History of Anti-Semitism in Europe: From Medieval to Holocaust

Introduction

Even though the term anti-Semitism was first popularized in 1879 through the works of Wilhelm Marr, a German journalist, its existence is traceable much further back in history. Marr describes anti-Semitism simply as "hostility or hatred towards Jews" (Young p. 36). Throughout the Middle Ages, and across wider Europe, the majority of Jewish people were forced to live in confined neighborhoods — ghettos — and were denied citizenship. This was a consequence of the Jews upholding their beliefs in Judaism rather than converting to the religion of their rulers. In an effort to pressure more Jews to abandon their faith, additional accusations were levied against them, ranging from the "murder of children, child abduction, and the use of their victims' blood for libation" (Young p. 86). With the rise of Christianity across much of Europe, anti-Semitism continued to spread through the vilification of Judaism, as the religion was made to seem tainted and its followers were treated as lesser human beings.

Definition of Anti-Semitism

According to the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, anti-Semitism is "a perception expressed as hatred of Jews. Physical and rhetorical demonstrations of anti-Semitism addressed towards a race or Jewish individuals, towards the Jewish community, their religion or religious institutions and facilities and/or to their property" (Young p. 32). The modern use of the term refers to the sum total of discriminatory statements, resentments, actions, trends, and attitudes, irrespective of the social or racist motivation acting as the driving force. With respect to German dictatorial ideology, anti-Semitism is seen as a social phenomenon that served as an instrument for constructing political enemy stereotypes (Cheyette p. 115). These definitions comprehensively broaden the spectrum beyond earlier, more limited references to anti-Semitism as simply expressed hostility and hatred. Together, they encompass a host of characteristics, attitudes, and qualities of prejudice.

The Rise of Anti-Semitism in Europe

The practice of Christianity in the Roman Empire dates back to the 3rd and 4th centuries. The coexistence of different religions and beliefs naturally gave rise to differing understandings of the world. The divergence between Jewish and Christian beliefs created a rift in which hatred for the Jews began to brew. A misunderstanding of Jewish religious practices generated pressure for clear distinction and separation between Christians and Jews. As a minority group sparsely distributed across medieval communities, Jews were forced into an outsider role — both socially and economically. They were excluded from goods exchange and held little influence in production and economic activities.

In the ancient empires of Babylonia, Rome, and Greece, Jews originating from the ancient kingdom of Judea were persecuted and criticized for upholding their social customs and religious beliefs rather than adopting those of their conquerors. This persecution pushed Jews away from mainstream societal activities, relegating them to economic roles that Christians were unwilling to undertake — most notably money-lending and pawnbroking. In early Christian doctrine, charging interest was condemned as "usury" and was therefore prohibited for Christians (Aschheim and Steven E. p. 47).

In order to engage in these economic activities, Jews sought protection from the ruling elite — kings and princes — by paying heavy levies. The need to afford Jews a legal status gave rise to the designation of Jews as "servants of the state," meaning they were obligated to pay taxes in exchange for minimal protection from persecution. Wealthier Jews paid for protection from territorial lords and permission to settle permanently, but this arrangement always left them vulnerable and subordinate.

19th and 20th Century Anti-Semitism in Europe

In the 19th century, during the French Revolution, the implicit emancipation of the Jews began and gradually spread to other European countries. In the early stages of Jewish emancipation, there was a general belief among European nations that, owing to their small numbers, Jews would dissolve and assimilate into Christian society. Increased antagonism between the majority and minority Jewish populations remained evident, however. The growing spirit of enlightenment gave rise to emancipation driven by the notion of tolerance and coexistence (Laqueur p. 77).

Emancipation called for the liberation of Jews from legal and social constraints, yet it did not come to full fruition, as many Jews maintained their identity and rejected the conditions imposed upon them. The existence of a vibrant and thriving Jewish community continued to baffle the majority and stir negative reactions. Despite centuries of negative stereotyping, the Jewish community maintained its hold on tradition and religion (Weissbrod p. 236).

The phrase "old wine in new bottles" aptly describes the emergence of a new type of bias against Jews in the 19th century (Katz and Steven T. p. 216). Unlike the earlier Christian anti-Judentum, which associated Jews with the diabolical, this new form of Jew-hatred replaced religious stereotypes with secular and racial categories. Drawing on crude interpretations of Darwinism, Jews were now defined as a "racial group bent on world domination" (Young p. 22). Rather than being characterized as followers of Satan, they were accused of conspiring to control the world. First published in 1903, the Czarist forgery known as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion purported to depict an assembly of rabbis plotting to engulf the civilized world in conflict (Bessel and Richard p. 11). The Jews, it claimed, would emerge victorious by maneuvering both sides of the struggle. These accusations gave apparent credibility to the later Nazi claim that Jews were simultaneously controlling international finance and the Bolshevik Revolution — contradictory as those two positions were.

Across Europe, profound hatred and fear of Jews took shape within the framework of so-called racial science, whose assessments prevailed throughout late 19th-century Europe (Bessel and Richard p. 16). Wilhelm Marr, a member of the German Reichstag, stated in 1879 that Gentile Europe should fear the Jewish race rather than the Jewish religion. Marr used the term anti-Semitism to distinguish between the medieval, religion-based hostility toward Jews and this newer form of race-based prejudice. The publication of Houston Stewart Chamberlain's The Foundations of the 19th Century (1899) further entrenched this ideology. Chamberlain framed human history as a struggle between the Aryan race and the Semites, charging that the Jewish Semites were enemies of Aryan superiority.

Many racial thinkers, particularly in Germany, viewed Christianity itself as a form of Judaism for Gentiles and were determined to free the Aryan race from what they saw as Jewish influence (Cheyette p. 115). German composer Richard Wagner was among those European anti-Semites who synthesized these Aryan racist themes, arousing a pre-Christian German mythology in which Jews, depicted as corrupted characters, were portrayed as the enemy.