Anti-Semitism

Pogroms - that is mob violence against Jews - are associated in particular with Tsarist Russia in the period 1881-1914, when they were often actively encouraged by the police. Obviously, there have been other pogroms in other places and in other periords, too.

It is a possibility, but a weak one. You can see that it is listed below among the rationales provided at #9. However, it is far less likely than the motivators higher up on the list. Anti-Semitism does not come from one bad occurrence, but from a repetition of behaviors and strengthened beliefs. Hitler provided numerous rationales during that period as to why he believed that the Jews were worthy of hate. However, the only person qualified to answer this question fully and accurately, without speculation, (Hitler) killed himself on April 30, 1945. Various contributors have stated that the following were some of the reasons that Hitler claimed to hate the Jews:

1) Superiority of the German People: Hitler believed that the Germans as a "race" of Nordic of peoples were superior in all ways to all non-German people. Since the Jews were not a Nordic people, Hitler reviled them (as he reviled the Romani, Slavs, and other ethnic minorities).

2) Decay of the German State: During the 1800s, Jews began to become more integrated in German National Life. They served in its government, its military divisions, and its industry. As was typical of Western Europe, the Jews had more of a hand in the higher echelons of government than their population percentage would account for. The Nazis saw this increasing Jewish percentage in the government as a slow takeover of German policy and a corruption of the German people. They contrasted the great victories under Bismarck with the depressing failure of World War I and noted how a much larger percentage of soldiers in the latter war were Jewish. There was also the sentiment than in the early 20th century, values were beginning to ebb (this is similar to current politics in the United States) and the Jewish integration in the German apparatus (becoming teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc.) was to blame for this recession of values as opposed to modernity as a process.

3) Nationalism: Germany was brought together under the Nationalist conception that all peoples with German culture, history, and language should be united regardless of which principality currently held control. The German self-conception also had an ethnic component, holding that the perfect German was blond and blue eyed. Regardless of the fact that the majority of Germans were dark haired, Jews stuck out like a sore thumb because they overwhelmingly had darker hair. In addition, the idea of a German Jew was still rather new and both Jews and non-Jews tended to see the Jews in Germany as being part of a vast Jewish network and that these Jews just happened to be in Germany. The Nazis capitalized on this cosmopolitan sensibility by claiming that Jews' allegiances were not to the German State, but to secret Jewish Councils organizing world events.

4) Economy: Whether it was true or not, there was perception among Germans and the Nazis in particular that Jews were wealthy individuals and had a higher per-capita income than the Germans. In many ways (because of the above two reasons) Germans felt that the Jews were "stealing" their money while they were poor and suffering. Adolf Hitler blamed the Jewish population for the social and economic problems of the era. A popular anti-Semitic belief was that Jewish families were shrewd and sought to control the wealth of a community at the expense of other members in the community. This being the case he thought that the world would be a better place if the Jews were no longer in charge of finance.

5) Pseudo-Science: The late 19th and early 20th century was filled with radical new ideas concerning Social Darwinism. It was believed by the Pseudo-Scientific community (which was rather in vogue) that different groups of people or races exhibited different emotional traits that were linked to physical differences. This led to the belief that Jews were corrupt and thieving by their irreversible nature and that they could not be "cured" and brought up as proper Europeans. This formalized Racial Anti-Semitism in Germany and made the situation much more dire for German Jews.

6) Heresy/Christian Anti-Semitism: Although not as much an issue in World War II as it may have been 500 years prior, Jews were still considered the heretics who murdered the LORD and Savior. This helped to justify Anti-Semitism as the Jewish comeuppance for their accepting of the "Christ Bloodguilt". Jews were called Christ-killers by the Nazis, as they had by most Christian churches for centuries, and that was behind a lot of the hatred. This existed regardless of the fact that the Bible names the Jews as God's Chosen people first.

7) Hitler's Ambition: Adolf Hitler was very ambitious. His dream was to see Germany at the top. After the First World War he became more and more ambitious. He blamed the Jews for the misery and suffering of Germans. Moreover, he held Jews responsible for the loss of World War I. He claimed that they held high position and were very rich. This was one of reason for his hatred for the Jews.

