Question

Hi, everyone. I have to write a World Religions essay and I chose this topic: Research Jewish history in Europe from the Middle Ages to WWII, and discuss whether or not the holocaust was in the making for over 700 years. Please help me gather up some points and a thesis! There were many other topics to choose from but although I'm more into science, history is second in my list. Please help!

Answer 1

This is a really complex topic with no easy answers. A number of historians recognize that Europe has had a long history of pogroms and other forms of persecution aimed at the Jews spanning 700 years. Christian Europe would often use the Jews as scapegoats for anything such as the Black Plague to simply shunning them for being different.

It is also important to remember that not all Christians shared this view with a number risking their lives to defend communities of Jews from the pogroms. The Christian Church, at the time, was also very different in its role in society back then than it is now as it wielded a lot of political power that it used against anyone that it thought was an enemy whether they were a Jew or not. Hatreds were easy to spread in a time where superstition and suspicion went hand in hand.

Fast forwarding to WW2 and Hitler's Germany, that was when the Holocaust took the form that it is widely recognized as today. First by depriving the Jews of their rights under the Nuremburg Laws and then slowly ostracizing them from society, ultimately leading to Hitler's Final Solution of mass murder. It is also important to remember here that not every German subscribed to this and some would again risk their lives to protect the Jews from the Nazis just as many medieval Christians did.

Two sites that might help you with your research are:

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
http://www.ushmm.org/

The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
http://www.holocaust-education.dk/baggrund/antisemitisme.asp

Both should help provide more information for you and give you ideas on how to shape your argument.

Answer 2

Hello, Captain Page Turner, thank you for sharing your thoughts about my essay topic. If you don't mind me asking: Do you think having main points, such as:

1st body paragraph:
Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust.

I could talk about how in the Middle Ages, Jews were widely persecuted for being "Christ-killers," exiled by rulers, accused of the black plague and were known as scapegoats to Christian rulers. Plus back then they were known to be money lenders, which were good jobs back then. However, Christian rulers would throw Jews out of their kingdom to solve their money problems.

2nd body paragraph:
Antisemitism

Perhaps, I could talk about the pogroms in Russia (violent riots launched against Jews). Also pogroms were incited by blood libels. Around the 19th century, the Nazi Party compelled Jews to live in Jewish-ghettos, and could not have the freedom to own lands. Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi party gained popularity through disseminating anti-Jewish propaganda.

3rd body paragraph:
The Nazis in 19th century

They had anti-Semitic racial policies for Jews to follow such as they were not allowed to work as civil servants, profgessors, journalists and artists. German Jews are forced to wear the yellow star, and extermination camps were established. The Nazi Party also believed being a Jew was no longer based on faith but from the "blood".

I'm still blanked out with the big picture I am trying to tell my readers. From what I have written above, my essay could be that the holocaust was in the making for over 700 years due to the life they had to endure. /: Please help. & thank you again!

Answer 3

It sounds like you're well on your way! The tough part will be trying to make your points without trivializing too much. This is a big topic to cover, but kudos to you for trying to tackle something this important.

Another way to view things is in that opportunists throughout history have always seized upon certain groups as "villains of convenience" to promote their own agendas. In the case of many of these pogroms and acts of murder, the Jews. With the Nazis, they took things to extremes with state-sanctioned methods used to dehumanize and ultimately kill the Jews.

At the time, Germany was reeling from economic distress, a humiliating treaty from WW1, and a large number of people out of work. Hitler's message of delivering them out of that poverty won out over the antisemitic message he also preached. Again, he and the Nazis found the Jews to be convenient scapegoats for everything wrong in their lives. It's an old refrain that many have used before to justify themselves.

One point you can make from this is that in nearly every society, there will always be those that will try and find anyone to blame for anything. Even after the terrible events of WW2, you can still look up examples of this kind of blind hate in the persecution of the Kurds under Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the ethnic cleansing perpetrated during the Yugoslav Wars in the 90s.