ANTI-SEMITISMIN EUROPECONTINUED

Part I: Why the Jews?18th and 19th Centuries: Hope and ThreatThe Hope of the Enlightenment Thomas Jefferson

Declaration of Independence (1776) “We hold these truths to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal…” Jean Jacques Rousseau

On the Origin and Foundation of the Inequality of Mankind (1755)

Intellectual Father of the French Revolution of 1789 “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite” = Liberty, Equality,

Fraternity God did not divide people. People can be equal.

Man created inequality and man can undo it.

Thomas Jefferson

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Part I: Why the Jews?18th and 19th Centuries: Hope and Threat Emancipation movements of peasants, slaves,

women, and Jews

A safe harbor for Jews in Germany? They know the history and see what happens elsewhere, as with the pogroms in Russia, but Germany seems like a safe place. No one expected Jews to be harmed in

Germany. “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.” (George Mosse, Toward the Final Solution: A History of European Racism, 1978)

Part I: Why the Jews?18th and 19th Centuries: Hope and Threat Assimilation of Jews into 19th Century German society

Entry into business world (Industrial Revolution) Entry into German cultural world (art, literature, music,

etc.) Entry into medicine and law (not prestigious professions

at this time), and into new field: journalism Already there is a high rate of intermarriage between

Jewish and Gentile Germans.

Jews assimilate so well that rabbis have a new fear: the disappearance of Jews as a people (the Jewish people will be completely absorbed into Gentile culture).

Part I: Why the Jews?18th and 19th Centuries: Hope and Threat The threat of the 19th Century: The Birth of Modern Racism

Arthur de Gobineau: “Father of Modern Racism” Essay on the Origin of Inequality in the Human Races (1854) Superior and inferior races: Jews as an inferior and destructive people Race as a biological concept

Arthur de Gobineau

Part I: Why the Jews?18th and 19th Centuries: 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 (term is coined by Marr, a journalist, who talks about a race of Semites plotting against Germany)

Charles Darwin

Part I: Why the Jews?18th and 19th Centuries: Hope and ThreatThe threat of the 19th Century:

Social Darwinism + Modern Racism = a scientific basis for hatred}

Goals:•Breed a superior race•Root out “inferior stock”•Solve social problems (crime, poverty, disease)

Birth of a new science:

EUGENICS(“good breeding”)

Part I: Why the Jews?18th and 19th Centuries: Hope and Threat 1869: Darwin’s cousin writes that the superior race

needs to promote breeding among themselves and impede the inferior race from breeding. He suggests sterilization.

The U.S. takes the lead on this Indiana was the first state to pass a compulsory sterilization law, with the

law coming into effect in 1907 (Stern 2007, p. 7).  After this law was struck down in 1921 by the Indiana Supreme Court, there was an attempt to pass a new sterilization law in 1925 which sought to reinstitute eugenic sterilization in Indiana through the creation of a state eugenicist, but this effort was defeated in the Indiana Legislature (Lantzer and Stern 2007, pp. 9-10).  Shortly thereafter, the legislature succeeded in passing a second law in 1927.  This law was expanded in 1931, and eventually repealed in 1974 (Baldanzi et al).

The first law, in 1907,  targeted:  “’confirmed criminals’, ‘idiots’, ‘imbeciles’, and ‘rapists’” (Stern 2007, p. 9).  The second law, in 1927, was somewhat more limited, confined to the “’Insane’, ‘feeble minded’ or ‘epileptic’” (Stern 2007, p.29). There was thus a shift in emphasis, from the mentally ill and serious criminals to only the mentally ill.  Both laws were specifically designed to target those housed within state institutions, not those in the general population (Stern 2007, pp. 9, 29). http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/IN/IN.html

When Germany sterilizes in 1933, they point to the U.S. as a model

Part IIWhy Germany?

Why Hitler?Why the Holocaust?

Why Germany?

1900: Germany had become the world’s leading

power.

What went wrong?

1914-1918 World War I is where it all went wrong.

Why Germany?

Germany believes it has been attacked unfairly Neighbors are jealous of their power and cultural reputation

(they believe this because the government says so—God is on their side!).

26 nations declare war on Germany Drive to defend the Fatherland Millions of young men volunteer

War to be short, over by Christmas Not over by Christmas of 1914…1915…1916…1917…

Tremendous sacrifices demanded On the battlefield (Verdun/Somme) On the home front (Turnip Winter)

Children starved during the Turnip Winter

Trench warfare in WWI

Why Germany?

