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 Anti-Semitism Definition

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Anti-Semitism - (also Antisemitism ) - Jew Hatred. The word antisemitisch was probably first used in 1860 by a Jew, Moritz Steinschneider, in the phrase "antisemitic prejudices" ("antisemitischen Vorurteile") to criticize the racist ideas of Ernst Renan. "Semitic" is a term that describes a group of languages. The German polemicist Wilhelm Marr coined the German word Antisemitismus in 1879 to give a scientific aura to his ideology of hatred of Jews. Since the term in proper usage does not refer to all "Semites" and there is no Semitic "race," the term "antisemitism" was suggested by Yehuda Bauer instead. The term Judeophobia, coined originally by Leon Pinsker, is also used to describe hatred of Jews. Arab Jew haters have tried to claim that they are not "anti-Semites" since they themselves are Semites, and some Arabs use the term in that way. In this page we use the term "anti-Semitism" only because it is the most popular accepted term and therefore it is most used when people search for this topic.

Characteristics of anti-Semitic ideology and characteristic "markers" - The following can be used as guides to quickly identify anti-Semitic books, articles and Web sites, without regard to attitude toward Israel or Zionism, even if the masquerade as "anti-Zionist" or "libertarian" or "liberal": Some of the background of these items is given below. (See also Jew )

In general, any work that pretends to describe the characteristics or traits of a whole people might be racist even if unintentionally so. Racism or bigotry directed at Jews is anti-Semitism. Examples:

Jews are dishonest in business.

Jewish women are good in bed.

The Jews ("Zionists") control the press.

Any of the following are certain signs of anti-Semitic racism, which predate or are unrelated to Israel:

Protocols of the Elders of Zion - Any work that publicizes this forged document as true is anti-Semitic. Often the claim is made that the Protocols were actually the resolution of the first Zionist congress in Basle, which was held in 1897, 8 years before the publication of the protocols.

Blood libel - Any publication that claims Jews use the blood of Christians to bake ritual cakes is anti-Semitic obviously. It may be hard to believe, but this medieval superstition is popular in the Arab world.

Holocaust revisionism - Any work that claims the  Holocaust did not occur or was exaggerated by Jews or "Zionists" or uses the phrase "Holocaust Myth" is anti-Semitic. (see Holocaust Myth)

Exclusivism - The notion that Jews are an "Exclusivist" or clannish people that shuts out others predates Christianity and is a sure sign of anti-Semitism.

Jews are powerful and control the world -  Jews constitute a tiny fraction (less than 2%) of the population of the United States, and a much smaller fraction of world population (12 million out of 6 billion -- about .002 = 2 thousandths). The only country that has a Jewish head of state is Israel. Nonetheless, anti-Semites assert that Jews or "Zionists" control the world and assert their "pernicious influence" in mysterious ways.

Talmud - Works that insist that the Talmud contains laws that discriminate against non-Jews or teach Jews to cheat gentiles are anti-Semitic. Likewise works that insist that Jews hold the Talmud to be more holy than the Old Testament or that all Jews believe the Talmud are anti-Semitic. The claims are false.

Hesronot Shas (or Chesronot Shas )  - Medieval censors banned portions of the Talmud which they believed contained Jewish libels against Jesus and the Christian holy family, though these are not mentioned by name. The banned materials were circulated as a separate book called Hesronot Shas. Today they have been reintegrated into most editions of the Talmud, and the Chesronot Shas  is also freely available in Hebrew. Anti-Semites continue to insist that that Chesronot Shas is a secret Jewish book that outlines the Jewish plot against non-Jews, Jewish hatred of Christianity and the Jewish plan to take over the world.

Kol Nidre - This prayer is said on the evening of the Jewish day of atonement (Yom Kippur). It absolves Jews of personal vows that they made to God (only vows that do not involve other people). It applies only to religious vows such as fasting or charity. It is deliberately misinterpreted by anti-Semites to be a disavowal of all agreements and business contracts, allowing Jews to be dishonest. Mention of this fable as true in a work or Web site is a certain sign it is anti-Semitic.

Mein Kampf and Nazism - Any Web site or work that disseminates Hitler's Mein Kampf approvingly and or other Nazi works and memorabilia is obviously anti-Semitic.

Jewish conspiracies and Jewish "pernicious" influence - Any work that asserts that there is a Jewish conspiracy or conspiracies behind world wars or other events is anti-Semitic. Sometimes "Zionist" is used in place of "Jewish" but the reference is to events that occurred before the rise of modern Zionism, such as the French revolution.

