Term
| What was the nature and extent of pre-Christian or pagan Antisemitism? |
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Definition
| · Before Christians came along Jews were still disliked. This was mainly because they would not worship any god’s other than their own. Since they were living in lands that were controlled by other nations they were seen as a threat. Since they would not follow this other nations gods or their laws then they were seen as the enemy. |
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Term
| What part did early Christian leaders play in shaping Antisemitism? |
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Definition
| · Many people said bad things about the Jews but as when Christian leaders said it then it was worse. This was because the words they said carried on beyond their own time. Because of this the words of the early church leaders united future generations in the hatred of the Jews. |
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Term
| In what ways did the Middle Ages set a pattern for European Antisemitism? |
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Definition
| · During this time Jews were constantly seen as evil. They were blamed for everything that was bad, city plays made them look bad, most were thought to be greedy loan sharks. Many nation who weren’t taxing the wealthy Jews were beating, killing, or driving out the Jews. |
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Term
| Discuss the respective roles of church and state in influencing the state of European Jewry duringthe Middle Ages. |
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Definition
| · The church and state were one and the same during the middle ages. For most of the middle ages it wasn’t the church and state that attacked the Jews but the population. The church and state did look down upon the Jews. They separated them from non Jews, banned them from the country, taxed them heavily, and some lower church members would preach that they were the enemy. |
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Term
| What were the origins and the significance of the belief that Jews were horned or deformed? Whatwere other common medieval myths and stereotypes regarding Jews? |
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Definition
| · This myth came from a mistranslation from a line in the bible. Christians believed that Jews were related to the devil. The other myth was that they were hunchbacks or had other deformities because Jews must be sick. |
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Term
| What does the anti-Jewish violence associated with the Black Death reveal about popular perceptionsof the Jews? |
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Definition
| · People were dying from this horrible plague (black death), even Jews, but people of the time disliked and had such a low opinion of Jews that rumors quickly started that the Jews caused it. This rumor showed the Jews as threats, even though they weren’t. |
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Term
| How far did medieval popes and monarchs go in endorsing mass violence directed against the Jews? |
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Definition
| · For the most part they didn’t. Innocent III said that Jews shouldn’t be condemned and Gregory I called for a lot of Jewish buildings to be rebuilt. But although most popes were against violence the were totally for some level of persecution. |
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Term
| What was the significance of the Reformation/the Enlightenment/Romanticism in terms of influenceon attitudes towards the Jews? |
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Definition
| · During the reformation Jews were heavily discriminated against. This attack was led by Martin Luther who said that we should burn their churches, their homes, and take away their prayer books. He said that if they are going to be defiant then they are being idolaters. He also said that Jews were a danger to Germany because they are lazy and live off the hard work of the other people. This led to most Jews either fleeing or being banned from western Europe. · During the enlightenment people were rethinking anti-Jewish attitudes, but most just came up with new arguments to discriminate against the Jews. Jews were called Greedy, and Voltaire blamed them for all things in the world that was repugnant. |
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Term
| For centuries, Antisemites criticized Jews for being a people apart. Yet, as European Jewry becamemore assimilated (c. 1780-1900), Antisernitism did not disappear, and it may even haveintensified in some regions. Why? |
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Definition
| · To nationalists, Jews were strangers, their own nation, “the enemy within.” To racialists, they were innately malevolent and were corrupters of the superior Aryan race. To Marxists and laborers, they were capitalist exploiters. To the middle class, they were rivals. The poor saw them as rich and envied their wealth. The weak saw them as powerful and resented their influence. |
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Term
| Nineteenth-century Conservatives and Socialists agreed on few things, yet Antisemitic ideologieswere common to both groups. How similar were these ideologies, and what were their roots? |
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Definition
| · Their views were very similar on anti-Semitic because they both stemmed from the fact that Jews were seen as being very materialistic. Conservatives believed that materialism was causing a breakdown in morality and social cohesiveness. Socialist on the other hand believed that materialism was a threat because it allowed exploitation of workers by the middle class and the pursuit of individual gain disrupted working class solidarity. |
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Term
| What were the origins and significance of racialism as a factor in modern Antisemitism? |
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Definition
| · Gobineau was the first to write on racialism saying that whites were the only race that could create civilization. He also said that race mixing weakened the whites and was a threat to our whole chance at survival. This became a very popular theory and many other scientist started writing and studying it. Those against the Jews though used this against them and said that they were a different race then us and that they were the biggest threat to our survival. This theory carried on for a while. It played a part in the Holocaust because Germans saw themselves as the purest nation and the only thing that could bring them down was race mixing and that is what the Jews wanted to do. Whites were called Aryan and Jews were called Semites. |
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Term
| What was "Crystal Night"? What caused it? What was its significance? |
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Definition
| · A Jewish boy was upset at the Germans for deporting his parents so he assassinated a German officer. The Germans then encouraged mobs to attack the Jews with the promise that the police would not do anything against those who attack the Jews. On that night thousands of Jew owned shops were looted and destroyed, thousands of Jews were beaten, and 91 were killed. The police did nothing. It was the beginning of physical violence against the Jews. |
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Term
| What role did non-Germans play in pursuing the genocidal policy against the Jews? |
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Definition
| · Other countries supported Germany. Most just didn’t stand against it, but were glad that it was happening. France went even farther though and shipped train loads of Jews back to German concentration camps. Most nations did see them as a nation without land that threatened all the nations that they were in, so most European nations stripped them of their legal rights and protection. |
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