Service to initiate a survey of "reported crime with links to 'white power', xenophobia, and anti-Semitism", to include annual reports on statistics. The Protection of the Constitution Branch of the' National Police Board reported that there were 131 antisemitic incidents in 2000, 115 incidents in 2001, and an increase in incidents in 2002 to 131,122 In its report toJBI, Sweden notes: "During 2001 the National Police Board established a national network of focal points for information and training on issues concerning racism, xenophobia, anti- Semitism, homophobic threats and discrimination".123 There were no available figures yet for 2003.m Forms of reported anti-Semitism include violent attacks and harassment

122 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003. p. 187 and www.manskligarattigheter.izov.se. accessed March 25, 2004. 23 Swedish Government response to JBI, p. 4. 124 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003. p. 190.

44 against Jews, the distribution of anti-Semitic propaganda, by Nazi and other extreme right wing groups, and, "racial agitation, graffiti, [and] molestation".125 There have been repeated antisemitic references in the media, including references to "concepts like "an eye for an eye', "child slaughter" and Christ-killers, [and]...Israeli politics has been compared to Nazi politics on a few occasions".126 The U.S. State Department reported two separate anti-Semitic incidents in Milo, Sweden (a predominately Jewish area): In October 2002, feces were thrown at the window of a , and in April 2002, there was an attempted arson at the purification room of a Jewish cemetery.127 According to the Stephan Roth Institute, there was a series of incidents in early 2002 likely related to the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. Banners equating the Star of David with the swastika were displayed and a number of synagogues and Jewish offices received threatening phone calls.128

Protective Measures

Legislation

Sweden's Penal Code contains hate crime legislation, stating that if the "motive for the crime was to aggrieve a person, ethnic group, ...on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religious belief, [or] sexual orientation...", it is deemed to be aggravating circumstance.129 Specifically, the 'Act on Agitation against a National or Ethnic Group', which defines Jews as a national minority, "is regulated in parallel in the Penal Code Chapter 16 section 8, the Freedom of the Press Act Chapter 7, section 4 and the Fundamental Law on the Freedom of Expression Chapter 5, section I".130 The 'Uniforms Act', which had made the wearing of any clothing expressing political opinion illegal, was repealed in July 2002 as being in conflict with freedom of expression. Swedish case law now finds that the wearing of some symbols, like the swastika, may be punishable as incitement to hatred.131

Cases

In 1996, the Swedish Supreme Court ruled that wearing Nazi symbols in public is punishable under the Penal Code, as it could be regarded as agitation against a national or ethnic group. Sweden's response to the JBI states, "this precedent-setting ruling has lead

European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, "Second Report on Sweden, Adopted 28 June 2002", Strasbourg, April 15, 2003. 126 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003. p. 189. 127 U.S. Department of State, "International Religious Freedom Report 2003", section on Sweden, http://www.state.gOv/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/24435.htm, accessed March 29, 2004. 128 The Stephen Roth Institute, Antisemitism Worldwide 2002/3, http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti- Semitism/annual-report.html, accessed March 27, 2004 129 Swedish Government response to JBI, p. 3. 130 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003. p. 183. 131 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003. p. 184.

45 to further convictions for racial agitation, for the use of Nazi symbols and for other expressions of racist opinions".1

Education

Sweden has initiated a number of programs to promote education about the Holocaust both within the country and internationally. In June 1997, the Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson pledged to inform the public about what happened during the Holocaust.133 The Government established the Living History Forum in June 2003, which develops educational initiatives and disseminates knowledge about the Holocaust. The project's textbook, which is available at no cost to any household with children, has been distributed to about one million people.134 In January 2000, Sweden hosted the' Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, and in January 2004, it hosted the Stockholm International Forum: Preventing Genocide; Threats and Responsibilities.135 The Living History Project and the National Council for Crime Prevention are, according to a Government website, conducting a survey of students throughout the country on their attitudes on "racism, anti-Semitism, and ".136

The Government initiated an intergovernmental Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, which has eight other countries as members. The goal of the Task Force is "to combat anti-Semitism, racism, and intolerance by reinforcing efforts to educate about the Holocaust with international political support".137

International Commitments

Sweden ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political (ICCPR) in March 1976, and to its First Optional Protocol in also in March 1976. Sweden ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in January 1972, and made the declaration under article 14 of the CERD in 1971.

1 Swedish Government response to JBI, p. 12. The Living History Government Offices website: http://www.chgs.umn.edu/Educational Resources/Curriculum/Stockholm International Forum/Living His torv/living historv.html. accessed March 29, 2004. 134 U.S. Department of State, "International Religious Freedom Report 2003", section on Sweden, http://www;sta^go^/g/drJ/rls/irf/2003/24435.htm. accessed March 29, 2004. 135 The Stephen Roth Institute, Antisemitism Worldwide 2002/3. http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti- Semitism/annual-reDort.html. accessed March 27, 2004 and www.mansklkarattkhcter PO\ se accessed March 25,2004. '""" ~' 136 www.manskligarattigheter. ftov.se. accessed March 25, 2004. To JBI's knowledge, the results of this survey have not yet been published. U.S. Department of State, "International Religious Freedom Report 2003", section on Sweden, http://www.state.gOv/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/24435.htm. accessed March 29, 2004.

