Jewish history by Robert
In reply to the question you asked me about ww2 and jews.It's a very complicated matter, but I'll try to keep it short. Anti-semitism (hating jews) is a a phenomenon that runs deep in European history. To understand what lays at the root of this we must begin with the beginning. How did the Jews end up so far from Israel in the first place? Like all great stories in human history it's a tale of war an conquest. It is said that nothing troubles a historian more than the wounds of the past, I think that's true. We must realize that behind the great tales of victory lay the tales of great pain, death and loss.
In the year 586 BC the Babylonian army conquered the land of Israel and destroyed the Temple of Solomon. This event marks the beginning of what came to be known as the Jewish Diaspora or “The Scattering". Most of the Jews were relocated, not an uncommon phenomenon in Babylonian politics. The jewish political, religious and military cadre was put on transport to the mainland of Babylon. In order to prevent an uprising in the newly conquered lands. Power shifted from Babylonian to Persian, from Persian to Syrian/Greek and later on to the Romans. In this long period of time (around 500 years put in a nutshell) Jews scattered all over the Middle East, Europe and beyond. Jews were even to be found as far as the shores of India.
During Roman rule the holy temple in Jerusalem was destroyed for the second and final time by Titus (later to become emperor). The province of Palestina remained a thorn in the roman side and jews were already the victim of so called pogroms. When under emperor Constantinus (4th century AD) christendom became state religion the situation for jews became worse. Jews were considered to be the ‘murderers of Christ’ and dogma that remained vivid in Europe for a long time.
We can see that around this time, when we slowly enter the european middle ages, that the jews were excluded from almost all professions organized in the Guilds. They were forced to live in certain parts of cities. In Spain (although under islamic rule at that time) the Jews were ordered to wear distinctive clothes, something we would see during ww2 as well. Although jews werent especially liked, they would be left alone and were able to live according to their own culture and religion. Only at times when there was social unrest the Jews were a very appealing scapegoat for public anger and hatred. Partly because of religious reasons, but most of all because they were ‘Different'. The European middle ages are a time where being different wasn't favourable. Living their own lifes according to their own culture, with their own language and own customs made them so distinctive and strange in the eyes of the common people that they were an easy target.
Because the Jews were excluded from normal guild profession they had to rely on other means to get their daily bread. This meant that they usually acted as bankers, moneylenders, merchants and later diamondcutters. Christian doctrine had it that one couldn't ask intrest on a loan, jews were not bound by that. This lays at the root of the myth that Jews are controlling all the money in the world. An argument that would find great acceptance during the Nazi period. During the renaissance and reformation the idea of religious tolerance became dominant in some parts of Europe (especially northern Europe). While in Southern Europe which was predominantly catholic, the hatred got stronger. Many Jews from Portugal and Spain fled to the Netherlands and other protestant countries. Where they could live with less restrictions, although they still were considered 2nd rate citizens.
During the dawn of Nationalism and the birth of nationstates in the 19th century jews were again being ostracized. Jews were considerded to be an enemy of nationalism and the ghost of ‘Jewish world control' got stronger again. Soon the word Jew became synonym to capitalist and pan-national states. Jews got the blame for everything that was wrong with the country. During the Interbellum (the period between WW1 and WW2) the economic crisis hit war torn Europe hard. Especially Germany which was dubbed to be the main cause of WW1 was struck by the crisis. Hyperinflation (one day a bread costed around 1 billion Reichsmark) and social unrest were raging in Germany. The common people who didn't understand the reasons of this sudden economic crisis looked around to find a scapegoat, someone or something to blame for what happened.
When Adolf Hitler hit the stage in Germany he used his talent of public speech to point out the reasons of Germany's depression. And again the Jews were being blamed for it all. Leading to one of the darkest pages in history with 6 million jews murdered. I hope this very short and not very detailled explanation is an answer to your question. If you still have some questions please don't hesitate to ask them. I'll answer them to the best of my abilities.
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