Holocaust Midterm 1 Study Guide

Holocaust was Unique because it was enormous (both worldwide and w/in Jewish history) and because it had
never occurred in such totality to the middle class; European Jewry was around for much over 1000 years (starting
in 70 CE and none was left after the holocaust) The holocaust was a systematic state sponsored genocide of Jews
(and others) in Europe btwn 33 and 45 by Nazi Germany and accomplices. It was also consequently robbery
because of all of the theft that occurred. Medieval Jewry from 70 CE to 1789 the Jews were self governing. They
had their own judicial system, hospitals, schools etc. They often paid high taxes into their own communities and
worked with specific associations to use tax money to improve/maintain their community. In 312 CE Christianity
came into Roman Society and this was the beginning for restrictions on Jewish society. Theodosian Code was
written in 438 CE and was a 16 volume compilation of Roman Law. This code would be the underlying root cause
for persecution and discrimination of European Jewry. It included statements that jews were enemies of imperial
law & Christ, could not participate in the nations society (i.e. military service/politics etc.) There was religious
tolerance though but much of the intermingling was strictly prohibited. They existed outside of the social
structure as direct property of the King. They were vertically aligned so they were unable to form alliances with
other classes (pros being protected by the King especially since they paid a lot of the taxes, cons being they were
hated when there was friction btwn King and lower classes). They lived in Jewish Quarters and because they were
not allowed to own land they were forced to find other ways to earn a living. This caused them to get into money
lending (which Christians were not allowed to do but someone had to do it) Jews were taxed not only w/in their
own society but also for the nation society, forcing them to have a higher tax on their loans around 33%. Jews
were 1/12 of 1% of pop. but paid 8% of Kings taxes.
During the time of the Crusades the massacres of Jews began. Though the goal of the crusades (1096 CE) was to
take control of Jerusalem from the Muslims, knights were murdering/robbing Jews all along the way. This led
eventually to the mass expulsions from Western Europe (1100 at the earliest in Germany and the biggest in 1492).
The jews then fled to Eastern Europe which eventually led to the first Jewish Ghetto in 1516 in Venice. Eventually
Jews started moving back into Western Europe when people argued less about who has the truth to who are
helpful citizens. 3 Stages of Jewish Emancipation First Stage 1740-1789 (btwn 1740 1789 when things were
getting better for the Jews because they realized many of the laws against Jews were based on religious
intolerance) Second Stage 1789 1878 (this second stage was prompted by the French Revolution which brought
an end to the class system and the incorporation into society but also losing their self governance) Third Stage
1878 1933 (this third stage was a response period after the Congress of Berlin that was basically the beginning of
the attempt by Jews to truly assimilate into society [especially German Society]).
Medieval Anti-Semitism - Anti Semitism existed in countries with both lots of Jews and few. Many of it began
during the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire where Christianity became a more lenient derivation of Judaism
that was less exclusive that began to blame the Jews for the Death of Christ AKA DEICIDE. This all taking place
during the 4
th
century and even before it became official teaching from Origen that Jews were against the savior of
humanity and thats why the diaspora happened and they are no longer the chosen people. Christians did not
believe in killing Jews (because they could be saved by converting). Pope Gregory I preached to keep them
degraded but not dead (though this was not followed by Crusaders like Godfrey of Bouillon). Stereotypes and anti
Semitism was recorded into Art. Ecclesia and Synagoga were two statues in Stralsberg that showed a blind and
broken Jewish woman and her heroine counterpart. Jews were also forced to wear badges or hats (Germany
had Circles, England had Ten Commandment Tablets, while hats were all goofy pointed hats). Aaron Son of the
Devil was drawn in 1277 which was just a doodle on a tax scroll of a Jew with a hooked nose (giving birth to the
stereotype). They also had ritual murder charges that accused Jews of killing children and crucifying them to show
contempt for Christianity. The most famous cases were William of Norwich (the first charge in 1144) Simon of
Trent in 1475. From these false accusations they were able to gain profit from shrines for pilgrimage and led to
the stereotype of Jews loving blood. They accused Jews of Host Desecration where Jews purposefully stab wafers
that are the body of Christ. All of these contributed to Jewish expulsion. Within Germany there was one more
stereotype, Judensaw meaning (Jewish Pig) which depicted Jews riding Pigs, sucking their teats and eating their
excrement. This eventually led to a fake article about a Jewish Woman Birthing 2 Pigs.