46 Other

Sweden's response to JBI highlights that in "February 2001, the Government adopted an Action Plan against Racism, Homophobia and Discrimination. The Action plan is intended to mobilize the whole of society - government authorities, municipalities, and county councils; trade unions, employers' confederations, business and trade associations; NGO's; and the general public - in the work against discrimination on grounds of color, ethnic or national origin, religious belief or sexual orientation".138 The Government has tasked the Office of the Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination and the National Integration Board with "setting up a network of local anti-discrimination offices for which state funding is provided".1

The United Kingdom

Incidents

The recorded 405 antisemitic incidents in 2000, 310 incidents in 2001, 350 incidents in 2002, and 375 incidents in 2003. These included 47 violent antisemitic incidents in 2002 and 54 such incidents in 2003.140 There have also been reports in the media regarding the of synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. In May 2003, 386 graves were vandalized in a Jewish Cemetery in East London.141

Protective Measures

Legislation

The United Kingdom passed the Race Relations Act in 1976, which outlaws discrimination in employment, provision of goods and services, education, and housing. The United Kingdom's response to JBI described the Race Relations Amendment Act of 2000 as strengthening the 1976 Act, outlawing "discrimination in all public authority functions not already covered by the 1976 Act with few exceptions, such as immigration and nationality decisions. [The 2000 Amendment].. .also places a general duty on the main public authorities to promote race equality".142 Case law has established that Jews are protected by these laws because they are defined as an ethnic group as well as a religion.143

138 Swedish Government response to JBI, p. 7. Swedish Government response to JBI, p. 7. 140 The Community Trust, Antisemitic Incidents Report 2003. pp. 4 and 13. 141 U.S. Department of State, "International Religious Freedom Report 2003", section on the United Kingdom, http://www.state.Kov/g,/drl/rls/irf/2003/24442.htm, accessed March 29, 2004. 142 The United Kingdom's Response to JBI survey, April 6, 2004, p. 2-3. 143 The United Kingdom's Response to JBI survey, April 6, 2004, p. 2 and EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003, p. 197.

47 The Government has tasked key public authorities with the responsibility of publishing "a Race Equality Scheme", and "assessing...policies they are proposing for adoption [and] monitoring for any adverse impact of their policies on the promotion of race equality...". ! The Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion by public authorities.

The United Kingdom enacted hate crimes legislation in 1986 (Part III of the Public Order Act). This legislation was strengthened with the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act which defines the offence of racial aggravation. Anti-terror legislation passed in 2001 expanded hate crimes legislation to include a new category of religious crime and increased the maximum penalty for incitement to racial hatred to 7 years.146 The United Kingdom's letter to the JBI describes that this legislation has also been extended to include incitement against groups abroad, which would include incitement to hatred against Jews expressed as incitement to hatred against Israelis.147

Cases

In 2002, David Irving brought a libel action against Deborah Lipstadt for allegations made in her book, Denying the Holocaust, characterizing Irving as "one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial". Irving's case went to England's Court of Appeal who found against Irving, stating that "the use of the word "dangerous" was justified by reason of his historiographical method".148

Case law in the United Kingdom has developed through the 1980 case Seide v. Gillette Industries that "because they are able to trace their descent to a common origin", Jews could be considered an ethnic groups, religion, or race.149 Thus, under civil law,' since Jews are considered to be a racial group, they are protected by the Public Order Act and the Race Relations Act, whereas are not.151

Education

In 2000, the United Kingdom introduced Holocaust Memorial Day, which is intended to foster remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust, raise awareness about the Holocaust, highlight the current relevance of the Holocaust for citizens of the United Kingdom, and '

144 The United Kingdom's Response to JBI survey, April 6, 2004, p. 3. 145 U.S. Department of State, "International Religious Freedom Report 2003", section on the United Kingdom, hnp,^/yy^w,sJate^>oy/»/drl/rls/irf/2003/24442.htm. accessed March 29, 2004. 146 The United Kingdom's Response to JBI survey, April 6, 2004, p. 4 and EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003. p. 197. 147 The United Kingdom's Response to JBI survey, April 6, 2004, p. 4. 148 History Today. March 1, 2003, No. 3, Vol. 53, p. 28. 149 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003. p. 197. 150 Sikhs are also considered to be a racial group according to United Kingdom Civil Law. 151 European Commission against Racial Intolerance, "Second Report on the United Kingdom, Adopted on 16 June 2000", Strasbourg, 3 April 2001, p. 15 and EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003. p. 197. ~"

48 educate "about the dangers of racism, anti-Semitism, victimization and genocide".152 The Department of Education and Skills has been involved in preparing materials and resources for schools to use for Holocaust Memorial Day, to not only commemorate the victims of the Holocaust but also "address and confront the dangers of and discrimination today".153

In 2000, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance's Second Report on the United Kingdom noted: "Following a recommendation of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report suggesting amendment of the National Curriculum aimed at valuing cultural diversity and preventing racism, in order better to reflect the needs of a diverse society, the British authorities have taken steps in this direction, although most initiatives have not yet been fully implemented".

