Holocaust: Hatred and Fear of Jews

Antonia ReQua

Short Paper

PHI 309

The Nazis both hated and feared the Jews. Discuss these features of Nazi anti-Semitism and explain how they made genocide thinkable?

        Before Nazi Germany, there were many places that were unsafe for the Jewish people. Jews were hated all over the globe, and not just by Christians, but other religions as well. Many people not only hated the Jews, but they also feared them. This hatred and fear resulted in a lot of deaths. Jews were massacred across the globe for various reasons, but one reason stood out from them all and was the root of many other beliefs: the Jews were believed to have killed Jesus. Most of the hatred of Jews stems from this belief, and we see that in Nazi Germany prior to and during the Holocaust.

Religiously, the Jews were believed to be forsaken by God because they had no land to call their own. The Germans had Germany, the French had France, but the Jews did not have a homeland that they belonged to. Also, the Jewish people were blamed for the death of Jesus according to Christianity. It is believed that the Jews knew who he was, and knowingly nailed him to the cross, tortured him, and killed him. They killed the son of God, or as some believed, they killed God himself. There was only one person who could ever have the idea to do something so horrible, and that was Satan himself. Because of these beliefs that the Jews killed Jesus, they were also believed to worship Satan and converse with him daily. Jews were believed to torture and kill Christian men for fun, and they also were believed to kill Christian children, drain their blood, and use it for cooking. Many of the supposed reasons for hating the Jews were unrealistic, but eventually they became the norm in these cultures. Even today there are some people who see the Jews as devil worshippers and hate them for all of the reasons above.

The Jews were also feared in Germany, and this fear stems from their supposed relationship with Satan. Jewish people were not extraordinary physically. They were small in stature, and it is believed that Jews were not very attractive, having large noses and grotesque features. So why would they be feared? They cannot physically harm you, and they cannot seduce you, so what is there to fear? Jews were believed to be incredibly smart. It is said that the Jews were cunning and silver tongued. Because they were believed to be linked with Satan, the Jews were considered very dangerous. Many cultures believed a Jewish man could talk you into anything if you gave him the time of day.

        Another reason the Jews were feared again stems from their relationship with Satan. Jews were blamed for anything that went wrong in the world. The economy crashed? It was the fault of the Jews and Satan. The fields are not growing crops and there is widespread famine? It was the fault of the Jews. The Jews were believed to be responsible for anything and everything that could damage society in any way. For Germans, this was especially true regarding World War I. All throughout the war, the German people were being told they were winning the war, and then all of the sudden, the German forces were surrendering and Germany lost territory, military privileges, and had to pay massive reparations to France. When the people asked German officials what had happened, they claimed they were stabbed in the back by the Jewish people in the German front line. German officials said they were winning, until the last battle when the Jews that were part of the German army decided to help the other side. In reality, we know that Germany was not winning the war and was in fact losing for a while before they finally surrendered, but German officials would never admit that to their people after how many times they claimed they were winning to gain more support. After the war, the major concern regarding Jews was if they could somehow cause Germany to lose an entire war in one battle, what else are they capable of? This caused even more fear and allowed Hitler and the Nazi party to use that fear to take power.