Origins of Anti-Semitism in Germany in the late 19th century and in the early 20th

Origins of Anti-Semitism in Germany
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Introduction
The term anti-Semitism refers to the belief or the prejudice that was directed towards Jews simply because they were Jewish; the term is also inclusive of the hostile behavior that was directed towards the Jewish people probably due to stereotypic views concerning them. Anti-Semitism could also have been as a result of religious teachings which portrayed the Jewish community as an inferior race. At the same time, the prejudice could have been a result of politically instigated efforts to harm the Jews.
Following Germany’s annexation of Austria, anti-Sematic attitudes became common as such instances increased at a high rate. These did not only take place in Germany but worldwide, although the practice in Germany was quite high. Persecution, destruction of property, direct violence towards individuals who were Jewish and being thrown in prisons and concentration camps had then become the fate of the Jews (Hoffmann, 2002 pp. 24 & Brustein, 2003 pp. 1). The plight of these Jews drew worldwide attention and their situation as refugees worsened further with the refusal of most European countries to accommodate them.
Although some heads of states were conscious of the plight of Jewish refugees, they still refused to offer them accommodation in their countries, citing reasons such as the racial imbalance that may result from the same.

Others actual proposed that Nazi Germany is left alone to deal with the issue of Jews internally, on itself. On the same note, Hungary, Poland and Romania seized the opportunity to ask that they may be relieved of the Jews in their respective countries (Brustein, 2003 pp. 2). After Germany lacked backing from the world from the entire world in dealing with the issue of Jewish refugees, the result would be that anti-Sematic propaganda was fueled this being a ground on which they thrived. This was just one of the ways how the entire world portrayed their indifference towards the Jews.
Before the Holocaust, apathy was not the only challenge faced by the Jews. Their continually deteriorating plight was further worsened by the anti-semitic policies and bans which were passed. At the same time violence directed towards the Jewish and their property increased rapidly. The anti-Sematic policies were not only observed in Germany but across the entire world. Later on, the Jewish producers experienced an economic boycott and prohibitions were put in place barring preventing Polish Jews from occupying certain locations and accessing various educational facilities that could have been available to them at the time.
All these instances go to show the fate of the European Jews; all the anti-Semitist acts that took place on the eve of the Holocaust all portray the depth of European Semitism at the time. The causes of prejudice against the Jews in Europe can be traced from back in the old days. The Europeans seemed to have bought the idea that the Jews had retained too much of their cultural aspect since they viewed them as a separate race from themselves. The Jews had maintained their cultural identity and most of their social values and therefore there seemed to be an outright disconnection from their host societies. The autonomy of the Jewish community surrounded aspects such as religion, which unified them, strong cultural heritage and at the same time, there were successful economically (Pulzer, 1964 pp. 4). A unified Germany was achieved by the creation of the Bismarckian Empire in 1871 in which the Jews who were domiciled in Germany were well represented. They held good job opportunities as professionals and also were active in politics, even at the top leadership although in all of these they were not the most prevalent race in any (Caplan, 2008 pp. 37). Jews were conservative in both social and cultural aspects and intermarriages were common between Jews and other Christians. All in they were the minority and they were always discriminated upon. The fact that they refused to dilute their cultural beliefs among other aspects of their community and subsequent failure to adopt the way of life of their host communities is what resulted in resentment against the Jewish community. Anti-Semites were of the opinion that a kind of competition existed between the natives in Germany and the Jews and that Germany could only be saved if the Jewish were denied job opportunities and probably thrown out of the country (Caplan, 2008 pp. 37). Besides this aspect, anti-Semitism had other roots such as religious, economic, political and racial roots. Each of these aspects either caused a divide upon which the Jewish community was discriminated upon or further instigated the prejudice against them.
The Racial Root
Racial anti-Semitism developed during the nineteenth century which came with progress regarding to technological development and knowledge in the field of Science related to human biology, psychology, and evolution. It is at this time that Europeans develop racist ideas against the Jews. These ideas existed within other larger views which classified the entire world in terms of races which were deemed unequal. The white races were considered to be superior to other races. These ideas had been reinforced by the fact that the whites had conquered other territories in the world and were administering their law in Asian and African countries; the interpretation of this was seen to be that they were superior to other races. This position was postulated by the social Darwinism theory which tended to divide humans into various races, and according to the theory all races were supposed to compete for survival. The race that was of superior quality would then survive the struggle which thrived on war and use of extreme force.