International Commitments

The United Kingdom ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political (ICCPR) in August 1976, but has not signed or ratified its First Optional Protocol. The United Kingdom ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in April 1969. The United Kingdom has not made the declaration under article 14 of the CERD.

152 The United Kingdom's Response to JBI survey, April 6, 2004, p. 4. 153 EUMC, Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003, p. 207. 154 European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, "Second Report on the United Kingdom, Adopted on 16 June 2000", Strasbourg, 3 April 2001, p. 12.

49 Conclusions and Recommendations

The goal of the Copenhagen project of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI) is to improve protection against antisemitism in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) region; another goal is to assess the ways in which OSCE has done and could do more to assist states to meet their commitments to provide such protection. In seeking to accomplish these goals, we have studied the ways in which the states participating in OSCE - and the OSCE institutions themselves - have been able to implement the landmark commitments made in Copenhagen and affirmed thereafter, and to track what they themselves say about their own progress.

As JBI's review of state responses reveals, a majority of OSCE states admit that the problem of antisemitism exists in their countries. Some, but relatively few, also allude to or have spoken out against its manifestation elsewhere. However, these states do not demonstrate that they have clear-cut ideas of how to combat antisemitism. Governments are willing to endorse anti-discrimination norms and nearly all have done so. Many also openly provide materials to NGO's and the public. But their willingness, and even ability, to act to protect their citizens from violence and from discrimination, including antisemitism (which they committed themselves to do in Copenhagen), remains largely undemonstrated.

The absence of anti-discrimination legislation in some states impedes the availability of effective remedies to victims and the capacity to monitor progress on combating antisemitism. The Jacob Blaustein Institute calls on states to bring their domestic legislation into conformity with international norms on non-discrimination, both within the framework of recommendations from European institutions and including also the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention on the Elimination of AH Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

Only six countries provided JBI with specific statistics on antisemitic incidents; only two countries submitted information on particular court cases. The low number of states submitting specific statistics on antisemitic incidents supports the concerns already raised by reports of the European Union Monitoring Centre (EUMC) and Human Rights First about the absence of data on antisemitism, its non-comparability, and the problems of under- and over-reporting. Clearly, monitoring systems must be developed and harmonized among OSCE states.

JBI urges countries meeting in Berlin to develop a more clear-cut framework for legislating against hate crimes and creating precedents and deterrents in court cases. Additionally, states need to establish a system of monitoring incidents of antisemitism in their own countries, as encouraged by the OSCE Ministers meeting in Porto and then in Mastricht.

50 Twenty-three countries failed to respond to JBI. Of the 32 states responding to JBI, only 9 described Holocaust education projects or curricula, and 12 outlined general educational initiatives to combat discrimination and promote tolerance. However, they do not demonstrate that their programs are linked to active efforts to counter contemporary discrimination or antisemitism. The JBI calls on states to re-visit their educational programs, both those teaching remembrance of the past, including the Holocaust, and those addressing general intolerance, with a renewed focus on combating contemporary antisemitism.

JBI calls upon states to revisit the commitments they affirmed in Copenhagen and to take new and vigorous steps to implement them in practice.

We welcome Decision 607 on antisemitism passed at the OSCE 504th plenary meeting in that it provides a useful task list for monitoring and combating antisemitism. We applaud the call to "[fjollow closely...anti-Semitic incidents in the OSCE area making use of all reliable information available" and to make these findings public, and to "[systematically collect and disseminate information throughout the OSCE area on best practices for preventing and responding to anti-Semitism and, if requested, offer advice to participating States in their efforts to fight anti-Semitism." Surely such a monumental task will require appointment of a well-regarded and well-resourced public figure with the confidence of the participating states to coordinate this work effectively

JBI recommends that a special representative within the OSCE should be created on the model of the special representative on press freedom. Such an official would coordinate the work recommended under Decision 607 of collating information about allegations of antisemitism and state responses to such incidents, develop monitoring systems, investigate situations as needed, work out methods for states to identify ways of preventing antisemitism, and report publicly in the OSCE. The unevenness in reporting and scarcity of hard data even from states responding to our concerns in good faith are themselves indication of the need for a special representative or high commissioner within the OSCE family of institutions. This official would engage states specifically on means of monitoring incidents and creating protective measures, whether in the schools, the courts or elsewhere.

JBI will continue to monitor efforts to combat antisemitism in the context of the Copenhagen commitments. We welcome further contributions and updates from all participating states on their work in this field. JBI urges OSCE participating states to continue to send us materials demonstrating their achievements.

Antisemitism is both an old and a contemporary problem, profoundly harmful to the societies that tolerate it. Through continuing scrutiny, we aim to help protect against its pernicious influence and destructive impact.

51 Appendix 1: States That Responded to the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights' Survey155

1. Croatia 2. Czech Republic 3. Finland 4. France 5. Hungary 6. Norway 7. Denmark 8. Poland 9. Slovak Republic 10. Sweden 11. Uzbekistan 12. Austria 13. Bulgaria 14. Russia 15. Germany 16. Belgium 17. Switzerland 18. Romania 19. Italy 20. Lithuania 21. Liechtenstein 22. Vatican 23. Ireland 24. Canada 25. Greece 26. Turkey 27. Netherlands 28. Kazakhstan 29. Cyprus 30. The United Kingdom 31. Malta 32. The United States

These states are listed in the order in which they were received by JBI.