Anti-Semitism - a detailed overview and Historical summary

This overview outlines the essential history and characteristics of anti-Semitism. A more detailed discussion from a slightly different perspective is available at Judeophobia or 'Antisemitism - a History.

Ancient Anti-Semitism -  Anti-Jewish sentiments and theories were in evidence in pagan culture. . A large anti-Jewish riot took place in Alexandria about 38 years before the birth of Christ. This fable,  found in Apion of Alexandria (about 20 BCE -45 CE)  was repeated as true by others. Tacitus' views of the Jews are given in The Histories 5.2-5 (see e http://www.livius.org/am-ao/antisemitism/antisemitism-t.html). Jews are reviled in the satires of Juvenal.

Following is a summary of ancient views of the Jews:

 The emperors Tiberius and Claudius are said to have expelled the Jews from Rome.

Philostratus (170-c.244) states that Jews are subhuman or different from humanity:

For the Jews have long been in revolt [...] against humanity; and a race that has made its own a life apart and irreconcilable, that cannot share the pleasures of the table with the rest of mankind  nor join in their libations or prayers or sacrifices, are separated from ourselves by a greater gulf than divides us from Susa or Bactra or the more distant Indies.

[Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 5.33; ]
Christian anti-Semitism - According to early fathers of the church, Jews were damned because they had killed Christ. For this reason, according to Eusebius of Caesaria, Jews could not rebuild the Jerusalem or the temple in Jerusalem, as their destruction had been visited upon them for killing the Messiah. The Crusades became the occasion for wholesale slaughter of Jews in Germany and elsewhere despite the attempt of the Catholic church to moderate the violence. During the Crusades and in other anti-Jewish riots, whole Jewish towns and Jewish quarters were burned and people were thrown from the walls of cities. Often Jews were rounded up in the synagogue and burned  alive. This treatment has been characterized euphemistically by some modern Christian writers as "indignities suffered by the Jews."

 In the Middle ages, Jews were periodically expelled from  European countries and their property was confiscated. For example, Jews were expelled  from Spain more than once - last in 1492 (followed in 1496-7 by expulsion from Portugal), from England under Edward I (1290) and France under Philip Augustus (1182). Philip readmitted the Jews in 1198, carefully regulating their banking business for his benefit. In Spain Jews were forced to convert, often on pain of death, over a very long period, and then under Ferdinand and Isabella, the "conversos" were subject to an inquisition and forced to admit that they were secret Jews and heretics under torture. The motivations for the inquisition were Christian piety, consolidation of the rule to the state as against noblemen who either were conversos or were supported by them, and confiscation of converso lands and wealth. Inquisitors were canonized as saints by the Roman Catholic Church as late as the 19th century.

Forced Conversions - In addition to conversions effected in Spain under the the threat of expulsion or death, Jews were sometimes forced to attend periodic sermons intended to convert them.

Disputations - A characteristic persecution consisting of holding a public debate between a Christian priest or church official and a Rabbi or leader of the Jewish community. The debate was meant to "prove" the correctness of the Christian faith. At the conclusion of the debate, Jews were killed or subjected to mass conversion, or Jewish books such as the Talmud were burned (see illustration at right).

Medieval Anti-Semitism - Burning the Talmud
Anti-Semitism - Pope Gregory orders the Talmud to be burned A.D. 1239 after a disputation. Panel - Pedro Berruguete, 15th century. Note the non-heretical book floating above the fire.

Replacement Theology - The Old Testament prophets stated that Israel were the chosen people of God who would be rescued and restored to the holy land. Church fathers devised replacement theology to reinterpret references to "Israel" as the Christians and the Christian Church. This notion was a central tenet of anti-Jewish thinking in the Middle Ages. The emperor Ferdinand of Spain believed that he was destined to bring about the restoration of "Israel" which required expulsion of the Jews from Spain, and ultimately a crusade to reconquer the holy land. Replacement theology has been revived and popularized by "anti-Zionists" such as the Reverend Sizer.

Medieval Superstitions about Jews - Some of the typical medieval superstitions about Jews included:

Jews poison the wells - This libel was supposed to be the origin of plagues and particularly the black plague.

Jews desecrate the host - Spoilage of communion wafers, which turned red from a fungus, was attributed to Jews who had dipped the wafers in the blood of slaughtered Christians.