8) Populism: Adolf Hitler's "hatred" of the Jews was one of the tools he used to convince the people of Germany that he knew the source of their economic problems and that he was the person who could correct the situation. He chose to use the long standing antisemitism in Germany to gain the people's support.

9) Anti-Semitic Childhood: When Hitler was studying Art in Munich as a teenager he was rejected from the academy he wished to attend and for some reason, he blamed it on the city's Jewish population. He was also brought up in an anti-Semitic family (at least some believe).

10) Foreigners: Hitler argued that the German Jews were not 'native' members of the country and should not be able to enjoy the benefits of citizenship. Their motives would be suspect as their loyalty was to something other than Germany. (Of course, this argument has been used against all minorities and is equally fatuous as concerns the Jews.)

11) Communism: Hitler alleged that the Jews were the primary supporters of Communists and thus also considered them in bed with his political opposition. (It should be noted that there is NO credible evidence the Jews were the main supporters of Communism, and this is yet another stereotype used by bigots for decades.)

communism is a form of government where the principal means of production are Owen by the government

Hitler used the Jews as a SCAPEGOAT for Germany's problems.

It had unprecedented death tolls- claimed up to Six Million Jews. It happened in an otherwise cultured and refined country that gave the world Mercedes-Benz , Goethe, Wagnerian Opera, all kinds of Classical Music. in a sense the Holocaust was an ultimate ( I"ll use German spelling)- Kulktur-Stoss! Culture Shock. the so-called Culture Battle ( Kulturkampf) of Bismarck"s era is almost a church picnic in comparison to the Nazi Blood Carnival.

The better question would be, "Where have Jews lived historically where there has been minimal or no Anti-Semitism?" for which the only answers would India and China. Every other country in which the Jews have resided have treated the Jews worse than the rest of the population at one point or another.

The Jews have had innumerable opponents over the centuries. A few include: Egyptians, Amalek, the Canaanite Tribes, the Philistines, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Macedonian Greeks, the Syrian Greeks, the Ptolemaic Greeks, the Romans, nearly every major government in Europe from 400 CE until 1700 CE, Nazi Germany, a number of Modern Islamic States, and the list goes on.

Admittedly, enemy is a strong word and not every group listed here is as prominent or as vile as every other, but all have in some way opposed the Jewish people either at a political level or existential level.

A significant number of Jews were murdered very soon after the Holocaust. In Poland. for example there was a horrific pogrom at Kielce on 4 July 1946 which resulted in the death of 37 Jews who had survived the Holocaust. The Kielce pogrom had all the classic features of a medieval or Tsarist pogrom. It began with a 'blood libel' (yes, a blood libel in 1946 against Holocaust survivors). The mob got into such a frenzy that it even stopped trains passing through the railway station at Kielce and searched them for Jews. A number of Jews were dragged from the trains and two were murdered. As if all this were not bad enough, some Polish bishops refused to condemn the pogrom. Others, while condemning the murders, refused to condemn the blood libel. In the Wikipedia article on the pogrom, Cadinal Wyszynski is reported as having said: "that the popular hatred of Jews was caused by Jewish support for Communism, which had also been the reason why "the Germans murdered the Jewish nation". Wyszyński also gave some credence to blood libel rumours commenting that the question of the use of Christian blood was never completely clarified " Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kielce_pogrom There were other pogroms and murders of Jew in Poland in 1945-46. Eugen Kogon, in Der SS-Staat (first published in 1947) gives a figure of 600 Holocaust survivors murdered in Poland in 1945-46. In Poland, it has been customary to blame all this on Soviet agents seeking to bring Poland into disrepute, but there is no sound evidence of Soviet involvement.

First, there certainly was a time when Germans as a group hated the Jews, but it is not accurate to say the average German today still feels that way; most Germans are deeply ashamed of what the Nazis did, and there is little desire to repeat it. As for why Germans hated Jews in the past, they were taught to do so-- the Lutheran church, sad to say, had a history of being anti-Jewish, and since Lutheranism was the dominant faith in Germany, children would have learned all kinds of negative stereotypes about Jews and Judaism, and adults would have heard their preachers reinforce these "lessons." Jews dressed differently, ate different food, and they refused to accept Jesus: that was enough to arouse the public's suspicion. (It is worth noting that the Lutheran church finally apologized in the mid-1980s for its history of anti-Semitism; it is doubtful the average Lutheran preacher today would teach what was commonly taught in the Nazi era.)