52 Appendix 2: Excerpt from the Document of the 1990 Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE

(40) The participating States clearly and unequivocally condemn totalitarianism, racial and ethnic hatred, antisemitism, xenophobia and discrimination against anyone as well as on religious and ideological grounds. In this context, they also recognize the particular problems of Roma (gypsies).

They declare their firm intention to intensify the efforts to combat these phenomena in all their forms and therefore will.

(40.1) - take effective measures, including the adoption, in conformity with their constitutional systems and their international obligations, of such laws as may be necessary, to provide protection against any acts that constitute incitement to violence against persons or groups based on national, racial, ethnic or , hostility or hatred, including antisemitism;

(40.2) - commit themselves to take appropriate and proportionate measures to protect persons or groups who may be subject to threats or acts of discrimination, hostility or violence as a result of their racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious identity, and to protect their property;

(40.3) - take effective measures, in conformity with their constitutional systems, at the national, regional and local levels to promote understanding and tolerance, particularly in the fields of education, culture and information;

(40.4) - endeavor to ensure that the objectives of education include special attention to the problem of racial prejudice and hatred and to the development of respect for different civilizations and cultures;

(40.5) - recognize the right of the individual to effective remedies and endeavor to recognize, in conformity with national legislation, the right of interested persons and groups to initiate and support complaints against acts of discrimination, including racist and xenophobic acts;

(40.6) - consider adhering, if they have not yet done so, to the international instruments which address the problem of discrimination and ensure full compliance with the obligations therein, including those relating to the submission of periodic reports;

(40.7) - consider, also, accepting those international mechanisms which allow States and individuals to bring communications relating to discrimination before international bodies.

53 Appendix 3: Excerpt from Antisemitism: An Assault on Human Rights by Anthony Julius, Robert S. Rifkind, J. Weill, Felice Gaer, The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, August 2001

Who Are The Jews?

Throughout their long history, Jews have constituted a tiny percentage of the world's population. It is estimated that today there are approximately 13 million Jews in the world. Most of this population resides in the United States (5.7 million) and Israel (4 9 million). In addition, 1.1 million Jews live in the European Union; 440,000 in the Former Soviet Union; 420,000 Jews live in Central and South America; 90,000 in Africa- and 100,000 in Oceania. With the exception of the State of Israel, in each of the countries in which they live, they constitute a small minority.

What these widely dispersed people have in common is the belief that they are descendants (actual or adoptive) of nomadic tribes who settled between the Mediterranean and the River more than 30 centuries ago, and whose early history culture, and religious experiences are reflected in the . The study and exegesis of the Hebrew Bible, perceived to be divinely revealed or inspired, have constituted the cornerstone of Jewish religious, cultural, and communal life'down to modern times. And, indeed, the power of the biblical insistence on monotheism the majesty of the Hebrew Bible's poetry, the authority of its ethical precepts, and the drama of its narrative of the exodus from to freedom have engendered not only the devoted attention of Jews, but also the reverence of both and Muslims. Notwithstanding the destruction by the Romans of the Jewish religious center in in 70 C.E., down through the centuries, generation after generation of Jews found meaning for their lives as the bearers of their scriptural tradition and sought to organize their lives and communities around their understanding of its commandments.

Under the impact first of Greek and then of Roman military occupation of ancient Israel, the Jewish population, once centered there, became widely dispersed. Nonetheless, the community's adherence to its distinctive folkways, the preservation of Hebrew as the language of religious liturgy, the memory of their national existence in ancient Israel, and their aspiration to return to Zion remained powerful centripetal forces in the life of the Jewish people, sustaining a sense of communal identity both among the devoutly religious and, in modern times, among relatively secularized Jews as well.

What is Antisemitism?

So long as Jews remain committed to their own distinctive cultural and religious traditions, they present themselves as, in some sense, different from their non-Jewish neighbors. In the ancient world they did not willingly worship the diverse of the Greco-Roman pantheon. Nor did they consent to the deified emperors of the Roman and Persian empires. The adoption of as the official religion of the by Constantine in the fourth century, and the later establish of the various strands of Catholicism and Protestantism as state religions throughout Europe, inevitably left the Jews in the position of dissenters. Likewise, the Islamic conquest of the Middle East, North Africa, and the placed the Jews of those lands in a distinctively minority posture.

None of these developments made it inevitable that Jews would be persecuted. In each case, it was an open question whether the majority population and the governing authorities would treat a small and obviously vulnerable minority with tolerance for its differences and respect for its humanity. In some times and places such a liberal approach prevailed. Muslim Spain during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, for example, left its Jews in peace and witnessed a flowering of Jewish life, making significant contributions both to and to the well-being of the larger communities among whom the Jews resided. That experience was, unfortunately, more the exception than the rule. The great enemies of tolerance-fear of what appears different or strange, the temptation to scapegoat, the opportunity to foster social solidarity by exclusion-all proved more than most societies could resist. In one form or another, hostility toward Jews became the policy of states and churches and the practice of peoples.

