JUDAISM

The term “Jew” or “Jewish” can refer to…

any person of Jewish parentage

anyone born of people who are identified as descendants of the group described in Biblical and post-Biblical sources

Ethnic group

a body of beliefs — Judaism – those who perform the religious practice required by it

Religious belief system

Elie Wiesel Jewish in both parentage and religious practice

Judaism dates back nearly 4,000 years

shares many ideas with—and in fact is an ancestor to—both Christianity and Islam

Judaism,Christianity,

andIslam

all 3 religions originated in the same part of the world, the area we now call the Middle East

The Hebrew Bible is what Christians call the Old Testament. Many of these Bible stories also appear in the Islamic sacred text,the Qur’an.

Important

Jewish Texts

Tanakh – Hebrew Bible

Torah – first part of the TanakhLegal and ethical

foundationGenesis, Exodus,

Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

Talmud – commentary on the Torah

Antisemitism Prejudice against or hatred of Jews

Has a long history

Early Antisemitism

: religious

Early Christian thought held Jews collectively responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus.

This religious teaching became embedded in both Catholic and Protestant theology during the first millennium, with terrible consequences for Jews.

Following many centuries of persecution and exclusion, the Jewish minority in Europe achieved some rights after the Enlightenment.

LaterAntisemitismpolitical

As Europe became more secular and Jews integrated into mainstream society, political forms of antisemitism emerged.

Jews were targeted for their ideas and their role in society. For instance, claiming that

the Jews were hoarding the wealth and reaping profits while others suffered after WWI. When, in reality, the suffering was universal.

LaterAntisemitismpolitical

In the late 1800’s pseudo-scientific theories that legitimized a racial form of antisemitism became popular with some intellectuals and political leaders.

All of these centuries of hatred were exploited by the Nazis and their allies during World War II culminating in the Holocaust, the systematic murder of Europe’s Jews.

Antisemitism-Hitler used anti-Jewish feelings that had existed for centuries in the German population - made Jews a scapegoat for the country’s current financial problems and claimed…

- Germany had lost World War I because of the Jews,

- democracy and communism were Jewish inventions, and

- Jews were engaged in a conspiracy for world domination.

- Jews controlled society and made Germans suffer

Antisemitic political cartoon entitled "Rothschild" by the French caricaturist, C. Leandre, 1898.

What the Nazis Believed

What the Nazis Believed

Racial Science Nazi Platform Symbols

Anyone who interprets National Socialism as merely a political movement knows almost nothing about it. It is more than a religion. It is the determination to create the new man. - Adolf Hitler

Nazi Platform We demand:1. A union of Germans to form a great Germany.2. Abolition of the Treaty of Versailles.3. Lebensraum (living space) for Germans as well as surplus populations.4. German blood as a requirement for citizenship. No Jew can be a citizen.5. Non-citizens live in Germany as foreigners only, subject to the law of aliens.6. Only citizens can vote or hold public office.7. The state insures that every citizen live decently and earn his livelihood.8. No further immigration of non-Germans. Any non-German who arrived

after August 2, 1914, shall leave immediately.9. Revision of the national system of education with citizenship being taught.10. All newspapers must be published in the German language by German

citizens.

Racial Science

Nazi physicians conducted “bogus” medical research in an effort to identify physical evidence of Aryan superiority & non-Aryan inferiority. The Nazis could not find evidence for their theories of biological racial differences among human beings.

This kit contains 29 hair samples used by doctors, anthropologists, and geneticists to determine racial makeup of individuals.

Establishing racial descent by measuring an ear at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology.

The law of existence requires uninterrupted killing, so that the better may live. – Adolf Hitler

Caliper to measure skull width.

Symbols

Nazi Intentions Revealed

•Anti-Jewish Policies•Boycott of Jewish Shops: April 1, 1933•Nazi Book Burnings: May 10, 1933•Nuremberg Laws: September 15, 1935•The November Decree: November 14, 1935

Since when do you have to agree with people to defend them from injustice? - Lillian Hellman

Anti-Jewish Policies

Goals: social death of Jews removal of Jewish

presence/influence from German society

Means of Accomplishment: verbal assaults physical assaults legal/administrative restrictions

How can such a monstrous crime as the Holocaust occur?It begins when people start thinking of themselves as ‘us’ and of others as ‘them’.- Ted Gottfried, Deniers of the Holocaust

Laws Restricting Civil Rights

The Law for the Protection of German Blood & German Honor forbade either marriage or sexual relations between Jews and Germans.

Bench with inscription “Only for Jews.”

Sign on a phone booth in Munich prohibiting Jews from using the public telephone.

Sign forbidding Jews in public pool.

Laws Restricting Personal Rights

Jews were only permitted to purchase products between 3-5

p.m. This was one step in the overall Nazi scheme of eliminating

Jews from economic, social and cultural life.

Laws Restricting Private Property and Business

"Aryanization" announcements in a newspaper.

Aryanization was the process of transferring Jewish businesses to German control.

Boycott of Jewish Shops

April 1, 1933

SA soldiers stood at the entrances to Jewish shops and professional offices discouraging non-Jewish patrons from entering. Signs were posted warning: “Germans! Beware! Don’t Buy from Jews!”

Nuremberg LawsSeptember 15, 1935

Reich Flag Law• Official colors of the Nazi state are black, red, and white.• The national flag is the swastika flag.• Jews are forbidden from flying the German flag.

Reich Citizenship Law• German citizenship is denied to Jews. They are given the status of “subjects.”• Jews can not vote, own property, operate a business, or be paid wages as employees.

Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor• Forbids marriage or sexual relations between Jews and Germans.• Bans employment in Jewish homes of any German female under 45 years of age.

The November Decree

November 14, 1935

German:4 “German” grandparents

Mischlinge, 2nd Degree:

1 Jewish grandparent

Mischlinge, 1st Degree: *

2 Jewish grandparents

Jew:

3+ Jewish grandparents

* 1st Degree Mischlinge would be considered Jews if they met any of the following criteria:

- practiced the Jewish religion- were married to a Jew- or were children born after September 15, 1935 to one Jewish parent and one German parent