German leaders insist Germany is winning the war. They lie to the public about the war. They insist that people double their sacrifice.

Suddenly, in October 1918, Germany must admit defeat.

Shock to the German public: “How could we be winning for four years and then surrender?”

Why Germany? November 1918: Revolution

German soldiers/sailors disband, disobey orders Empire collapses

1919: Treaty of Versailles War Guilt Clause

Blames Germany entirely for the start of World War I “Among its numerous provisions, it required Germany and its allies to accept full responsibility for causing the war and, under the

terms of articles 231–248, to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions and pay reparations to the Entente powers.” http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.marxist.com/images/stories/history/treaty_of_versailles_7.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.marxist.com/treaty-of-versailles-to-end-all-peace.htm&usg=__0SBnv9EyFDJINRiiRUxbT8WK8oE=&h=378&w=300&sz=70&hl=en&start=13&zoom=1&tbnid=xJSu1HzPHckKRM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=97&ei=4LyaT7yZCKXe0QHd1qH3Dg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dversailles%2Btreaty%26hl%3D en%26safe%3Dactive%26g bv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1

Germans revolt

Preparing the Versailles Treaty

Why Germany?1919-1933: The Shock Continues “The Versailles Treaty was one of the most outrageous and predatory treaties in history. It was a blatant act of plunder

perpetrated by a gang of robbers against a helpless, prostrate and bleeding Germany.” The Treaty left Germany unarmed and struggling

to pay reparations to the rest of Europe. Germans don’t get it. They “know” they didn’t

start the war. How can they be blamed and forced to pay reparations?

German politics become brutal 400 political assassinations Roving political armies across Germany

Why Germany?1919-1933: The Shock Continues Hyperinflation: 1919-1923

$1.00 = 4,200,000,000,000 Reichmarks Men are paid twice per day

Gives wives a chance to spend the money quickly on something of value they can trade later

Example: Dietrich Bonhoeffer His father bought a 20 year life insurance policy, which

matures in 1923. It is his life savings, but he can’t buy a toothpick with it.

Bonhoeffer was a theologian who has shaped modern Christian thought.

He was later involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler.Germans ask: Who is to blame for all of this?

Children stack piles of worthless money

Why Germany? In November 1923, Hitler and his Brown Shirts go

into a beer hall in Munich, shoot the ceiling and declare the government overthrown. This fails and he goes to jail for treason from 1924-1928.

German system stabilizes. 1928 election: Nazis get 2.7% of the vote 1929: The Great Depression Begins

25% official unemployment rate (unofficial is higher) 1930s: Failure of Democratic Politics in Germany

Bombing of Beer Hall Putsch

Why Hitler? Germans want an explanation. All parties

have one. Hitler’s explanation: the Jews betrayed

Germany. Hitler tests his theory of propaganda—and

it works.• He presents his Big Lie

Theory in Mein Kampf:• He theorizes that

politicians have to lie, but little lies are bad—you get caught. • A politician needs a BIG

lie—repeat it and keep it simple. People will believe it.

Why Hitler?Hitler’s Big Lie Germany was winning and the Jews at home stabbed the army in the back. In other countries, Jews blamed the war on Germany. Jews’ financial schemes caused the Depression Jews run all the capitals (Washington, Paris, etc.). They run all the financial institutions. Jews are responsible for the Versailles Treaty and the War Guilt

Clause. Jews are responsible for racial decline. They are inferior.

Intermarriage is an example of the Jewish plot to ruin the purity of the race.

Germany believes Hitler’s Big Lie about the Jews. Where there’s smoke there’s fire, right? People might “know” some items are untrue, but they “know” other bad

things, so might not some other bad things be true?

Anti-Jewish propaganda

Why Hitler?Hitler tells Germans they are a superior

race—it’s nice to hear.Hitler’s Promises Restore Germany to world leadership Restore the economy

They do actually help unemployment. By 1936, there’s a labor shortage—this is smoke and mirrors.

Purify the Aryan race (eugenics) Solve the “Jewish problem”

Propaganda: the perfect Aryan family (A people helps itself!)

Hitler’s Racial Policies: Purifying the German Race

1933: Sterilization Law (the U.S. is the model)

1937: Sterilization of the “Rhineland bastards” These are teenagers (children of

liasions between African troops and German women, born around 1920).

Race mixing is the new original sin. Hitler sterilizes them to avoid further racial impurities.

1939: euthanasia of the physically and mentally handicapped

Master Race: Himmler and the SS racial ideal

Why the Holocaust?By January 1933, Hitler is chancellor of Germany. He soon establishes a total dictatorship.