In all its varied forms and manifestations, this phenomenon has become known as antisemitism, a term coined in 1879 by William Marr, a German polemicist who founded the League of Antisemites and denounced Jews on what he claimed to be scientific racial, rather than religious, grounds. The adoption of this term marked an awareness that it was' no longer fashionable in late nineteenth-century Europe to be anti-Jewish, to oppose Jews on religious grounds. Historian Robert S. Wistrich noted: "Religious hostility in late nineteenth-century Europe was regarded by many intellectuals as something medieval, obscurantist and backward. There was clearly a need to establish a new paradigm for anti-Jewishness which sounded more neutral, objective, 'scientific' and in keeping with the enlightened Zeitgeist." Thus, the term 'antisemitism' has never referred to a hatred of so-called "Semites," which actually designates speakers of a group of languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Ethiopic. Rather, the term "antisemitism" is directed at the Jews; it is a modern linguistic formulation for Jew- hatred.

Antisemitic policies have sought to push Jews to the margins of society. Such marginalization has been accomplished in myriad ways: through discriminatory restrictions on religious observance, on political participation, vocation, education, residence, attire, and other denials of human rights. More extreme antisemitic laws have pushed Jews beyond the margins and excluded them from society even more irrevocably, through expulsion and murder.

Antisemitism ultimately is harmful to societies that tolerate it. It denies Jews the opportunity to contribute to their societies and denies the societies the benefit of those contributions. It also represents an irrational avoidance of real problems. For example, the outlandish belief that Jews caused the Black Plague by poisoning wells in Europe in the fourteenth century led to widespread but did nothing to alleviate the Plague. Antisemitism also pollutes political discourse, driving out reasoned discourse with wholly irrational, but nonetheless potent, myths. The Strasbourg Consultation on Today, convened by the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, noted in its Declaration of Concern and Intent that antisemitism has a particularly destructive effect on democracy. The participants declared that combating antisemitism is integral to opposing all forms of racism.7

The way a society treats its Jewish members often provides a barometer for how it will treat other minorities. Intolerance of Jews has commonly paved the way to intolerance of other groups, thereby thwarting the openness and pluralism that sustain progress. The Nazi experience is but one extreme example. In Germany from 1933 to 1945 the government's antisemitic program led not only to the genocide of a large portion of the Jews of Europe, but was also the leading edge of a campaign pursuant to which a full five million other "non-Aryan" or otherwise "undesirable" people were exterminated.

A. Forms of Antisemitism Antisemitism has appeared in many forms, including , political discrimination, economic exploitation, and racial discrimination. These categories bleed into one another, and it is difficult to determine the actual motive underlying any particular manifestation of antisemitism. This point was made in the American Jewish Committee's 1960 publication, As the UN Probes Prejudice: Observations on the United Nations Inquiry into Antisemitism and other Forms of Religious and Racial Prejudice. The Committee wrote, "It should be borne in mind that antisemitism is cumulative rather than evolutionary, in the sense that it feeds on earlier sources of nourishment, even those which have lost their initial rationale." Still, parsing out these categories casts light on the variety of harms inflicted on Jews throughout the ages.

1. Religious Antisemitism or Anti- Some forms of antisemitism bespeak contempt for the Jewish religion. William Nicholls, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia, concludes in his authoritative work, Christian Antisemitism, "No uncritical reader of the New Testament could easily come away with any but the most negative opinion of Jews. While the New Testament does not encourage racist views, for these were the invention of later periods, it sees little hope for Jews except in conversion to Christ."

Whatever the attitude of the Christian Bible, Church theologians of the fourth and fifth centuries articulated an utterly degraded view of the Jews. , Patriarch of , likened them to dogs and wild animals. "I note," he wrote, "that many have high regard for the Jews and think that their present way of life is holy. That is why I am so anxious to uproot this deadly opinion." He described the synagogue as "a dwelling place of demons." Saint Augustine, one of history's most prominent Christian thinkers, declared, "The continued preservation of the Jews will be a proof to believing Christians of the subjection marked by those who, in the pride of their kingdom nut the Lord to death." In the centuries following the establishment of Christianity in Europe, Church doctrine characterized Jews as the murderers of and benighted deniers of Christ's revelation. The theology of contempt found its way into the Christian liturgy. The Good Friday liturgy of the Roman Missal contained a prayer for "the perfidious Jews" and asked to "withdraw the veil from their hearts that they may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ." Pope John XXIII abolished this prayer in 1965 during the . But the centuries had taken their toll. Doctrine and liturgy shaped popular imagination. The Jew was seen as perfidious, benighted and morally deficient even by people who were no longer aware of how these perceptions had been received.

The Church affirmed, over the course of the centuries, that there would be no respite for the Jew. The theology of collective guilt held that "the blood of Jesus falls not only on the Jews of that time, but on all generations of Jews up to the end of the world." "The true image of the Hebrew is Judas Iscariot, who sells the Lord for silver. The Jew can never understand the Scriptures and forever will bear the guilt for the death of Jesus." A 1304 law in Spain and Portugal obligated Jews to pay a tax "in memorial of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, when the Jews crucified him." In addition, countless medieval pictures of Christ's passion depict his tormentors in the dress of medieval Jews. Thus the collective guilt of Jews for the death of Jesus was embedded in Christian theology, taught to the populace in prayer and preachment, and depicted in Christian art. This latter point was made in the American Jewish Committee's As the UN Probes Prejudice, which notes that "a Jewish was created in Christian art and literature. Distorted figures of the Jew were emblazoned on medieval frescoes, stained-glass windows, monuments, and memorials; on illustrated Bibles, psalters and prayer books."