Jews kill Christians in secret - For example, explaining the reasons for expulsion of the Jews from France, the French monk Rigord (d. 1205) related that [Philip Augustus had often heard] that the Jews who dwelt in Paris were wont every year on Easter day, or during the sacred week of our Lord's Passion, to go down secretly into underground vaults and kill a Christian as a sort of sacrifice in contempt of the Christian religion. For a long time they had persisted in this wickedness, inspired by the devil, and in Philip's father's time, many of them had been seized and burned with fire.

The Blood Libel - A variation of the secret killings theme, the blood libel insists that Jews kill pre-pubertal Christian boys in order to prepare the unleavened bread (Matzoth) of the Passover. It was possibly born in 1144 in England, where a Christian mob accused Jews of murdering the boy William of Norwich during Easter see above). This story was related in The Life and Miracles of St William of Norwich, by Thomas of Monmouth, a Norwich monk. This story, like the fables related by Rigord, did not claim that the Jews used the blood to bake unleavened bread, but rather claimed the boy had been crucified. Nonetheless, it is often considered to be the first "blood libel."

In Spain in1491 Spanish inquisitors forced Jews to confess that they had killed a Christian child, one Christopher of Toledo or Christopher of La Guardia, later made a saint of the Roman Catholic church and venerated as Santo Nino de La Guardia. No missing child was ever reported that would correspond to this child and corroborate the tale. The tale was elicited from the victims by the holy inquisitors under torture, by suggestion (for example, "Confess that on this date you did do X") it is likely that the blood libel was well known by this time.

The Talmud - The Talmud supposedly contained conspiratorial formulae, imprecations against Jesus and Mary and injunctions to cheat and discriminate against non-Jews. Therefore it would often banned or censored.

Physiognomy - In addition to characteristic large noses and stooped postures, Jews in the Middle Ages may be shown with tails and horns, similar to the devil.

Modern European Anti-Semitism - Anti-Semitism was evident in the enlightenment writings of Voltaire and others. Edward Gibbon, who wrote the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, stated in a footnote that Jews in Cyprus had rioted and engaged in capitalism. Like many enlightenment figures, one of his complaints against the Christian religion was that it was derived from Judaism. Modern anti-Semitism is associated with racial theories of 19th century Germany, who insisted that Jews are a separate and inferior race. Adolf Stoecker, Wilhelm Marr, m Richard Wagner and Heinrich von Treitchke were prominent anti-Semites   This notion probably developed as a reaction to assimilation of Jews who had converted to Christianity. Popular figures such as  Mendelsohn, Heine and others who were converted Jews attracted the envy and suspicion of fellow Germans. Russia became vigorously anti-Semitic. Pogroms (anti-Jewish riots) occurred in a number of cities and towns in the 1880s. These were ignored or encouraged by authorities. The Tsarist secret police forged the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a document that claims to outline the secret plan of the Jews to conquer the world.

In France, hopes that the enlightenment had put an end to race prejudice were dashed by the trial of Captain Dreyfus (beginning in 1893). Dreyfus, a Jew, was accused of treason against France. The affair was accompanied by a large anti-Semitic outcry, claiming that Jews are not loyal to the countries in which they live. Dreyfus was eventually exonerated thanks to Emile Zola and others.

Elsewhere in Europe and North American exclusion of Jews and denigration of Jews according to standard stereotypes was considered acceptable in polite society. Novelists such as Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie and F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed Jewish characters who were shifty gangsters or loud, pushy and gauche. Somerset Maugham wrote a diary as a young man that is filled with imaginative descriptions of dishonest and seedy looking Jewish men and lascivious "Jewesses." Strangely, in Britain these sentiments coexisted with growing sentiment for restoration of the Jews (see Daniel Deronda ). In the USA, the industrialist Henry Ford published the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion in his Dearborn Independent newspaper, and kindled the myth that they were true. Father Coughlin, the popular Captain Charles Lindbergh and  others agitated against Jews and in favor of Nazi Germany in the period prior to WW II.

Common European social restrictions on Jews included forcing them to live in special areas (Pale of Settlement in Russia or ghettos before the 19th century), special taxes on Jews, censorship or banning of Jewish law books, quotas on entrance to university allowing only a limited number of Jews ("numerous clausus"), barring from employment in government positions or universities, barring of Jews from social clubs and associations and banning Jews from residence in "exclusive" neighborhoods.

Communism was officially non-racist, but in fact, persecution of the Jews as "rootless cosmopolitans" or "Zionists" was initiated during several periods under Stalin, and reincarnated as "anti-Zionism" under his successors.

