EXPLAINING THE HOLOCAUST

Part I: Why the Jews?Part II: Why Germany? Why Hitler?

Explaining the HolocaustPart I: Why the Jews?

Four Stages:1. Pagan Era c.a. 2000BC-c.a. AD 502. Early Christianity ca. AD 100-5003. Middle Ages ca. AD 500-15004. 18-19th Centuries AD 1700-1900

Why the Jews? The Long Hatred

Pagan Era

Jews introduce monotheism into a polytheistic world.

Claim to be God’s Chosen People stirs resentment (others make the same claim)

Jews become defined as the “Other,” a peculiar people

Incident of Roman Gen. Pompey entering temple in Jerusalem to see the Jews’ god

Why the Jews? The Long Hatred

Early Christianity

Jesus a “Trouble maker” For Romans and Jewish leaders

Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 27: 23-25) Jews as Christ killers

Christians as God’s’ new Chosen People Replacement theology

Why the Jews? The Long Hatred

Early Christianity

“God’s plan” for history Jews conversion to Christianity a signal of

Christ’s second comingJews assigned role of being obstacles to the

final perfection Rome sacked by Germanic “barbarians”

-Where was God’s’ protection?

Why the Jews? The Longest Hatred

Middle Ages

Christianity defines and shapes new European world1. Those who pray (Pope, Bishops)2. Those who fight (Knights, nobles)3. Those who workJews excluded by law from mainstream society

-Cannot own land or participate in honorable professionals- Said to be in a league with the devil and the powers of evil

Why the Jews? The Longest Hatred

Middle Ages

Church decrees that loaning money at interest (usury) is a mortal sin-Allows Jews (who are already damned in the church’s view) to mamke loans to Christians- Jews become resented as money-lenders

Why the Jews? The Longest Hatred

Middle Ages

Persecution of the Jews worsens after AD 1000-Jews slaughtered in the first Crusade (AD 1096)- Charged with ritual murder of Christian boys- “Blood Libel” – first charge in England in 1144-Charged with host desecration, well posioning, etc.

Why the Jews? The Longest Hatred

Middle AgesPersecution of the Jews

worsens after AD 1000-Jews are required to wear the Star of David, to stay inside during Lent, and to abide by other restrictions- Jews are slaughtered by the thousands across Europe in pogroms, mob attacks, and through public torture, burnings, and executions

Why the Jews? The Longest Hatred

Middle AgesPersecution of the Jews

worsens after AD 1000-Passion plays transmit hatred of Jews- Blamed for spread of Bubonic plague

Why the Jews? The Longest Hatred

Middle Ages

Expulsion of Jews from Western Europe1290: England1306: France1348: Switzerland1300s-1400s: German states1400s-1500s: Italian states

Why the Jews? The Longest Hatred

Middle Ages Creation of Jewish ghettoes in European

citiesVenice Rome

Frankfurt

Why the Jews? The Longest Hatred

Middle Ages Protestant Reformation and the Jews

Martin Luther, On the Jews and their Lies (1543)

“First, their synagogues or churches should be set on fire… Secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and

destroyed… They ought to be put under one rood or in a stable like gypsies…

Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayer books… Fourthly, their rabbis

must be forbidden under threat of death to teach anymore.”

Why the Jews? The Longest Hatred

18th and 19th Centuries: Dual Legacy of Hope and Threat

(Enlightenment)Emancipation of movements of peasants, slaves,

women, and JewsAssimilation of Jews into 19th century German society-Entry into business world (Industrial Revolution)-Entry into German cultural world (art, music, etc)-Entry into professions of medicine, law, and

journalism-High rate of intermarriage between Jewish and

Gentile Germans

Why the Jews? The Long Hatred

18th and 19th Centuries : Dual Legacy of Hope and Threat A safe harbor for Jews in Germany?

-George Mosse: Toward the Final Solution: A history of European Racism

If in 1900, an educated, politically sophisticated European had been told that in this new century one of these European countries was going to do something terrible to the Jews, that person would most likely have said, ‘Ah yes! These French will do anything.’ Or ‘These Russians will do anything.’

-Jewish rabbis fear disappearance of Jews as a people

Why the Jews? The Long Hatred18th and 19th Centuries: Dual Legacy of

Hope and Threat The Threat of the 19th Century: The

Birth of Modern Racism- Arthur de Hobineau: “Father of Modern Racism” wrote an essay on the Origins of Inequality in the Human Races (1854)

-Superior and inferior races; Jews as inferior and destructive people

- Race as a biological concept

Why the Jews? The Long Hatred

18th and 19th Centuries: Dual Legacy of Hope and Threat

The Threat of the 19th Century: The Birth of Social Darwinism

- Darwin’s concepts in On the Origin of Species (1859) of “survival of the fittest” and “natural selection” applied to nations and races-Social Darwinism especially popular in Germany, England, and the U.S.-1879: term: “anti-semitism” introduced

Why the Jews? The Longest Hatred

18th and 19th Centuries: Dual of Hope and Threat

The Threat of the 19th Century:Winism + Modern Racism = a scientific basis for hatred

Goals: -breed a superior race- Root out “inferior stock”- Solve social problems (crime,

poverty, disease)

Calls for selective breeding, sterilization, etc.

Birth of a new science:EUGENICS

(“good breeding”)