Propaganda: the cost of supporting the “Rhineland bastards”

Why the Holocaust?Hitler’s Racial Policies Segregation of Jews

Aryan Paragraph (April 1933) a clause in membership statutes, deeds, etc., which reserves rights of residence or membership to

Aryans only Nuremberg Laws (1935)

Jews are stripped of citizenship, forbidden to marry Aryans Pogrom-like measures

Concentration camps: Dachau (March 1933) and others How to prove who’s a Jew and who’s not?

Produce the baptismal certificates of all your grandparents 1936: Nazis are sent to tear down statue of Jewish composer Mendelssohn. It’s next to Wagner’s. They don’t know which is which and tear down the one with the biggest nose—it’s Wagner (btw, a huge anti-Semite).

Wagner

Mendelssohn

Why the Holocaust?Hitler’s Racial Policies Emigration: Where can they go?

Difficult due to Depression Restrictive immigration laws in U.S. and elsewhere World is divided in 2 parts: places Jews

can’t go, and places they can’t stay Nazis don’t let emigrants take their assets Kindertransport begins in 1939, partly in response to Kristallnacht

Great Britain takes in 10,000 Jewish children U.S. refuses to take any children (opposition led by Sen.

Robert Reynolds) Reynolds says removing children from families is against God’s

law Gen. Mosely says Jewish kids will pollute the U.S.—let them in if

they are sterilized

First 200 in Kindertransport

Why the Holocaust?Hitler’s Racial Policies Teachers, to keep jobs,

had to join Nazi party and instill Nazi ideology in kids. They must swear an oath to Hitler, not Germany. 97% do join. 1/3 become actual members.

Teachers had to prove non-Jewishness

Function of all education is to produce a Nazi.

Hitler Youth propaganda

Why the Holocaust?Hitler’s Racial Policies Aryanization:

Jews are robbed of property and assets. Jewish businesses are boycotted or taken from them.

Jews are forced into humiliating menial tasks, like scrubbing the streets.

Jews scrub the streets while onlookers jeer.

“Help liberate Germany from Jewish capital. Don’t buy in Jewish stores.”

Why the Holocaust?With World War II (1939-1945) comes the

Holocaust. Ghettoes for Jews created by the Nazis

Building the wall at the Warsaw ghetto

Children in the Warsaw ghetto

Bodies after the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto

Why the Holocaust?With World War II (1939-1945) comes the

Holocaust. The Final SolutionOn July 17, 1941, four weeks after the invasion of

the Soviet Union, Hitler tasked SS chief Heinrich Himmler with responsibility for all security matters in the occupied Soviet Union. Hitler gave Himmler broad authority to physically eliminate any perceived threats to permanent German rule. Two weeks later, on July 31, 1941, Nazi leader Hermann Goering authorized SS General Reinhard Heydrich to make preparations for the implementation of a "complete solution of the Jewish question." http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007704

Why the Holocaust?With World War II (1939-1945) comes the

Holocaust. Roving murder squads

SS and Reserve Police Battalions

Einsatzgruppe at work

After the June 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union, SS and police units (acting as mobile killing units) began massive killing operations aimed at entire Jewish communities. By autumn 1941, the SS and police introduced mobile gas vans. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005151

Why the Holocaust?With World War II (1939-1945) comes the

Holocaust. Death camps erected in Poland (1941-

1942)

Arial view: Birkenau at Auschwitz

Arrival ramp at Auschwitz

Majdanek

Why the Holocaust?With World War II (1939-1945) comes the

Holocaust. Death camps erected in Poland (1941-

1942)Personal items of Auschwitz inmates Crematorium at Majdanek Majdanek

Children at AuschwitzAuschwitz: women’s bunks Zyklon B canisters

Why the Holocaust?With World War II (1939-1945) came the

Holocaust. Concentration camps (hundreds) created across Europe

Why the Holocaust?Why didn’t the Jews and other groups resist

more? They were physically ruined—starving, etc. They had no access to guns. Nazis practiced collective responsibility:

Example: A child ran away from the ghetto and was caught. He was beaten and tortured. His parents, siblings, and neighbors were brought to a public square, where—in front of the child—they were shot in every limb before they were killed.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

Rev. Martin Niemöller

Judgment at Nuremberg Clips

Aryan-Jewish relations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IyvjP

zYZTk

Sterilization http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94827

6TKF74

For Love of Country http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGfHk

dR3tXs

Judgment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2asO

WGkYQb4