European anti-Semitism seemed to have culminated in the Nazi Holocaust. The Nazis attempted to kill the Jewish population of Europe, and managed to kill about 6 million of them.

After WW II, the horror of the Holocaust produced a revulsion against anti-Semitism in polite society in Europe, except for the USSR, but it seems to be slowly returning, either directly or under the guise of thinly veiled "anti-Zionism.

Arab/Muslim anti-Semitism -  Considering the treatment of Jews in European countries, the experience of Jews under Islamic rule was relatively benign, however, giving rise to the idea that Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in perfect harmony. That is far from the truth, but it is true of the best of times and the best rulers in Islam, such as the Ottoman Sultans who invited Jews to settle in Turkey after they had been expelled by Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions, or to settle in communities such as Tiberias and Safed in the holy land.

The status of Jews under Islam, however, was variable, depending on the time and place. The Quran has mixed injunctions about Jews and Christians, variously praising them as people of the book and damning them as hypocrites because they didn't follow Muhamed. Early in his career, Muhamed attacked and destroyed the Jewish town of Khaibar, and the cry "Khaibar, Khaibar" became the rallying cry of Muslim anti-Jewish riots. In all cases, Jews, like Christians were formally considered to be protected second class citizens in Muslim countries. Only Muslims could fight in wars, and therefore Jews and Christians could not receive land grants in conquered countries as knights, which was a major source of wealth and social status. Jews and Christians paid a special tax and usually had to wear special clothing. Jews were confined to a "Mellah" (ghetto) in certain places. In many countries such as Morocco and Yemen, it was customary for little children to throw rocks at Jews and curse them. At times Jews were forced to convert to Islam or expelled as under the Al-Mohad dynasty in Morocco, beginning in 1146.

Jews were generally despised as wily but weak people with no courage. For example, following the revolution of the Young Turks in Ottoman Turkey, Jews could serve in the army. A Turkish joke related that at great length it was possible to recruit and train a Jewish unit. They were then sent to the front. They returned quickly however, because they had been scared by a gang of bandits that they met on the road. A Muslim hadith (legend associated with the Qur'an)  relates that the end of days, Muslims will kill all the Jews, who will try to hide in trees. Only one sort of tree will agree to hide them however. This hadith is repeated in the charter of the Hamas organization, but it is of venerable origin.

In modern times, beginning in the 19th century, Muslim and Arab countries adopted European anti-Semitic themes such as the blood libel (an incident occurred in Damascus in 1840) and later, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, publication of Mein Kampf and other trappings of European Christian anti-Semitism such as Holocaust denial. Cartoons in Arab and Muslim journals regularly show Jews as having the characteristic "traits" of anti-Semitic portrayals such as best posture, beady eyes and hooked noses.

Anti-Semitism - Arab cartoon

Anti-Semitic Jews - Apostate Jews and some others have often made a career of adopting and disseminating anti-Semitic opinions, libels on the Talmud and "revelations" about supposed secret and obnoxious Jewish customs. As there are anti-American Americans and Christians who denounced Christianity, there is no logical reason why there should not be anti-Semitic Jews. The mere fact that they are or were Jews lends a false authority to their claims. In some cases, the person in question is not really Jewish.

Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism - Anti-Zionism is opposition to the existence of the state of Israel or the idea of reconstituting a Jewish homeland. It is not necessarily anti-Semitic, but it usually is so, especially when the complaints against Israel and "Zionists" include controlling the government of the United States, conspiring to take over the world, starting world wars etc. (see above for characteristics of anti-Semitic Web sites). Anti-Zionism is usually based on the premise that Jews are inferior or different from any other group of people, and therefore do not have the right to declare themselves a nation or people. See article by  John L. Strawson for a discussion of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism).

