WHY THE JEWS???

1. WHY THE JEWS??? • Hatred towards Jews is defined as Anti-Semitism • Anti-Semitism was not a new phenomenon in the 1930s & 40s • Anti-Semitism has a long history, going back 1000’s of yrs & is still w/us today • In ancient times, many non-Jews like the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Greeks & Romans were suspicious of Jews for their unique religious beliefs/rituals such as monotheism • After the Jews of Judea were exiled by the Romans, most left Judea, became a part of the diaspora, and went to Europe • Over the next several hundred years, Jews formed communities throughout Europe but were a very small minority in these lands • Jews lived in an area (Europe) that was predominantly christian but rejected the idea that Jesus was God - many at that time blamed all Jews for his death even though he was crucified by Romans 100’s of years earlier and saw Jews as outsiders that worked for the Devil • This overall distrust turned into widespread anti-Semitism

2. By law, Jews in many European countries were barred from certain jobs, not allowed to marry non-Jews, and forced to wear badges marking them • B/c lending money was one of the few professions open to Jews, a new anti-Semitic belief that Jews were greedier than others emerged • Jews were expelled from England in 1290 CE for 350 years and from Spain in 1492 CE for 450 years • When the Black Plague epidemic hit Europe, Jews were blamed as its cause and many were killed • It was rumored that Jews were required to kill non-Jews to use their blood in baking matzot - this rumor was/is called the blood-libel • When the holy wars called the Crusades began, many knights used it as an reason to massacre thousands of Jews • The Nazis adopted many anti-Jewish laws from the Middle Ages • In the 13th Cent, several nations forced Jews to live in sections of their cities called ghettos: the Nazis did the same thing • In the 14th Cent, Germany declared that property of Jews that were killed became state property: the Nazis did the same thing • In the 17th Cent, Germany marked Jewish houses and made certain places in each city off -limits to Jews: the Nazis did the same thing

3. When the Nazis came on the scene in Germany in the 1920s, Hitler brought about a new Nazi version of anti-Semitism • The Nazis believed Jews were an evil race less human than the Nazi super race, a race that he called the Aryan race • The Nazis compared the Jews to a spreading of a disease • In order to make Aryans the purest race, Jews had to be removed from Germany - this process was called "racial hygiene“ • Hitler used Jews as a scapegoat (someone innocent blamed for someone else’s problem) and told Germans that Jews were responsible for all of Germany’s problems: “Do we wish to restore Germany to freedom and power? If yes, then the first thing to do is to rescue it from the Jew who is ruining our country.” The Nazis did not discard the past, they built on it. They did not begin a development. They continued it. - Raul Hilberg, historian

4. Most people believe that anti-Semitism is a thing of the past, that it died when the Holocaust ended in 1945 • WHAT DO YOU THINK??? • ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________