Persons of anti-Semitic views, therefore, concluded that the Jewish communities which they hosted behaved in the manner which they did because they had inherited inferior qualities that belonged to their race from way back. On the same note, they believed that the Jewish people intended to spread their influence across Europe and in so doing water down the cultural heritage of their host communities, their economy, and their politics. The host communities were also against intermarriages between the Jewish communities and the Aryan people whose blood they felt would be ‘contaminated’ by that of the Jews since they were considered to be an inferior race (Brustein, 2003 pp. 139). The basis of race, therefore, become one of the roots within which anti-Semitism thrived upon sealing the fate of the Jewish people to open discrimination and violence to both their person and their property.
The Religious Root
In addition, there is also a perspective that religion is responsible for anti-Semitism in Germany and across the European countries. The religious root dates from long ago even before other aspects such as the racial and political aspects stepped in. The argument here was that the Jewish people refused to abandon their religious practices and beliefs although they were living among Christians of a different sect. Further, the Jewish people were accused of being responsible for the death of Jesus Christ by other Christians; all these issues instigated a conflict between them and the Christians who were natives in Germany. The actual reason for the conflict that existed was the competition for following by masses between Christianity and Judaism (Brustein, 2003 pp. 51).
At the same time, the two denominations attempted to associate themselves with God; the Jewish believing that the savior of human beings was one of their own; Jesus Christ, who was a Jew. Believers of Judaism, on the other hand, felt that Christianity would replace Judaism and take over the covenant that God had with Abraham in the Biblical context. The conflict that existed between these two was not similar to the normal religious conflicts that usually exist between religions that are quite not similar; for instance, Muslims and Hindus (Brustein, 2003 pp. 52). This is because in as much as these religions were dissimilar they have many aspects in common which interestingly became their grounds for conflict.
The other reason that saw the split of the two religious sects about a hundred years after the crucifixion of Christ was the fact that the Jews were always defeated in military action against the Romans. The Christians, such as Martyr Justin looked upon these defeats as God’s show of being unhappy with the Jews; it was God’s way of showing the Jews that He was unhappy with their adamant refusal to accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah. They were also being punished for further crucifying Christ after refusing to accept Him (Brustein, 2003 pp. 51).
The coming up of the Christian Church saw various accusations leveled against the Jewish faith. The Christian faith was also quick to criticize various practices by the Jewish which they perceived to be wrong in the religious context. By way of example, the Jewish remained to blame for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The Christians argued that since they did not recognize Christ as Messiah they went ahead and crucified Him on the cross and this became a point of contention between the two religions. Some of the practices which the Jews were accused of included the killing of children during the feast of Passover which they usually celebrated yearly.
They were also held responsible for the plague that took place in the Middle Ages; it is said that they caused it by poisoning the wells that were in Europe. Interestingly, Jewish was also allegedly guilty of stealing the Eucharist and also being antichrist as well as sorcerers and vampires. The fathers in the early Christian churches were quick to condemn the Jewish for crucifying Jesus Christ among other accusations. This perception of Christians to Jews was not only common in Germany but also in other countries such as Great Britain and in all it was a grave root for anti-Semitist ideologies which they all believed in.
The Political Root
Aside from the traditional religious conflict that existed between the Jews and the Christians, political anti-Semitism took a whole different dimension. Protagonists of anti-Semitism movements engaged themselves majorly in organizing and bringing together all persons who had mutual feelings of hatred towards the Jews. This movement out rightly existed at the center stage of politics at the time and all the members of the community were persons who shared a common particular mindset. They formed many organizations created various political networks and also went ahead to create public political awareness against the Jews. They also carried out national wide campaigns in which they spread anti-Sematic ideas. Despite that, these persons had diverse political ideas and were from different political divides their unifying factor was the fact that they had a common resentment for the Jewish people.
History has not managed to explain elaborately how anti-Sematic political movements thrived as a political organization or how much influence the organization could have had. It is also not clear how much support such movement got from social groupings within the society or how the positions within the organization fit in the larger political context. Nevertheless, anti-Semitism appeared as a political movement which thrived quite well not only in Germany but also in many other countries in Europe such as Hungary.
Unlike other countries also, in Germany, political parties and movements began to be formed by anti-Sematic ideologies. In the period between 1879 and 1898, such political parties were formed and they managed to have their candidates elected to the German Reichstag. In political rallies and speeches as well, German leaders would speak to warn against the growing influence of the Jewish population. On such leader, Adolf Stoecker, the imperial court chaplain, described the Jewish people as a ‘state within a state, a separate tribe within a foreign race, pitted against both Christianity and Germany’s Teutonic nature’ (Brustein, 2003 pp. 136). Political leaders were also at the center stage preaching anti-Semitic ideas and hatred against the Jews by the German populace (Volkov, 1978 pp. 27). It was also in Germany that a political party proposed an “Anti-Semites petition”. The purpose that this petition sought was generally to limit the rights of Jews as part of German citizens.