Destruction of Jewish sacred books exemplified the willingness to act on the theology of contempt. The , a vast collection of Jewish law and lore, has been a persistent object of antisemitic attention. In 1239, for example, Pope Gregory IX ordered all copies of the Talmud confiscated in France, England, Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. (There is disagreement on the extent to which the decree was executed.) In 1242, 24 cartloads of the Talmud were burned in Paris. A papal bull of Pope Benedict XIII in 1415 decreed that "all Jews were forbidden to listen to, read, or teach the Talmud" and "all Hebrew books that contradicted the of Christianity were banned." In 1559, at the urging of the Dominicans, the Governor of Milan burned thousands of copies of the Talmud.

Religious antisemitism was also expressed by . Byzantine rulers imposed four mass conversions on Jews over the course of five centuries. In 418, the whole Jewish community of Minorca was forced to convert by Severs, the Bishop of Majorca. In 582, the Merovingian King Chilperic ordered all Jews in his kingdom to convert to Christianity or be blinded. In 613 in Visigothic Spain, Jews were given a choice of baptism or expulsion. Moreover, the property of a Jew who refused or delayed baptism was to be forfeited to the king, "as the life of said Jew has shown him to be obstinate and incorrigible." In 1492, between 40,000 and 100,000 Jews were forced by the Spanish government to convert or suffer expulsion. European Jews over the course of centuries before the Enlightenment were required to attend conversion sermons, often on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath. The practice emerged in the of abducting Jewish children and relocating them to Christian homes or monasteries so that they could receive Christian training. y

In Russia, there were many instances of coercion to convert the Jews In 1827 Tsar Nicholas I sought to sever Jewish boys from their religious and cultural roots by impressing them into 25 years of military service, a more onerous term than Christian males endured. The Tsar hoped to make the young Jewish soldiers both Russian and Christian.

Another tenacious manifestation of religious antisemitism has been the "" the allegation that Jews engage in murders of non-Jews to use their blood for the ' baking of matzah, the unleavened bread eaten during the week of the Jewish holiday of Passover. This centuries-old story about Jewish religious practice appeared again and again in Europe and occasionally in the Muslim world between the twelfth and early twentieth centuries, and was used by demagogues to stir up credulous populations to horrific frenzies of violence against Jews. The utter falsity of the charge -not only the complete lack of evidence to support it, but the fact that Jewish dietary laws strictly forbid the consumption of any blood whatever-in no way diminished the power of the charge.

Anti-Judaism is also found in the Muslim world and in some Muslim religious sources although not to the degree it existed in Christian Europe. Jews in Muslim texts are at times described as a people who rejected religious truth and persecuted According to one Muslim scholar, "Muslim prejudice toward Jews stemmed from the historical enmity of the Jews in toward the ." This prejudice he writes led to statements such as, "Thou wilt find the most vehement of mankind in hostility to those who believe (to be) the Jews and the idolaters." There were also occasional instances of religious coercion in the Muslim world. In seventeenth century for example, it was reported that Jewish elders were forced to the village square to listen to exhortations to convert. In addition, under Caliph Al-Hakim in the eleventh century synagogues were burned, due to an oral Islamic tradition that all Jews must be converted within 500 years of Muhammad's death. In the sixteenth century, Shah Abbas I toward the end of what had been a tolerant reign, expelled Jews from his capital, Isfahan and then compelled them to convert to . Yet, historically, religious antisemitism has not been as prominent in the Muslim world as it was in Christian Europe. As historian has written, "In Islamic society hostility to the Jew is non-theological It is not related to any specific Islamic doctrine, nor to any specific circumstance in Islamic sacred history." Moreover, the Koran at times promotes a liberal attitude toward Jews and others: "And I shall not worship that which ye worship/Nor will you worship that which I worship/Unto you your religion, and unto me mine."

2. Political Antisemitism Religious antisemitism found expression in political action against Jews ranging from civil and disqualification, special taxes and ghettoization to deportation and extermination. It is important to note, however, that antisemitism survived the decline of religious fervor. The anticlerical leaders of the so-called Enlightenment in France for example, had little tolerance for Jews. No less a figure than denounced the Jews as "ignorant," "barbarous," and "sordid" practitioners of "detestable superstition," and could say nothing more generous than, "Still, we ought not to burn them." Likewise the Soviet Union under Stalin was not only bitterly hostile to religion per se but persecuted Jews --even the most secular Jews - with zeal. Further, in the modern, post- Emancipation era, when many legal restrictions were lifted, political antisemitism took on new forms as populist candidates used antisemitism to generate political gains.

Political discrimination against the Jew has commonly been predicated on the notion of the Jew as a "wandering" community, a people without a land or nation. But this perception was a reflection of the fact that Jews were seldom allowed to feel at home even in countries in which they had lived for many centuries.