Anti-Zionist Web sites - "Anti-Zionist" Web sites such as abbc.com, ziopedia, radio-islam, serendipity and rense.com regularly feature articles about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or Hitler's Mein Kampf, libels against the Talmud and Holocaust denial. Other sites, such as Stormfront, feature the same materials without the protective guise of "anti-Zionism"

A Timeline of anti-Semitism

3rd cent. B.C.E. Manetho, Greco-Egyptian historian, says Jews were expelled from Egypt as lepers.
38 B.C.E. Anti-Jewish riots in Alexandria (Egypt): many Jews were killed, and all the Jews were confined to one quarter of the city.
19 C.E. Emperor Tiberius expels the Jews from Rome and Italy.
66 Massacre of the Jews of Alexandria (Egypt) in which 50,000 were killed.
1st cent. C.E. Apion of Alexandria surpasses other Hellenistic anti-Semites in the crudeness of his fabrications.
200 Tertullian, Church Father, writes his anti-Jewish polemic in Latin Adversus Judaeos.
325 After the ecumenical council, Nicaea, the Christian Church formualtes its policy toward the Jews: the Jews must continue to exist for the sake of Christianity in seclusion and humiliation.
386-387 John Chrysostom, Church Father in the East, violently anti-Jewish, delivers eight sermons in Antioch.
438 Theodosius II, Roman emperor of the East, legalizes the civil inferiority of the Jews.
468 Persecutions of the Jews in Persia (Babylonia).
c. 470 Jews persecuted in Persia (Babylonia) by Firuz, the exilarch, and many Jews killed and their children given to Mazdeans.
535-553 Emperor Justinian I issues his novellae to Corpus Juris Civilis expressing his anti-Jewish policy.
612 Visigothic king Sisebut of Spain inaugurates a policy of forcible conversion of all Jews in the kingdom.
624-628 Jewish tribes of Hejaz (Arabia) destroyed by Muhammad.
628 Dagobert I expels Jews from Frankish kingdom.
632 Heraclius, Byzantine emperor, decrees forced baptism of all Jews in the Byzantine empire.
632 Official Church doctrine on conversion of Jews in Spain formulated.
638 Visigothic king Chintila compels the sixth council of Toledo to adopt resolution proclaiming that only Catholics may reside in the kingdom of Spain.
694-711 All Jews under Visigothic rule in Spain declared slaves, their possessions confiscated and the Jewish religion outlawed.
717-20 Caliph Omar II introduces series of discriminatory regulations against the dhimmi, the protected Christians and Jews, among them the wearing of a special garb.
1009-13 Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim in Eretz Israel issues severe restrictions against Jews.
1012 Emperor Henry II of Germany expels Jews from Mainz, the beginning of persecutions against Jews in Germany.
1096-99 First Crusade. Crusaders massacre the Jews of the Rhineland (1096).
1144 Blood libel at Norwich (England); first record, blood libel - Martyrdom of St. William of Norwich related in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle.
1146 Anti-Jewish riots in Rhineland by the Crusaders of the second Crusade.
1147 Beginning of the brutal persecution of the Jews of North Africa under the Almohads, lasted until 1212.
1182 King Philip Augustus of France decrees the expulsion of the Jews from his kingdom and the confiscation of their real estate.
1190 Anti-Jewish riots in England: massacre at York, and other cities.
1215 Fourth Lateran Council introduces the Jewish Badge.
1235 Blood libel at Fulda, Germany.
1236 Severe anti-Jewish persecutions in western France.
1240 Disputation of Paris which led to the burning of the Talmud.
1242 Burning of the Talmud at Paris.
1255 Blood libel at Lincoln, England.
1263 Disputation of Barcelona.
1290 Expulsion of the Jews from England, the first of the great general expulsions of the Middle Ages.
1298-99 Massacre of thousands of Jews in 146 localities in southern and central Germany led by the German knight Rindfleisch.
1306 Expulsion of Jews from France.
1306-20 Pastoureaux ("Shepherds"), participants of the second Crusade in France against the Muslims in Spain, attack the Jews of 120 localities in southwest France.
1321 Persecutions against Jews in central France in consequence of a false charge of their supposed collusion with the lepers.
1321-22 Expulsion from the kingdom of France.
1336-39 Persecutions against Jews in Franconia and Alsace led by lawless German bands, the Armleder.
1348-50 Black Death Massacres which spread throughout Spain, France, Germany and Austria, as a result of accusations that the Jews had caused the death of Christians by poisoning the wells and other water sources.
1389 Massacre of the Prague (Bohemia) community.
1391 Wave of massacres and conversions in Spain and Balearic Islands.
1394 Expulsion from the kingdom of France.
1399 Blood libel in Poznan.
1411-12 Oppressive legislation against Jews in Spain as an outcome of the preaching of the Dominican friar Vicente Ferrer.
1413-14 Disputation of Tortosa (Spain). The most important and longest of the Christian-Jewish disputations the consequence of which was mass conversions and intensified persecutions.
1421 Persecutions of Jews in Vienna and its environs, confiscation of their possessions, and conversion of Jewish children, 270 Jews burnt at stake, known as the Wiener Gesera (Vienna Edict). Expulsion of Jews from Austria.
1435 Massacre and conversion of the Jews of Majorca.
