[ad_1]
On this eightieth anniversary of
Kristallnacht, it's our job not only to fight against anti-Semitism, but
all kinds of oppression.
80 years ago, November 9
1938, the Nazi German authorities gave the order to terrorize and arrest
German Jewish citizens, which resulted in the sending of tens of thousands of people
concentration camps. Kristallnacht, or the night of broken glass, marked a
violent escalation against the Jewish people. This escalation of violence was a
continuation of anti-Semitic policies instituted in 1933 but was also part of a
long history of discrimination against Jews.
In the October issue of The American historical magazine, most
eminent professional history newspaper in the United States, historians have
take care to understand "the lamentable history of anti-Semitism".[1] In
"Round table", historians debate the origins of the term itself,
which only appeared in the late nineteenth century. They discuss alternative
terminologies, such as Judeophobia, that the Jewish historian Jonathan Judaken
"Defends as a global category for the field".[2] In
his writing, Judaken pushes us to understand and differentiate the old
Judeophobia and medieval anti-Judaism, Nazi and contemporary anti-Semitism
Zionism. Judaken inspires us to understand continuities and changes. Research
to understand the origin of the word "anti-Semitism", the historian David Feldman
locates its use in the 1870s – after the political and civil equality of the Jews
reached in Germany in 1871.[3]
As Feldman points out, the
Lucien Wolf, journalist, editor and well-known Jewish activist, wrote about
antisemitism in an entry ordered for the Encyclopedia BritannicaThe eleventh edition, published in 1910.
Wolf writes: "In the political struggles of the last
quarter of the nineteenth century, a religious, a
political and social unrest against the Jews, known as "anti-Semitism".
The origins of the remarkable movement are already threatening to be obscured by
Legend. Jews argue that anti-Semitism is only a simple atavistic revival of the
Jewish hatred of the Middle Ages ".[4] In
In this way, Wolf describes anti-Semitism as being felt as part of a continual form of oppression by the Jews. Wolf thus describes anti-Semitism as being felt as part of a continuous form of
oppression by the Jews.
However, for the xenophobes of
Wolf writes, "The extreme part of the anti-Semites, who gave the
its movement its almost scientific name, declare that it is a racial struggle – a
incident of the eternal conflict between Europe and Asia – and that the
the anti-Semites are engaged in an effort to prevent what is called the Aryan race
to be subjugated by a Semitic immigration, and to save the Aryan ideals of
being altered by a stranger and demoralizing oriental Anschauung"[5]
Wolf's analysis of more than a month
a hundred years ago gives us a glimpse of not only anti-Semitism, but also to the
the fear of "the other" operates – the one the Jewish people endured
at many points in their history. Not only in the Holocaust, but also during
various pressure points of history, including the expulsion of Jews from Spain
in 1492, which was also extended to Muslims, who for centuries were
"Invaders" despite seven centuries in the Iberian Peninsula. the Jews
had been in the peninsula since the Roman era.
Western fear of immigration
In addition, Wolf identifies a
Judeophobia particularly modern, inspired by the fear of immigration
which is considered by the antisemites as a challenge to what they consider to be culturally European,
or, more broadly, "the West".
Thanks to Wolf, we can better
understand our own contemporary moment. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, we have
seen new extensions and definitions of equality and human rights, as well as laws
written to provide political and civil equality for groups that have been
historically oppressed or marginalized – including women, ethnic and religious minorities
minorities, LGBTQ people, the poor, people of color and
disabilities. Anxiety has arisen among those who have occupied a privileged place
place in society that their power will be diminished.
Today, a fear is emerging
among the dominant groups in Europe and in the Americas what exactly does this
equality means. Anxiety has arisen among those who have occupied a privileged place
place in society that their power will be diminished. At the extremes, the
supposed far-right fears, "angry mobs" will pursue them to avenge
millennia of oppression. In addition, they are afraid that immigration will be
to question their way of being – turning them into something alien. We see echoes
of this language when the radical right calls those seeking refuge from "invaders"
and "strangers". Through this language, at extremes, white nationalists decry
"White genocide", the gross and inverted use of the word genocide, to describe
what they see as a threat to their own place in the world.
As Wolf writes, "Anti-Semitism
is … exclusively a question of European politics, and its origin lies,
not in the long struggle between Europe and Asia, nor between the Church and the
Synagogue, which was full of ancient and medieval history, but in the
social conditions resulting from the emancipation of Jews in the midst of
The nineteenth century & # 39;[6]
As marginalized peoples
have regained emancipation, we must continue to protect and fight for these hard fights.
civil and political rights. In this 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, he
is our duty not only to stand up against anti-Semitism, but all kinds of
oppression. As Martin Niemöller says in his famous poem, all oppression is
connected; we must speak now, before they come to pick us up.
This article was also published by EuropeNow, the Columbia University's Journal of European Studies »
Remarks
[1] "In this problem," theAmerican Historical Review 123, no. 4 (October 1st, 2018): xi. [2] Jonathan Judaken,
"Introduction," The American historical magazine 123, no. 4 (October 1 st
2018): 1122. [3] David Feldman,
"Towards a history of the term" anti-Semitism "" The American history
Review 123, no. 4 (October 1st, 2018): 1140. [4] Lucien Wolf,
"Anti-Semitism" Encyclopedia Britannica (Cambridge: Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1910), 134-46. [5] Ibid. [6] Ibid.