Political and civil restrictions also took the form of laws that forbade Jews from holding public office. For instance, the Law of Theodosius II, part of the monumental code of the fifth century, decreed that no Jew "shall obtain offices and dignities; to none shall the administration of the city service be permitted. Indeed, we believe it sinful that the enemies of the heavenly majesty and of the Roman laws should become the executors of our laws."

Jews were typically forced to wear special badges as well. In 1217, King Henry III of England issued an order that "all Jews wear upon the fore part of their upper garment...two white labels made of white linen...so that, by a sign of this kind, Jews can be patently distinguished from Christians." In the latter part of the thirteenth century Jews in various German regions were required to wear special hats. In 1551, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria decreed that Jews in his empire wear on their coats a "yellow ring" of prescribed dimensions.33 So-called "" laws were abolished in the late eighteenth century, but returned with the Nazis 150 years later.

Jews were also subject to geographical limitations and to many forms of segregation. The unhealthy and socially isolating was a constant for the Jew in Christian Europe for hundreds of years. Likewise in Muslim countries, Jews were relegated to special Jewish quarters called . In the late eighteenth century, Jews under Russia's rule were relegated to a swath of land called the . Moreover, the threat and reality of expulsion have been ever-present through the centuries.

Expulsion constituted a still more serious form of marginalization. The practice of expulsion began in earnest in Europe at the end of the thirteenth century when, in 1290, Jews were expelled from England and, in 1306, from France. In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella expelled Jews from Spain. In 1593 the Jews of Berlin and the province of Brandenburg were given the choice of baptism or expulsion, and the Jews of the Duchy of Brunswick and the Archduchy of Austria were expelled. There were many other expulsions of Jews over the last two millennia. Orders of expulsion were entered in Carthage in 250; in 415; the diocese of Clement, France in 554; the diocese of Uzzes, France in 561; Visigoth Spain in 612 and the Visigoth Empire in 642; from Italy in 855; Sens in 876; Mayence in 1012; from France in 1306; Switzerland in 1348; H.elbronn in 349; Strasbourg in 1388; France in 1394; Austria in 1422; Fribourg and Zurich in 1424, Cologne in 1426; Savory in 1432; Mainz in 1438; Augsburg in 1439 Francomatin 1453; Breslau in 1453; Wurzberg in 1454; Bavaria in 1456; vfncenza in 1485 Lithuania in 1495, Portugal in 1497; Germany in 1499; Naples in 1510; Strasbourg n 514 Regensburg m 1519; Naples in 1540; Bohemia in 1542; Genoa in 1550; Bavaria in 1551; Pesaro in 1555; Austria in 1559; Prague in 1561; Papal States in 1569- IM! w8 m 157'Netherlands in 1582; Cermona, Pavia, and Lodi in 1597;'Frankfort N 1 Af ^V^o6 -; Kl£V " 1619 ^ Ukraine m 1649^ Lithuania i" 1656 Oran in North Africa in 1659; Vienna in 1670; Sandomir in 1712; Russia in 1727; Wuremburg in 1?45; K Vad UthUania 1?53; B rdeaux in Rus 1a1'al m^ w SaSaWW' mm l7Al7 TA1SaC£A1 AA", , lnl 1789178° 9; 'Vari i US Villa' "es ln Russi° a in ™" f , Lubecr h Ik an' TT«d Brennen in]l\ ]l1815; cities in Franconia° , Swabia§ , and Bavaria 180in 18154 an-d Bremes in 1820; Galatz, Romania, in 1866; Bavaria (only foreign-born Jews) in 1919- Nazi-controlled areas in 1938-1945. Moreover, after the State of Israel declared independence in 1948, close to 570,000 Jews fled in the wake of violent in several countries: , Egypt, Iraq, , , , Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.

With emancipation in the mid-nineteenth century, the ghetto walls came down and many legal impediments were lifted, allowing individual Jews to participate more fully in civil society. Millions of Jews enjoyed these new freedoms, but still retained their individual identification as Jews. Antisemites, both in Europe and in the United States perceived these communities as incapable of being assimilated, alien, and a threat to the majority culture The infamous trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus reflected this . It was a defining event in the course of modern antisemitism. Captain Dreyfus, a Jewish military officer in France, was convicted of espionage. The anti-Jewish violence and boycotts that accompanied the case demonstrated that, even after emancipation, popular antisemitism persisted and tainted the political system of a modern, democratic society that prided itself on its commitments to reason and human rights. The was particularly telling, as it occurred in France, the home of liberty, equality, and fraternity and the embodiment of European emancipation. As one historian put it, "The bargain of emancipation had failed, and the Jews continued to remain a nation set apart" Moreover the case demonstrated the delusional nature of antisemitism. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence that Dreyfus was innocent, French society continued to harbor illusions of the Jewish officer's guilt, while Major Ferdinand Esterhazy, who actually had sold state military secrets to Germany, remained free. The antisemitic fixation of the French harmed France.

