How did the status and position of Jews change in the European countries Russia, France and Germany in the years 1880-1920?
The Jews 1880 to the Present Day
How did the status and position of Jews change in the European countries Russia, France and Germany in the years 1880-1920?
By Elizabeth Cranney 11H
Throughout history Jews have been persecuted. I am going to write about how their status and position changed from 1880 to 1920 in the countries France, Russia and Germany. Anti-Semitism, the persecution of Jews, was introduced centuries before the year 1880. In Ancient times Jews were used as slaves by the Egyptian's, the Babylonian's and the Roman's. In many countries Jewish temples, synagogues were destroyed and Judaism was banned. As Christianity grew so did the persecution of Jews. Christians blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus Christ and the Bible calls the Jews, 'The children of the Devil'. Many high figures in the Church spoke openly about their hatred of Jews, Saint Jerome (374-419) said, 'They seek all earthly things, but think nothing of heavenly things...'Martin Luther, the Protestant reformist later said in 1543, '...we cannot tolerate them...therefore away with them...'
In Medieval Europe Jews were ejected and tolerated in different countries. Jews were expelled from places such as England in 1290, in Spain the Spanish inquisition first tried to force Jews to convert to Christianity, and then they were finally expelled in 1492. There were also expulsions in France in the 14th Century, many Jews found refuge in Poland where they were guaranteed rights. Many Jews were expelled from the country they lived because; the monarch of the country may have owed them money. Christian's were forbidden to lend money and charge interest, so Jews got the jobs such as bankers and became wealthy. The Christian's became jealous of the Jews, however if a Jewish businessman lent money to the royalty of that country and the repayments got too high, the monarch could just expel all Jews. This cleared his debt. The Crusades war also proved a huge problem for European Jews. The Crusaders were Christian's travelling from Northern Europe to Jerusalem to fight in the Holy War. On the way they stopped at towns around Europe and massacred many Jews, in some cases the Archbishop of that town tried to stop the Crusaders, only to fail. Anti-Semitism was originated long before 1880 and was not invented by Adolf Hitler.
In France Jews had been treated fairly by Napoleon; he freed many ghettos that were occupied by Jews, they were also given full civil rights before any other European country, in the late 18th Century. It was even the earliest country in Europe to have Jewish cabinet ministers; the first time a Jew entered the cabinet was in 1848. Many other countries did not allow Jews into the cabinet until the 20th Century, including Britain.
Unfortunately, all this deteriorated because of two scandals that happened near the end of the 19th Century. In 1880 a canal ...
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In France Jews had been treated fairly by Napoleon; he freed many ghettos that were occupied by Jews, they were also given full civil rights before any other European country, in the late 18th Century. It was even the earliest country in Europe to have Jewish cabinet ministers; the first time a Jew entered the cabinet was in 1848. Many other countries did not allow Jews into the cabinet until the 20th Century, including Britain.
Unfortunately, all this deteriorated because of two scandals that happened near the end of the 19th Century. In 1880 a canal was to be built linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, which was to be called the Panama Canal. French people invested a lot of money into the scheme, but the plan had too many problems and by 1889 lots of money had been lost. It was found the money had been used to bribe politicians into supporting the canal in public. Then it was found many of the businessmen involved were Jewish. The effect of this incident was; many more French people became Anti-Semites because, they were so furious that Jewish financiers had taken their money. Some French people thought that Jews were greedy and that they worshipped money because, of the Panama Scandal.
The Dreyfus Affair spoiled Jewish reputation furthermore. A French officer called Dreyfus was framed for the offence of offering to betray France for Germany, the Chiefs thought he was a traitor. He liked reading documents on artillery and that he was Jewish was the only evidence held against him. They said Dreyfus was not French because, he was a Jew. Dreyfus was sentenced for life; he lived on a rock in the middle of the ocean for four years. It took twelve years for Dreyfus to clear his name. France became divided by the affair, even a cartoon drew at the time showed a family at the dinner table saying, 'We must talk about the Dreyfus Affair' and then physically fighting over it, this shows the anger the subject brought with it. The divisions in France continued beyond 1920 and in World War Two the French Anti-Semites helped the Nazis to transport Jews to death camps.
In France there would have only been very rare outbreaks of violence. There were books published expressing Anti-Semitic violence, they were written from 1845 to 1886. There was an occasion by an Anti-Semitic society the League of Patriots who devised to murder the French President in 1899.
In France by 1920 things were improving, Jews could succeed into places of authority. Leon Blum was Jewish and he became leader of the Socialist Party after the First World War. He had a successful career in spite of many criticisms of him being Jewish from his opposition.
