0
Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism is prejudice towards, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews as a national, ethnic, religious or racial group. The term was coined in Germany in 1860 as a scientific-sounding term for Judenhass ("Jew-hatred") and does not refer to Non-Jewish Semites. Anti-Semitism takes many forms, ranging from hateful words uttered to individual Jews to organized violent attacks by mobs, state police, or even military attacks on entire Jewish communities.
462 Questions
How did anti-Semitism cause the Holocaust?
Anti-Semitism was one factor leading to the Holocaust.
____
Surely, it was the starting-point or 'springboard' for all the other factors ...
-----------
Germany was not the most anti-Semitic country in Europe, certainly the Nazis brought a new brand of anti-Semitism, but this was artificial, it was political, people did not hate the Jews because they were Jewish, they hated the Jews because they were told to, by the politicians, they believed that public opinion and ideology said that they should.
If you dismiss the Holocaust as being the fruits of a people with an irrational prejudice you risk not seeing how it was ordinary people like you and me or anyone reading this were convinced to follow a path that they were told was the right thing to do.
------------------
If it hadn't been anti-Semitism which brought power to Hitler's regime, they'd simply have found another target; incited hatred against another cultural group.
As at all times in history, political ambition is well-served by isolating existing public fear and prejudice, and building upon that until a political entity can present itself as a savior of the people in the face of the perceived threat. Absolutely anything can be made to appear dangerous, given the right marketing techniques.
It always works; the need to protect their community is built into the nature of all communal creatures; uneasiness, followed by fear and finally defense and aggression are natural reactions to a perceived threat, and history, right up to the present day, clearly demonstrates people - with sufficient encouragement - will eventually seize upon any excuse to demonize and destroy those factors that they are told, and have been convinced, threaten their own existence.
The sole intention is for the political entity leading the movement to become powerful. Once it worked easily; today people of the world are becoming ever closer to one another, given far more opportunity to observe those they are told to fear as well as those they're told are friends. As a result, a greater percentage of people than at any time in recorded history will now question fear-tactics employed by those seeking to gain, retain, or increase power.
The evil that Hitler and other leaders achieved in turning good citizens against one another still works today, but not as easily. Have a look at the fearful tales spread about Jews leading up to WW2, and compare them with the tales we hear today about others we are induced to hate. The similarity is such that the gullibility of some would be laughable if it weren't so terrifying.
------------------
When people have someone to hate and blame, they forget about their problems, and Germany had plenty of economic issues after WWI. Hitler rode this discontent to power and in the process killed many political dissidents and about 6 million Jews.
Comment
Obviously, without antisemitism there would have been no Holocaust, but the above doesn't explain genocide. There had been literally hundreds of pogroms (violent riots against Jews) in Tsarist Russia. Very few of these resulted in more than 20-25 deaths. One also needs to bear in mind that when the genocide started (in 1941) Germany had overcome its post-WW1 economic problems. See the related questions.
How long did the pogroms in Russia last?
The official death toll released by the Procurator General of the USSR (tallies were compiled based on lists of named victims) was 32 people (26 Armenians and 6 Azerbaijanis), although some have revised this figure up into the tens and hundreds. Source: Wikipedia via Google search
What was the purpose of pogroms?
Pogroms were a way that non-Jews manifested their anger with Jews over perceived grievances. Many rulers and clerics though it was easier to blame the Jews for problems like crop failures, disease, raids and defeats by enemies, and other issues than to be honest that they had no viable solution. Believing these lies, non-Jews attacked the Jewish community in "reprisal".
Why did helmuth hate the Jews?
It was not just Heinrich Himmler who hated Jews. Most of Austria and Germany hated Jews. They had this false idea that the Jews were the cause of World War 1 and that they controlled the world. Himmler was just an ignorant, insecure man who fell for a madman.