Scientific Racism in the 1700s the idea that all men are created equal was only one of two conflicting ideas. It
was the early beginnings of Physical Anthropology that developed in the 1800s that sought to distinguish people
based on race or biological class. There were two main competing thoughts, Monogenism (all ppl come from one
source, but could change overtime) and Polygenism (different ppl have different sources). This in a way brought
back Aristotles Great Chain of Being. JJ Winkelmann started the idea of aestheticism and found them in
Greek/Roman Sculpture. Afterwards, Johann Friedrich Blumenback (father of physical anthro) developed his
theory of 5 races. They were Caucasian, African, Mongoloid, Malay and Native American. He believed all stemmed
from Caucasians and the changes in people were due to environment and was not biological. There were ideas
about facial angles for beauty and that Asians were least beautiful and Caucasians were most beautiful etc. And
though Darwin himself never held these beliefs, it was commonly held that race was correlated to traits like
intelligence. This development led to Physiognomy and Phrenology. Physiognomy was Lavaters field of study
that would predict a persons temperament by their facial structure, while Phrenology was the science of reading
bumps on the skull. They were crucial to the development of this Race Science. Phrenology led directly into
Crainiometry which measured whether you had a (b) round head or a long head. Gobineau wrote the Inequality
of Races saying that there was a Master Aryan race that was being destroyed by race mixing which would
ultimately destroy culture. Eventually race began to be linked to Linguistics by Herder saying that you will be
related to your linguistic ancestors (which kept Jews out because Hebrew isnt proto-indo-european in root). Jews
mostly didnt fit into anyones race model so many either misplaced them into the African or Asian category or
simply said that u can tell they are different but cant describe why (partially because Jews varied widely in
appearance). In order to help place them into a category, Jews were photographed compositely to create an
average look.
Modern Anti-Semitism in 1871 Jews were emancipated in Germany and there was a massive urbanization of
Jews (from 3600 to 144,000 in 30 years). By trying to fit into society they ended up sticking out more because they
became over represented in Universities and as Doctors, Lawyers etc. This started the point at which Jews were
viewed as a threat, looking to subversively take control and create their own nation. This eventually led to Political
Parties running on anti semitic campaigns and were blamed for many political issues (including contradicting ones
like Capitalism and Bolshevism). Adolf Stocker was the leader of the first Anti Semitic Political Party and was also
the court chaplain to the Kaiser. Verjudung was a phrase meaning Jewification that expressed that Jews were
trying to take over Germany. In 1879 the Berlin Movement took rise which was an anti-Jewish movement and
eventually in 1882 they had an openly Anti-Semite Convention in Dresden. Finally the Tivoli Program of 1893 was
a conservative party that became anti-Jewish because they were losing ground to anti-semitic parties. Anti-
Semitism was soon tied to race with people like Wagner who said that Jews were not able to be creative enough to
make art (they could mimic though). And Marr who invented the word Anti-Semitism said that Jews were better,
tougher & smarter than Germans and will become the power in the West because of emancipation. He painted a
picture that it was a war of Germans against Jews which stuck around there afterwards. Fritsch wrote an anti-
semitic book which was one of the best-selling books in Germany and became the link between 19
th
century Anti
Semitism and the Nazis (huge influence on Hitler). Chamberlain (son in Law to Wagner) wrote the bible for
Eugenics who also influenced Hitler. Anti-Semitism was seen in Childrens books and in Vacation areas w/in their
postcards.
Hitler was great at Gymnastics (relevant because of bodily glorification and themes w/in such social circles) and
History. He pictured wars between ethnic groups as a child and disliked the Hapsburg Monarchy. He wanted to
rectify history by enslaving slavs and murdering Jews. He moved to Vienna to pursue art, but he didnt get in and
was lazy. He lived poorly in Vienna (which he questioned why he was poor) in a Mens Hostel where he honed his
oratorical skills. He was very influenced by Volkish Ideology similar to the word folk it was about understanding
the roots of German existence with ties to their race/bio and soil. It was exclusive and should be celebrated.
Hitler boasted that he was a great historian, but he read glorified anti semitic porn. This included Liebenfels
which suggested lower races be sterilized because Germans descended from higher Alien races. He also believed
anti semitic pogroms would rise naturally. Hitler believed that they would arise but as emotional outbursts and it
wouldnt be as effective as a systematic means. Guido von List was another of his inspirations that wrote about
Ariosophy (similar to Volkish except more about wisdom of Aryans). Hitler like many was in great support for WWI
and even was pictured at Odeonsplatz at a pro war rally. Hitler also didnt fit the style of Vienna and it was an area
where Jews were thriving. In Vienna, personality driven politics rose, which was a time of great influence for
Hitler. Up until 1860s Vienna is centralist but Schonerer and Lueger who were both political heads (Pan-Germans
& Christian Social Party) were emotionally stirring and mixed in Modern & Volkish ideology. Lueger was more
successful but Schonerer was more anti semitic and pan german which hitler liked. Hitler was pathologically
obsessed with Jews and Herzl described Vienna at the time as deeply anti semitic.
WWI This war had a huge effect on Europe as a whole because there were no true winners. Nazism is ultimately
a result of WWI and WWI would be referenced continually throughout WWII and the Holocaust. Jews fought on
both sides and in large numbers were often fought in densely populated Jewish areas. From WWI we find
genocide, propaganda etc. There were quite a few battles in WWI that shifted the tides to give the Britain and
France the upper hand including Battle of Marne (first stalemate trench warfare) Battle of Verdun (backfired plan
to break French Spirit) Battle of Tannenburge (Germans won to beat out Russia), Battle of the Somme (first tank
battle with horrible casualties on both sides).