1438 Establishment of mellahs (ghettos) in Morocco.
1452-3 John of Capistrano, Italian Franciscan friar, incites persecutions and expulsions of Jews from cities in Germany.
1473 Marranos (Marranos are converted Jews who supposedly maintained their Judaism in secret - the word is a disparaging term)  of Valladolid and Cordoba, in Spain massacred.
1474 Marranos of Segovia, Spain, massacred.
1480 Inquisition established in Spain.
1483 Torquemada appointed inquisitor general of Spanish Inquisition. Expulsion of Jews from Warsaw.
1490-91 Blood libel in La Guardia, town in Spain, where the alleged victim (Christopher of Toledo)  became revered as a saint.
1492 Expulsion from Spain.
1492-93 Expulsion from Sicily.
1495 Expulsion from Lithuania.
1496-97 Expulsion from Portugal: mass forced conversion.
1506 Massacre of Marranos in Lisbon.
1510 Expulsion of Jews from Brandenburg (Germany).
1516 Venice initiates the ghetto, the first in Christian Europe.
1531 Inquisition established in Portugal.
1535 Jews of Tunisia expelled and massacred.
1541 Expulsion from the kingdom of Naples. Expulsion from Prague and crown cities.
1544 Martin Luther, German religious reformer, attacks the Jews with extreme virulence.
1550 Expulsion from Genoa (Italy).
1551 Expulsion from Bavaria.
1553 Burning of the Talmud in Rome.
1554 Censorship of Hebrew books introduced in Italy.
1556 Burning of Marranos at Ancona, Italy.
1567 Expulsion from the republic of Genoa (Italy).
1569, 1593 Expulsion from the Papal States (Italy).
1614 Vincent Fettmilch, anti-Jewish guild leader in Frankfort, Germany, and his followers attack the Jews of Frankfort and forces them to leave the City.
1624 Ghetto established at Ferrara (Italy).
1648-49 Massacres initiated by Bogdan Chmielnicki, leader of the Cossacks, and peasant uprising against Polish rule in the Ukraine, in which 100,000 Jews were killed and 300 communities destroyed.
1650 Jews of Tunisia confined to special quarters (Hדra).
1655-56 Massacres of Jews during the wars of Poland against Sweden and Russia.
1670 Expulsion from Vienna: Blood libel at Metz (France).
1711 Johann Andreas Eisenmenger r"tes his Entdecktes Judenthum ("Judaism Unmasked"), a work denouncing Judaism and whlch had a formative influence on modern anti-Semitic polemics.
1712 Blood libel in Sandomierz (Poland) after which the Jews of the'town were expelled.
1715 Pope Pius VI issues a severe "Edict concerning the Jews," in which he renews all former restrictions against them.
1734-36 Haidamacks, paramilitary bands in Polish Ukraine, attack Jews.
1745 Expulsion from Prague.
1768 Haidamacks massacre the Jews of Uman (Poland) together with the Jews from other places who had sought refuge there.
1788 Haidamacks massacre the Jews of Uman (Poland): 20,000 Jews and Poles killed.
1790-92 Destruction of most of the Jewish communities of Morocco.
1791 Pale of Settlements-twenty-five provinces of Czarist Russia established, where Jews permitted permanent residence: Jews forbidden to settle elsewhere in Russia.
1805 Massacre of Jews in Algeria.
1819 A series of anti-Jewish riots in Germany that spread to several neighboring countries (Denmark, Poland, Latvia and Bohemia) known as Hep! Hep! Riots, from the derogatory rallying cry against the Jews in Germany. (HEP = 'Hierosolymos Est Perdita' - Jerusalem is lost, apparently first used in the Middle Ages in riots associated with the crusades.)
1827 Compulsory military service for the Jews of Russia: Jewish minors under 18 years of age, known as "Cantonists," placed in preparatory military training establishments.
1835 Oppressive constitution for the Jews in Russia issued by Czar Nicholas 1.
1840 Blood libel in Damascus (The Damascus Affair).
1853 Blood libel in Saratov (Russia), bringing a renewal of the blood libel throughout Russia.
1858 Abduction of a 7-year-old Jewish child, Edgard Mortara, in Bologna by Catholic conversionists (Mortara Case), an episode which aroused universal indignation in liberal circles.
1878 Adolf Stoecker, German anti-Semitic preacher and politician, founds the Social Workers' Party, which marks the beginning of the political anti-Semitic movement in Germany.
1879 Heinrich von Treitschke, German historian and politician, justifies the anti-Semitic campaigns in Germany, bringing anti-Semitism into learned circles.
1879 Wilhelm Marr, German agitator, coins the term anti-Semitism.
1881-84 Pogroms sweep southern Russia, beginning of mass Jewish emigration.
1882 Blood libel in Tiszaeszlar, Hungary, which aroused public opinion throughout Europe.
1882 First International Anti-Jewish Congress convened at Dresden, Germany.
1882 A series of "temporary laws" confirmed by Czar Alexander III of Russia in May, 1882 ("May Laws"), which adopted a systematic policy of discrimination, with the object of removing the Jews from their economic and public positions.
1885 Expulsion of about 10,000 Russian Jews, refugees of 1881-1884 pogroms, from Germany.
1891 Blood libel in Xanten, Germany.
1891 Expulsion from Moscow, Russia.
1893 Karl Lueger establishes in Vienna the anti-Semitic Christian Social Party and becomes mayor in 1897.
1894 Alfred Dreyfus trial in Paris.
1895 Alexander C. Cuza organizes the Alliance Anti-semitique Universelle in Bucharest, Rumania.