Proponents of this petition were of the view that the Jewish race was up to taking dominance over the own, Aryan race which was not acceptable. The specific purpose was to limit the rights of the Jewish, to deny them opportunities to serve as high-ranking government officials and to reduce the immigration rates of the Jewish population into Germany (Brustein, 2003 pp.137). In the German parliament also, members elected from the anti-semitic political divide proceeded to form their own parliamentary group and such was the height of the political roots of anti-Semitism in Germany at the time. Politics based on anti-Semitism and related ideas only began to fade in Germany after 1898 when the candidates who were running on the party’s ticket failed to receive enough votes to the German parliament. However, there was still talk regarding the same as proponents of anti-Semitic ideas continued to champion the ideology in speech as well as in written work which would be disseminated to the general public.
The Economic Root
Regarding the economic root that sparked hate for the Jews, they had for a long time been quite successful in economic terms. Jews were known to possess a lot of wealth; it was claimed that they acquired their wealth through fraudulent means but either way they possessed it. To the extent that the term ‘to Jew’ was popularly used to mean to cheat or be sly in order to gain an advantage. Natives in Germany were of course not pleased by the fact that Jews remained wealthy in their native land. The economic root, however, does not have a long history that dates back from long ago after the death of Christ as does the religious perspective. This is because the issue of the economy sprung up later after the Jewish had settled in the land of their host society.
The Jews were also in the practice of money lending business which was seen as a sinful practice by the Christian church. However, it was one among the very few professions which were available to Jews in Europe, much as it was criticized. Jews were restricted to the professions which were considered to be the least desirable; very few did not feel the competition at the Christian guilds. Jews were also prohibited from selling their commodities at the shops and marketplaces by merchant guilds while the so-called crafts guilds prevented the Jews from coming up with their own products or commodities which they could trade in.
Previously, before the guilds prevented Jews from selling their products and manufacturing them, Jews were distinguished manufacturers of items of metal and gold as well as dying of clothes. Upon the restriction, Jews were left with no opportunity but to peddle second- hand items such as clothing in the street. Such restrictions which had been put on Jews in relation to employment explains why most of them had taken up money lending as their profession. In matters of land, all landowners at the time were expected to pay tithe to the church. The church thus feared that the Jewish may refuse to pay tithe if they had the opportunity to own land. To that end, Christians were discouraged from selling their land to the Jewish persons or using their land as security against money that they borrowed from the Jews. The only relations Jewish people could have with the land, therefore, was managing large estates which is what they did. Clearly, Jews were not equal, did not have equal opportunities and thrived in an economic environment that was set not to favor them at all.
Eventually, among other subsequent developments, the banking industry came up. Jewish, having a rich background as money lenders became key players in this industry. The Jewish were well represented in this sector and a number of their families benefitted strongly from the same. Such families accumulated a lot of wealth from the profits acquired in the banking business and the long run and this sparked a lot of resentment against the Jews once more (Brustein, 2003 pp 183). This resentment is what grew to become so big a hatred that anti-Semitism sprouted.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Jews in Europe and specifically in Germany underwent hatred as well as violence to both their person and their property from the native Europeans. As aforementioned, a number of factors sparked the hatred, among them political, racial, economic and religious factors. The religious aspect especially can be dated from long ago after the death of Christ and can be considered in my view, as the main cause that instigated anti-Semitism in Germany and Europe in general.

Reference List
Brustein, W.I., (2003). ‘Roots of Hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe before the Holocaust’. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press pp. 1-183
Caplan, J. (2008). ‘Nazi Germany’. Oxford: Oxford University Press pp. 37
Hoffmann, Ch., Bergmann, W., and Smith, H.W. (2002) ‘Exclusionary Violence: Anti-Semitic Riots in Modern German History’. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press pp. 24
Pulzer, P.G.J. (1964) ‘The Rise of Political Anti-Semitism in Germany and Austria’. New York: John Wiley and Sons pp. 4
Volkov, Sh., (1978). ‘Antisemitism as a Cultural Code: Reflections on the History and Historiography of Antisemitism in Imperial Germany’. The Leo Baeck Institute Year Book, 1(1), pp.25-46 [online] Available at: https://academic.oup.com/leobaeck/article/23/1/25/944572 pp. 27