The status and position of Jews in Europe in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

HISTORY COURSEWORK.

The status and position of Jews in Europe in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century was starting to fall in Russia and Eastern Europe as although there was hatred and suspicion of the Jews which had never died out in these areas. Anti Judaism was getting very deep seated. In Russia, Poland and Ukraine, there was still a large number of Jews still living in traditional communities and they were surrounded by hostile Christian communities. Therefore the Jews freedom became limited and they were terrorised by pogroms. Pogroms were massacre’s of a group of people in which in 1919 about 50,000 Jews were massacred by Ukrainian nationalists and other groups. Jews were also used as scapegoats in Europe, therefore being blamed for things that were not even there fault.

The Jewish religion was established over 5000 years before Hitler came to power in Germany. After they were driven out of Judea in the middle east after the Romans destroyed their Temple in AD 70. The act of the Romans started off the persecution of the Jews.

This is a preview of the whole essay

It was the Christian church which started off tension with Jews in Europe in the middle ages when the Christian church dominated most religions in Europe in the middle ages. Jews had never been fully accepted before Hitler so aswell as their success which Hitler was jealous of, the Jews were also an ‘easy’ target for Hitler. Jews were known as ‘Christian killers’ during the middle ages as it is believed that it was a Jewish ruler which ordered that Jesus was to be crucified on the cross. Jews were victims of brutal attacks in the 1340’s as they were savagely attacked by Christians or burnt to death in Strasburg in 1347 during the black death. In the 16th century, because of the conditions the Jews had to live in then, the areas in which Jews lived were called Ghetto’s, these factors were something which the Nazi’s revived in the 20th century. In the 16th century a German catholic monk called Martin Luther described the Jews as ‘Poisonous bitter worms’, this was when the catholic church was coming under attack by reformers.

In 1902, a book called’ The protocols of the learned elders of Zion’ was published. This book accused Jews of many things such as Jews being ‘Rich money grabbing capitalists’ and ‘Revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow capitalism.’ This book was just one of three factors that made up the 3p’s. The 3p’s stood for-

Pogroms, which means the massacre of one group of people.
Pale of Settlement, which means an area of land where Jews lived.
Protocols of the learned elders of Zion which was the book released in 1902.

1902 was a turning point as it made things even worse for the Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe as the Nazi’s were beginning there attempts to take over Europe and get a bigger Empire.

As well as in Germany, the Jews were being persecuted around Europe as the Nazi’s were taking over more countries, especially in eastern Europe in France and Russia. The largest population of Jews in Europe was in Russia and 90% of them were very poor. The government brought in 650 laws against the Jews. In 1881-1889, Jews were under sustained attacks from Anti- Semites, his then started again in 1902- 1906 when the Nazi’s took over Russia and due to the release of the book ‘Protocols of the learned elders of Zion’ in 1902. Because of the amount of Jews in Russia was so great, Russia became the first country where Anti- Semitism was official policy. By 1917 life started to improve for Jews in Russia as there was a Revolution March in which the Tsar& Monarchy was overthrown. They also got rid of the 650 laws against the Jews and everyone was classed as equal. In France on the other hand, the 19th century saw the beginning of the Status and Position of the Jews fall. In the 1879 an Anti- Semite called William Marr said that ‘Jews are a race and not a religion’ this therefore made the Jews standout as different. In Germany, Anti- Semitism was a well known/recognised way of life than in all of the other countries. A new thing called Social Darwinism was adopted by some new Anti- Semites which was a belief in a hierarchy of races.

BY MATT WINSTANLEY