1899 Houston Stewart Chamberlain, racist and anti-Semitic author, publishes his Die Grundlagen des 19 Jahrhunderts which became a basis of National-Socialist ideology.
1899 Blood libel in Bohemia (the Hilsner case).
1903 Pogrom at Kishinev, Russia.
1905 Pogroms n the Ukraine and Bessarabia, perpetuated in 64 towns (most serious in Odessa with over 300 dead and thousands wounded).
1905 First Russian public edition of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion appears.
1906 Pogroms In Bialystok and Siedlce, Russia.
1909-10 Polish boycott against Jews.
1911-13 Menahem Mendel Beilis, blood libel trial at Kiev.
1912 Pogroms in Fez (Morocco).
1915 Ku Klux Klan, rascist organization in the U.S., refounded.
1917-21 Pogroms in the Ukraine and Poland. 1) Pogroms by retreating Red Army from the Ukraine (spring, 1918), before the German army. 2) Pogroms by the retreating Ukraine army under the command of Simon Petlyura, resulting in the deaths of over 8,000Jews. 3)Pogroms by the counter revolutionary "White Army" under the command of General A.I. Denikin (fall, 1919) in which about 1,500 Jews were killed. 4) Pogroms by the "White Army" in Siberia and Mongolia (1919). 5) Pogroms by anti-Soviet bands in the Ukraine (1920-21), in which thousands of Jews were killed.
1919 Abolition of community organization and non-Communist Jewish institutions in Soviet Russia.
1919 Pogroms in Hungary: c. 3,000 Jews killed.
1920 Adolf Hitler becomes Fuehrer, of the National-Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), (NAZIs)
1920 Henry Ford I begins a series of anti-Semitic articles based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, in his Dearbon Independent.
1924 Economic restrictions on Jews in Poland.
1925-27 Adolf Hitier's Mein Kampf appears.
1933 Adolf Hitler appointed chancellor of Germany. Anti-Jewish economic boycott: first concentration camps (Dachau, Oranienburg, Esterwegen and Sachsenburg).
1935 Nuremberg Laws introduced.
1937 Anti-Semitic legislation in Rumania.
1937 Discrimination against Jews in Polish universities.
1938 After Anschluss, pogroms in Vienna, anti-Jewish legislation introduced: deportations to camps in Austria and Germany.
1938 Charles E. Coughlin, Roman Catholic priest, starts anti-Semitic weekly radio broadcasts in U.S.
1938 Kristallnacht, Nazi anti-Jewish outrage in Germany and Austria (Nov. 9-10, 1938): Jewish businesses attacked, synagogues burnt, Jews sent to concentration camps.
1938 Racial legislation introduced in Italy (Nov. 17, 1938). Anti Jewish economic legislation in Hungary.
1939 Anti-Jewish laws introduced in the Protectorate (Czechoslovakia).
1939 Outbreak of World War 11 (Sept. 1, 1939), Poland overrun by German army: pogroms in Poland; beginning of the Holocaust.
1940 Nazi Germany introduces gassing.
1940 Formation of ghettos in Poland: mass shootings of Jews: Auschwitz camp, later an extermination camp, established; Western European Jews under Nazis. Belzec extermination camp established.
1940 Algerian administration applies social laws of Vichy.
1941 Germany invades Russia and the Baltic states. Majdanek extermination camp established. Chelmno and Treblinka extermination camps established. Anti-Jewish laws in Slovakia. Pogroms in Jassy, Rumania. Pogroms and massacres by the Einsatzgruppen and native population in Baltic states and the part of Russia occupied by Germany. Expulsions of Jews from the German Reich to Poland. Beginning of deportation and murder of Jews in France.
1941 Severe riots against Jews in Iraq in consequence of Rashid Ali al-Jilani's coup d'יtat. Nazi Germany introduces gassing in extermination camps.
1942 Conference in Wannsee, Berlin, to carry out the "Final Solution" (Jan. 20, 1942). Beginning of mass transports of Jews of Belgium and Holland to Auschwitz. Massacres 'In occupied Russia continue. Death camps of Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka begin to function at full capacity: transports from ghettos to death camps. Sobibor extermination camp established.
1943 Germany declared Judenrein. Transports of Jews from all over Europe to death camps. Final liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto (May 16, 1943). Annihilation of most of the ghettos. Transport of Italian Jews to death camps.
1944 Extermination of Hungarian Jewry.
1945 Germany surrenders (May 8, 1945) estimated Jewish victims in the Holocaust 5,820,960.
1946 Pogroms at Kielce, Poland, 42 Jews murdered and many wounded (July 4, 1946).
1948 Jewish culture in U.S.S.R. suppressed and Jewish intellectuals shot.
1948 Pogroms in Libya.
1952 Prague Trials (Slonsk‎): Murder of Yiddish intellectuals in Russia and many Jews disappear or sent to work camps.
1953 Accusation of "Doctors' plot" in the U.S.S.R., cancelled with Stalin's death.
1954=6 Jews of Egypt expelled.
1961 Mustapha Tlass, Defense Minister of Syria, publishes a history of the Damascus blood libel which claims that Jews actually do murder Christian children.
1967 Arabic version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion published in Egypt.
1968 Fresh wave of anti-Semitism in Poland; emigration of most of the remaining Jews of Poland.
1969 Jews executed in Iraq.
1970 Leningrad, and other trials of Soviet Jews, who agitate for right to emigrate.
2005 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, claims that the Holocaust was a myth or exaggerated, vows to achieve a "world without Zionism and Israel."