The purpose was to murder 6 million Jews of Europe and to remove the disabled, gay, and elderly as well as any dissenting people. In 1933 approximately 9.5 million Jews lived in Europe comprising 1.7% of the total European population. This number represents more than 60% of the World's Jewish population at that time of an estimated 15.3 million. The majority of Jews in prewar Europe lived in Eastern Europe. The largest was Poland with about 3,000,000 Jews. In Central Europe the largest Jewish population was in Germany with about 525,000 people and Western Europe the largest population was in Great Britain with 300,000. Before the Nazi seizure in 1933 Europe had a diverse set of Jewish cultures. In less than a decade two out of every three Jews would be dead.
How did anti-semitism cause world war 2?
The sole reason for the outbreak of World War 2 was the desire on the part of Britain and France to halt Germany's bid for apparently limitless expansion. The issue of antisemitism was not a cause of the war.
Who are "Other Germans"? Other works only based on a referential.
If "other" refers to individuals not directly affiliated with the Nazi Party, then you have a mixed bag. Anti-Semitism was quite normal in Germany prior to the Rise of the Nazis, but it was not something that would have led to mass violence without someone to instigate. Of course, there were also a minority of Germans (still large numbers, but a minority) who did not harbor any feelings towards Jews or actually tried to help them and sympathized with them.
Did Hitler's dad hate Jews too?
Yes he did due to the racism of his father, and that was because his father had many fails with the Jewish people.
____
Very little is known about the views of Hitler's father and there is no evidence for the above. What's more, there is no evidence of antisemitism on Adolf Hitler's part before 1916, when he was aged 28.
Why did Hitler and the Nazis hate the Jews for kids?
National Socialism did not invent the European race-thinking that postulated
the purity and superiority of the Nordic, Germanic race. The Nazis inherited this
fantasy from the writings of 19th-century pseudo-philosophers like Gobineau,
Chamberlain, Wagner and Dühring who asserted that the "race" question was the key
to history, and that "blood purity" determined the destiny of nations. Hitler's politics
were based on such biological foundations and objectives. In the name of Social
Darwinist eugenics he ordered the elimination of Jews as well as the
enslavement of millions of Slavs. Jews, in particular, were singled out for physical
annihilation, not as prisoners of war, political opponents or resisters; not because of
their opinions, behaviour or acts, but because they were deemed to be a priori
"racially inferior," a "world enemy" and a deadly virus. Their enslavement and
destruction fulfilled no rational purpose or economic function. It was the outcome of a
genocidal ideology which decreed the wiping out of biologically "inferior" entities as
corresponding to the "laws of nature."
How did the nazis convince germans about the holocaust?
To make Germans think the Jews should be executed
What happened with hitler in his childhood that he hates the jews so much?
Nothing happened in Hitler's family tree to make him hate Jews.
What was Adolf Hitler influenced by as a child to be anti-semitic?
Many people in different countries have grown up with anti-Jewish influences around them. However, they generally haven't later become hysterically antisemitic, let alone murdered Jews. It is futile to look for any single overriding influence in childhood. The real question seems to how and why his ordinary antisemitism became interwoven with all kinds of weird and fanciful conspiracy theories.
Why was there Anti-Semitism after World War 1?
Germany was economically crippled and its people began blaming the economic problems on the Jews. When Hitler came to power in 1932, the National Socialist party came to power as Hitler arranged for the cleansing of Germany of ethnic groups outside of the Aryan race. The Nuremberg Laws were passed that limited the rights of ethnic minorities that primarily targeted Jews. Hitler and his henchmen then came up with the Final Solution, which was the brutal and inhumane eradication of Jews. Thousands of Jews fled Nazi persecution by fleeing to the United States and Palestine (which was a British mandate at the time). The Final Solution killed about 11 million people as people of Slavic or Jewish descent were sent to concentration camps were they were either worked to death, gassed, or were thrown in crematoriums. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, Poland fell to Nazi and Soviet forces. The Nazis then erected in Western Poland concentration camps as a part of their plan. When France was invaded by German and Italian forces in 1940, France submitted to Nazi authority. Two sectors were established where the nation of France once was: The German-occupied sector in the North and the Vichy France regime in the South. Although the Vichy French government was independent of Germany, it was basically just a somewhat fascist puppet state that helped Germany with her anti-semitistic plans. Jews in the Northern and Vichy sectors were sent to work camps in France similar to the concentration camps in Eastern Europe as several thousands perished there. In the Low Countries of Holland and Belgium, Jews were sent to concentration camps. The evil atrocities committed by the Nazis ended only after 1945 when Berlin fell to the Soviet forces. The Holocaust is somehing that is needed to be learned so as an atrocity against an ethnic minority should be prevented.