Further, in a culture that already mistrusted Jews and thought of them as different (in other words, not Christians, not "pure" Germans), that made it easier for demagogues like Hitler to blame the Jews for all of Germany's problems (given that Jews made up perhaps 3-4% of Germany, it is doubtful the problems had anything to do with them, but Hitler was able to persuade ordinary Germans that getting rid of "the Jews" would make things better). It is also true that politicians often seek out scapegoats to fire up the public, and Jews were a convenient group to blame, since they had been demonized and persecuted throughout Europe for centuries.

NO. Gandhi for all of his moral confusion on the topic of the Jews, does not actually intend them ill or mistreatment. He simply and naively assesses the "power" of non-violence in the face of tyranny and promotes Jewish integration over Zionism. Gandhi's views on Jews are primarily as follows: (1) He believes Zionism (the creation of Israel) to be an immoral project because it will disrupt the lives of the indigenous Arabs and holds that Jews should seek to become citizens of the countries where they live. (2) He believes that Jews should engage in "non-violent resistance" against Nazi Germany and by the nobility of their sacrifice (when the Nazis inevitably kill them) arouse the world to come to the support of the Jews. (3) This world support must not involve war.

Of course, any person who reads these three points (and has a brain) will see the immediate moral problem here. He is advocating for mass collective suicide for the Jews with no serious means of halting the Nazi menace. Were Gandhi to have this realization as well, he could be said to be Anti-Semite arguing from a position of apparent friendship with wicked intentions, but his genuine failure to understand that he is advocating for Jews to sign their own death warrants and allow the evil of the Nazi German regime to prevail is what prevents him from having this more sinister motive. Gandhi honestly believes that the glorious sacrifice of the Jews will compel German Gentiles to rise in defense of the dignity of the Jews and stop the massacre.

See: 'THE JEWS', BY GANDHI - FROM HARIJAN, NOVEMBER 26, 1938

The religious zeal of the crusades seems to have produced much hatred of non-Christians at the time. For example, when Richard I was crowned as King of England and a crusader in 1189 there were serious outbursts of mob violence against the Jews in London and some other English cities, especially York.

Let it be said right from the start that any "group" that is disliked, is a problem with the thinking of the persons doing the disliking! Not liking an entire population, a religion, or you name it is foolish. It's fine to not "like" a particular person, or to dislike "convicts ". But being biased against a race, or ethnic group is insane. Here are some reasons that some biased people may dislike Jewish people and the reasons are foolish ones. Some dislike Jewish people because they believe they are dishonest when doing business. Another possible reason is that some biased people, don't like the Jewish religion. Or, some people think they are not good because they have not accepted Christ as the messiah.

Those are 3 possible reasons.

No.

The usual disintinction is between (traditional) religious antisemitism and racial antisemitism. The latter arose after religious toleration was accepted in most European countries and religious antisemitism lost much of its force. Racial antisemitism arose from about 1870 onwards and operates with conspiracy theories.

Hitler did not just read one anti-semitic book. Anti-semitism was popular in all areas of Europe during Hitler's childhood and formative years. Anti-semitism was a great way to win public support and was a corner stone to Hitler becoming popular. Hitler did not invent anti-semitism, he merely used what was already a strong force to gain the people's support. Anti-semitism has been around for centuries but has decreased since WWII and the establishment of Israel as a nation in the late 1940's.

Hitler did write a book called 'Mein Kampf' which translates as 'My Struggle'.

While many studies have been made of the origin of Hitler's racist and anti-Semitic ideas, only general explanations are yet possible. Culturally, Hitler grew up in an atmosphere of anti-Semitism; this was certainly one cause. Another came from his bitter experience in World War I and its hardship-filled aftermath for Germany: like many Germans, he wanted to find a scapegoat for their suffering. Still another might have been some dramatic personal experience as a child, teen, or young man, through which he developed his hatred for Jews.

"pogrom" came into common usage with extensive anti-Jewish riots that swept Ukraine and southern Russia in 1881-1884,

no

Please see the Related Questions linked to below.
Why do people hate the Jews?
Why did the Nazis hate the Jews
Why do some Christians hate Jews?
Why do some Muslims hate Jews?