Source: Adapted from "Anti-Semitism", Keter Publishing House,
Jerusalem, 1974, ISBN 0 7065-1327 4 Modifications and additions copyright by Ami Isseroff and http://www.Zionism-israel.com.

 


Synonyms and alternate spellings: Antisemitism, Jew hate, Judeo-Phobia

Further Information: Jew Judeophobia or 'Antisemitism - a History  Arab and Muslim Anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism - A Study   Jews & Jewish Religion Jew  Antisemitism


Hebrew/Arabic pronunciation and transliteration conventions:

'H - ('het) a guttural sound made deep in the throat. To Western ears it may sound like the "ch" in loch. In Arabic there are several letters that have similar sounds. Examples: 'hanukah, 'hamas, 'haredi. Formerly, this sound was often represented by ch, especially in German transliterations of Hebrew. Thus, 'hanukah is often rendered as Chanuka for example.

ch - (chaf) a sound like "ch" in loch or the Russian Kh as in Khruschev or German Ach, made by putting the tongue against the roof of the mouth. In Hebrew, a chaf can never occur at the beginning of a word. At the beginning of a word, it has a dot in it and is pronounced "Kaf."

u - usually between oo as in spoon and u as in put.

a- sounded like a in arm

ah- used to represent an a sound made by the letter hey at the end of a word. It is the same sound as a. Haganah and Hagana are alternative acceptable transliterations.

'a-notation used for Hebrew and Arabic ayin, a guttural ah sound.

o - close to the French o as in homme.

th - (taf without a dot) - Th was formerly used to transliterate the Hebrew taf sound for taf without a dot. However in modern Hebrew there is no detectable difference in standard pronunciation of taf with or without a dot, and therefore Histadruth and Histadrut, Rehovoth and Rehovot are all acceptable.

q- (quf) - In transliteration of Hebrew and Arabic, it is best to consistently use the letter q for the quf, to avoid confusion with similar sounding words that might be spelled with a kaf, which should be transliterated as K. Thus, Hatiqva is preferable to Hatikva for example.


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