What impacts did the Nazis' anti-semitic laws had on the Jewish children?
segregation from their friends was the largest. the parents would do their best to shield the children as much as they could, but that was one issue that they could not effect
How did antisemitism help Hitler rise to power?
After WWI, Germany had huge reparations to pay, and eventually abandoned the sterling basis as backing for the currency. The banks were allowed to print money as they felt fit, and (roughly) over a ten-year period, 1 Mark inflated to 1 trillion Marks! The banking industry was dominated by the Jews, and this gave them a bad image.
Not just in Germany - it is suggested that the pop culture status of Bonnie and Clyde in the US was a response to (several thousand) small banks going bankrupt. So bankers were not an admired class. And Bonnie and Clyde were just robbing bankers!
In Germany, the anti-Jewish feeling was merely part of a general antagonism against anything that was non-Aryan. Many other minority races suffered the same fate as the Jews. But this was after Hitler was firmly in power.
Because of the general failure of economists to control the currency, most countries took the absolute power to create currency out of the hands of private bankers. This mostly happened in the 30's depression, but some states still allowed this until the 60's.
The ratio of deposits to loans is still not well controlled.
Did Adolf Hitler only hate Jews?
Hitler basically hated the Jews because they were the largest non-German ethnic minority in Central Europe at that time.
Hitler wanted a pure Germany (and Europe) without any "parasites".
At that time, there were only few Muslims and Africans living in Germany (unlike today).
But you can be sure that Hitler would have built exactly the same gas chambers when (instead of Jews) millions of Turks, Arabs, Indians and Africans had lived in Germany at that time.
Hitler's basic ideology was not solely anti-semitism, but racism in its most radical extent. The millions of Indian and Arab "fans" of Hitler should always be aware that they would also be on Hitler's "bug spray list" if they had lived in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s.
Other answers:
- No, he just hated Jews more than other non-Aryan peoples because Jews were the only foreigners in Germany at that time.
- Hitler did not only hate Jews. He also hated Gypsies and also people with handicaps. All the "non-Aryan minorities" who lived in Germany at that time were regarded as "parasites" or even as enemies.
- No, Hitler didn't only hate the Jews; he hated the gypsies, handy capped, homosexuals, Jehovah's Wittnesses and any one who didn't have a use in his plans for Germany.
- Hitler did hate other people, but he saw the Jews as his biggest enemy. He came to this belief for two important reasons. First anti-semitism was widespread in Germany, so he was influenced by his surroundings. Second, He found (much like populistic politicians nowadays) that scapegoating one group (i.e. the Jews) won him popularity with the German public. So his anti-semitism also had practical reasons.
- Furthermore, what should not be lost out of sight, is that Germans were very happy to blame the holocaust on one evil dead man (Hitler), although historical research seems to contradict this. The holocaust started with the "wild holocaust", whereby einsatzgruppen (ordinary Germans), started shooting Jewish civilians en masse, against explicit orders to do so. In fact, even after Himmler forbade the killing of Jews, this went on because most Germans refused to obey these orders. So, virulent anti-semitism can be denoted as a common trait back in Germany in the days, and in that sense Hitler was just an 'average' German.
- No one can know for sure the thoughts of Hitler. For sure, Hitler didn't plant the seed of hatred in the mind of Germans. The hatred was present for many years, and was exacerbated by the effects of the treaty of Versailles. Whether Hitler had a true hatred of Jews, or was just using the German's hatred of Jews as a tool in his quest for power, is very debatable. Perhaps the better question is, "did the GERMANS hate only Jews?"
