The tsarist government who were happy to blame the Jews for their economical problems and often ordered these attacks. This period was a hard time for the Jews. Probably the most well known instance of anti-Semitism was the ‘ Protocols of the Elders of Zion’.
This was meant to be a plan written by the Jews of world domination. It was a forgery and it didn’t stop people believing it.
This lead to mass beating of the Jews in more pogroms. Many Jews migrated to the United States of America or to Western Europe.
Self-defence groups were formed, and occasionally succeeded in driving the attacks away. The Jewish deaths in Russia shocked most of Western Europe.
Many Jews took part in the Russian October revolution of 1917. The Tsar’s supporters murdered 85000 Jews in the revolution. After the revolution, Jews were immediately given rights as equal citizens. However pogroms continued, and many Jews were killed.
At the end of the 19th century in France, the Jews were emancipated and became equals to the French people. This was to happen in many of the Western European countries. However, alike in Germany many right-wing groups still existed. There was hundreds of thousands of Jews living in France in the late nineteenth century. A man called Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully charged for giving away French positions because he was Jewish. He was imprisoned and blamed due to his Jewish faith. This was like in Germany the start of Anti-Semitism.
At this time the Army was still very right wing. They believed that the Jews should be considered to be untrustworthy and dangerous. Dreyfus was finally released in 1906 after being found innocent of the charges. Left-wing people were quick to defend Dreyfus from the strong right-wing people who were persecuting him. These Dreyfus affairs brought French anti-Semitism into the open.
In Germany the Jews took up about 1 % of the national population. They fitted into the community and didn’t stand out. They dressed like other Western European countries and learnt their languages. These Jews were not as religious as the Jews in the East as a whole. They lived amongst the community in normal houses and apartments. In 1848 there were revolutions throughout Europe, including Germany. This secured some improvements for the Jewish people. The majority of the Jews were still living in poverty though. However there was still a big difference between the rich and the poor. A small percentage of Jews took up important jobs such as scientists, lawyers and bankers. The coming of factories and railways brought many Jewish people into business such as brewing, leather, cigars, chemicals and electrical goods. German Jews ran an increasing percentage of jobs.
In 1866 the Orianenburger Strasse synagogue was opened. This shows how much the Jews had been accepted into the German Community.
The Idea of equality was beginning to become stronger as a whole in Germany. However, in parts of Germany anti-Semitism was visible.
The thought of Jews not being on a level par with the human race started with Martin Luther in the sixteenth century.
He said, “Know, Christian, that next to the devil thou hast no enemy more cruel, more venomous and violent than a true Jew. “ He urged Christians to destroy the houses of Jewish people and set fire to synagogues in honour of the lord.
The musical composer Richard Wagner wrote that Jews did not belong to any European Community. He said, “ They are not capable of true music, poetry or art”. Wilhelm Marr founded the Anti-Semites League.
He was the first to use the term Anti-Semitism. Despite this most Jews were optimistic about the future. The Jews were blamed for crime, as they were meant to be racially unequal. Despite all the racial abuse 12,000 German Jews were killed fighting in World War One. They were as patriotic as full Germans and won a lot of awards for bravery.
I conclude that Jews in the western part of Europe were accepted as citizens more than the Jews that lived in the east were. The Jews in the west fitted into the community whereas the eastern Jews didn’t. Over the next couple of years Anti-Semitism increased in Europe. As time past, the western European countries began to have more hated for the Jews. When Hitler got to power in 1933 he set out to exterminate the Jewish race. Germany captured countries and with those countries he captured more Jews. This was the start of the ‘Final solution’ or the Holocaust.