In Russia, the Pale of Settlement was established in 1835. The Pale of Settlement was at the far west of Russia and Jews were ordered to live there. By 1897 there were five million Jews living in the Pale. The Jews were expelled to this area by the government because; the government thought of Jews as 'foreigners', that they were a different nationality. Jews living in the towns outside the Pale were only allowed to if they had a special permit, to live outside they had to be a benefit to Russia though, for instance they may have had to be writers; actors or pianists. Some towns inside the Pale also expelled Jews and permits were needed there too. The existence of the Pale in Russia shows that the Russian's did not want to associate with Jews, unless they had a special talent. The fact that some towns within the Pale did not permit Jews shows that ordinary people also did not tolerate Jews, not just the Russian government.
'Pogrom' is Russian for 'violent mass attack'. These pogroms were usually directed at the Jewish communities inside and outside the Pale. The first pogrom occurred in 1871 in Odessa, inside the Pale. This type of pogrom was thought to have been originated by the government, it could have been done to stop the Jews becoming successful within the Pale. At this time in Russia there was a huge population of peasants, they often vented their own dissatisfied economic situation into anti-Jewish violence, causing the pogroms of 1882 to 1899. These pogroms were also caused by the predicament that Russia was in; it still used the feudal system, the peasants had no rights and this caused resentment. In 1905 there was an unsuccessful revolution against the Tsar leaving many Russians bitter. There was a growing abhorrence of Jews and along with government encouragement, this caused the pogroms of 1902 to 1906. Pogroms were probably the leading cause of why Jews emigrated from Russia, however there was also the deteriorating economic stature and the peasants living conditions. Most Russian Jews emigrated to the United States of America or other parts of Europe.
In 1917 there was a revolution in Russia that over threw the throne of the Tsar. It was caused by the poverty of the poor, no food and the millions of Russians lost in World War One. The left wing Communists took over Russia, they believed that there should not be a class system in Russia. They also declared equal rights for Jews. Some of the leading Communist Ministers were Jewish. Although, just because the government had changed, did not mean that many of the Russian people would change too. Killings of Jews continued, until in 1921 the communists took control of all areas of Russia. Yet, many people would still hold their views of Jews, however the government would not strike out against Jews because of their religion.
In Germany in the year 1880 there was a lot of Anti-Semitic views. There was Wilhelm Marr, who was a German Anti-Semite, he wrote 'There is no stopping them (Jews)...you are allowing the German to be skinned alive'. There was also at the time Theodor Fritsch who wrote the 'Ten Commandments for an Anti-Semite', one of the commandments was 'Thou shalt keep thy blood pure'. Many intellectuals supported Anti-Semitism, in 1881 an Anti-Semitic league was set up and in 1882 the Anti-Semitic Party won seats in Parliament. Jews were only allowed themselves into Parliament in 1918.
After World War One the role that Jews played in the war was revealed. Jews were appreciated for their part in the war. The fact that100,000 Jews went to war and out of this number 35,000 received medals and 23,000 were promoted. However, a poster released at the time showed that German Jewish mothers still needed defence from calumnies against their sons. This shows that there was still bigotry after the war, as this poster would not have been needed otherwise.
After World War One a new government, the Weimar Republic took over Germany. They set up the Weimar Constitution that changed the lives of many German Jews. Hugo Preuss, who was a Jew, devised it and it guaranteed equal rights for Jews. In the new Weimar republic Jews succeeded, Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize in Physic and many other Jews became famous like Kurt Weill and Erich Mendelsohn. Jews took a leading role in German society influencing many aspects of German life; they were even allowed to have a cabinet seat in Parliament. Unfortunately, even though Jews had equal rights did not mean that the Anti-Semitic Germans did not stop hating Jews. The fact that Nazism could appeal to so many people later on in German history shows this. Views in 1919 and 1920 by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party show hatred of Jews obviously still existed, Hitler wrote in a letter '...the final objective must be complete removal of the Jews.' and the Nazi Party wrote in their programme, 'No Jew can therefore be a German national.' This evidence shows most German Anti- Semites would not stop what they believed in just because the government did not agree with it.
Between each country, France, Russia and Germany, there are similarities and differences. In all of the countries Jews were given equal rights, though there was still Anti-Semitic feeling in each country. In France and Germany Jews were allowed to sit in Parliament and in Russia they could become Communist Ministers. In Germany and Russia a new government brought hope to Jews. In some ways life changed for the better for some Jewish Russians and Germans between 1880 and 1920. The degree of change was obviously different in each country, even though Germany and Russia have a lot of similarities. It would also take the upper classes a lot harder to change the way they thought of Jews, since in France it was the upper classes that mostly spoke out against Dreyfus. The status and position of Jews did change in each country in 1880 to 1920. In positive ways, like in Russia and Germany, where Jews could become power figures for the first time and in negative ways, like in France with the Panama Scandal and the Dreyfus Affair; were some French acted Anti-Semitic in public for the first time.
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