- Hitler's propaganda helped seed of hatred grow within the Germans. Central to the his propaganda was a promotion of racial purity, just as in Italy. This campaign was successful: the German people began to feel that racial purity was necessary for the survival of their nation. Whether or not there was a hatred of those outside the German race, or if it was just simply actions based not on hate, but by false logic, is another matter up for debate.
The exterminations that took place certainly were not only conducted on Jews. Gypsies were exterminated; retarded people, mentally ill, and homosexuals were routinely exterminated. Generally, all people that were considered inferior were exterminated. Polish people were among the first to be exterminated.
So, while it cannot be said for sure that there was a true "hate", it is certain that whatever it was, it was not focused only on the Jews; the fact that they received the vast majority of the attention of the holocaust is attributable mainly to their greater presence in Germany.
Not only did Hitler hate Jews, Gypsies, and handi-caps, he hated Catholics (although he couldn't really act on this due to the large numbers of Catholics within his ranks) and Slavs (as the tens of millions of Russian deaths during the war and horrid conditions in Russian POW camps can attest to) as well.
Why have Jews been hated for centuries?
Anti-Semitism is a prejudicial hate, and prejudice comes from the term "pre-judge." It is not based in reality. It is based in a "pre-judgment" of people, made usually without any knowledge of that people beyond the repetition of myths, legends, and stereotypes.
If you look throughout history, Jews are not the only victims of other peoples' hate, as the history of African-Americans shows.
Hate does not need a reason to exist. It simply exists, created by those who either believe it (from ignorance) or fuel it (from cynicism) or spread it (from previous hatred).
Further informationIt's worth adding that at various times the Jews have been actively 'demonized' and blamed for all kinds of things. For example, in the Middle Ages they were blamed for the plague! In the aftermath of WWI there was a widespread view of the Jews as Bolshevists. Hitler and many other extreme right-wingers claimed that they had encouraged non-co-operation and subversion in Germany.What caused Hilter to hate the Jews so much?
Hitler's grandmother on his father's side was a housekeeper in the home of a Jewish family. When she left she was pregnant with his father. His grandmother spent as much time working multiple jobs to provide the best home possible for her son but he still was a bitter angry man. When Hitler was a boy his father beat him once to the point of a week long coma. The best information I have found is that because the grandmother did not have a husband and she never did disclose the identity of the father ~ she inadvertantly caused a sense of hate to build in her son which was passed on to Hitler.
Why did Hitler hate his country?
He didn't. He didn't want war with Britain but Britain and France declared war on Germany in September 1939.
Why was hitler hating the jews when he is a jew?
He was not half-Jewish. This is one of those myths that refuses to die. There is no credible evidence that Hitler was (pick one) half Jewish, raised by Jews, or had a Jewish father. On the other hand, there is a lot of evidence that Hitler was a bigoted man who unfairly blamed Jews for Germany's problems, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with any alleged family connections.
What is the difference between anti-semitism and anti-zionism?
Anti-Semitism is a hatred, revulsion, or denigration of Jewish people and a belief that those people are somehow (by dint of their genetics) more violent, conniving, mischievous, and dastardly than other people. In some cases, like the Nazis or Extremist Muslims, they are considered a "sub-human" race, on par with monkeys. Almost all Anti-Semites are not Jews for the simple reason that no person would willingly consider himself a putrid thing.
Anti-Zionism is a rejection of Zionism. Zionism is merely Jewish Nationalism, the belief that Jews have a right to have their own country where they can determine their own future. Zionists can be both Jews and non-Jews and Anti-Zionists can be both Jews and non-Jews, because the question of whether the Jews have a right to a state is a political question. Since the Jews were able to create such a country, Israel, Anti-Zionism is usually seen as Anti-Israel sentiment.
It is important to note that there are those who wish to argue that Anti-Semitism does not apply exclusively to Jews (since there are non-Jewish Semites), but the term Anti-Semite has never been used to describe anything but Jew-hatred. Additionally, people like to claim that Zionism is a code word for an international cabal of evil Jews trying to control the world. Aside from the fact that such a cabal does not exist, such a thing would fall under Anti-Semitism, not Zionism or Anti-Zionism since this cabal would not be concerned with Jewish Nationalism.