Political antisemitism has existed in the Muslim world as well. For centuries Jews were discriminated against, though often only as part of a larger non-Muslim minority, known as . The term dhimmi denoted a protected, second-class citizen status for lews and Christians. The rise of Muslim power at first brought relief to Jews and other oppressed minorities. While hostility and occasionally violence toward Jews certainly flared up in Muslim history, persecution was rarely a permanent state of existence according to most . According to historian Steven Bayme, "On a day-to-dav basis, Jews living under Islam reasonably could expect protection of their personal lives and property." Common political disabilities against included special taxes, restrictions on religious practice, and the inability to provide testimony against Muslims. Dhimmis were forced to wear distinctive garb as well. External pressure mitigated discriminatory treatment by Muslims of Christians. Jews, by contrast, were regarded as a nation without a country and thus were without consular representation. For example, in the reign of Shah Abbas II (1642-1666) in Persia, the law that gave converts to Islam exclusive rights of family inheritance was mitigated for Christians as a concession to Pope Alexander VII, but remained in force for Jews until the end of the nineteenth century.

3. A distinctive but common form of political antisemitism was the economic exploitation of the Jews. As one writer has stated, many countries have used "economic strangulation as a weapon of antisemitism." Jews have suffered state expropriation, by fine or arbitrary levy, and unlawful but unpunished theft by rioting crowds. In the first century the Roman Emperor Vespasian exploited Jews as a special source of revenue. The "Fiscus Judaicus," originally a tax for the upkeep of the Temple, continued after the Temple's destruction. It essentially became a fee for the license to practice Judaism. In 193 CE, when the prefect of Syria Pescennius Niger (and future Roman Emperor) was asked to lighten the tax burden, he is said to have replied: "Would that I were able to tax the very air that you breathe."

Special taxes on Jews were imposed by other sovereigns since Roman times. Jews have faced in the form of professional restrictions as well. In 814, Charlemagne's "Capitulary for the Jews" forbade Jews from selling wine, grain, "or other commodities," and from having "a money-changer's table" in his house. In 1412, King John I of Spain forbade Jews from being "spice dealers, apothecaries, surgeons, or physicians, or sell bread, wine, flour, oil, butter, or the eatables [sic] to Jews or Christians..." In the Austria-Hungarian Empire, there were several restrictions on owning and renting property. For instance, the Austrian Rothschild, though a baron, was forced to live in a hotel. Also, an 1803 law in Romania forbade Jews from renting farms and an 1817 Romanian law forbade Jews from acquiring real estate. Many similar laws existed throughout Russia, including one law, which stated that "all contracts for the mortgaging or renting of real estate situation outside of cities and towns to a Jew, shall be of no effect. Other Russian laws of the nineteenth century limited or forbade Jewish professionals (e.g., lawyers, doctors, veterinarians) from practicing their professions, usually in order to remove competition from non-Jews.

State expropriation of Jewish property was a common feature of economic antisemitism. King Philip IV of France in 1306 commanded that "all land, houses, vineyards and other possessions" owned by "arrested" Jews in Orleans be sold "for a just price on our behalf." Sometimes government theft of Jewish property was intended to inhibit Jewish activity. Converts to Judaism under Roman Emperor Domitian (81-96 CE) were punished by property confiscation (among other sanctions). In addition, "The Seven Part Code" from thirteenth century Castile stated that "a Christian [who] is so unfortunate as to become a Jew" would be executed and his property would be "disposed of." In other cases, theft of Jewish property was unrelated to any motive other than cupidity. In 897, Charles the Simple gave to the Church all lands and vineyards owned by Jews in the Duchy of Narbonne. Sometimes it was both. Alfonso X the Wise, king of Castile, under pressure from the Church, arrested Jews on a Sabbath in January 1281 and only released them against the promise to pay a ransom of 4.3 million gold maravedis. At times property expropriation was linked with expulsions. When Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492, they forbade them from taking much of their property with them.

In modern times, European nations profited from stolen property of Jews persecuted during the Holocaust. Laws enacted in Nazi Germany in 1935 and in subsequent years recapitulated the whole litany of prohibitions forbidding Jews from engaging in any number of professional activities, businesses, civil service, and the army. One 1938 law stated, "The profession of lawyer is closed to Jews. In so far as Jews are still lawyers they are eliminated from the Corps of Lawyers." Another law stated, "The owner of a Jewish business enterprise... can be ordered to sell or dispose of his business within a fixed period of time." Many other laws forced Jews to forfeit or sell at reduced costs farmlands.

4. Racial Discrimination Against Jews The hostility of religious antisemitism can, at least in principle, be averted by the of the Jew. The hostility of antisemitism based on race theory, though, is implacable. No matter what the Jew believes or does, he and his descendants are deemed tainted. The pursuit of purity of "blood" (i.e., race), as well as soil, was often a motivating factor to extreme forms of antisemitic persecution both in medieval Spain and Nazi Germany.

Racial antisemitism, in extreme forms, views the Jew as "a breed apart" and in some cases, not human at all. The ultimate goal is to exclude the Jew not merely from the community, but from normal human civilization. A popular motif associating the Jew with pigs in Christian Europe exemplifies this racist notion. In antisemitic art, Jews were depicted riding on and sometimes consorting with pigs. Nazi propaganda depicted Jews as vermin and rodents.

Racial antisemitism has been utilized to justify the withdrawing of the basic human rights of Jews. Germany's Nuremburg Laws, for example, proclaim that the Jew was not "fit to serve faithfully the German people" before stripping the Jew of a multitude of rights.