John Adams embraces a Jewish homeland
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Image: John Adams,
second president of the United States
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The
correspondence of John Adams, second president of the United
States, reflects the complexity with which Jews and Judaism were
viewed in early national America.
Admission of Jews
to the Rights of Citizenship
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Image: Adrien Jean
François Duport, proposed the motion that Jews
had a right to citizenship.
|
The National Assembly finally voted to regularize the situation
of all the different Jewish communities on 27 September 1791.
The
law required Jews to be individuals just like everyone else
in France.
Armistice Telegraph 1919
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Image: Armistice Telegraph
1919
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“Armistice was signed at 5 o’clock in the morning
(French Time). It comes into force at 11 o’clock in the
morning (French Time). Delay for evacuation prolonged by 34 hours
for the Left Bank of the Rhine, besides the five days, therefore
31 days in all. Modification of the text compared with that brought
by Helldorf will be transmitted by Radio.”
This telegraph was received in 1919 declaring the Armistice in
France. As the Germans were forced to surrender, a new hatred
would soon surface. With the war behind them, the Treaty
of Versailles and the downturn in the economy
embittered the German nation. As the German people struggled
to regain the sense of nation that they had lost, the stage was
set for a new leader to take over and actualize a new vision.
Declaration of Independence
1776
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Image: Declaration
of Independence |
America’s own Declaration
of Independence, drafted in 1776, resulted in the separation
of America from Britain. Now, standing on her own, the ideals
set
forth in the Declaration of Independence would eventually be
put into the Constitution. The ideals of tolerance for all
religions
will continue to be important for all peoples, past, present
and future, in the United States; however, such ideals will
take time and hard work to become reality for all U.S.
citizens.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and
Citizen 1789
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Image: Declaration
of Rights of Man and Citizen |
The French government set out the Declaration
of the Rights of Man and Citizen in 1789 to grant citizenship
and equal rights to French citizens. The great debate between
Conservatives and Liberals was the recognition of Jews in this
proclamation. Finally, after great debate, the Jews were included
in a 1791 addendum. This was the culmination of the efforts of
all involved in the French Revolution which heralded the idea
of liberty and equality for all citizens. Jews finally held citizenship
and equal rights in France.
Documents of World War I
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Image: Simon Werthamer,
born July 25, 1885, a Jew that served in the German army
during World War I and later died at Auschwitz
|
The following is a link to an extensive library of original World
War I documents:
World
War I Documents
Edict of Expulsion 1492
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Image: Edict of Expulsion
1492
|
With the Spanish victory over the Moors in the latter part of
the 15th century, the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella,
began
to pressure the Vatican, specifically Pope Sixtus IV, to allow
them to begin a special inquisition to deal with the converted
Jews (Marranos) suspected of continuing to practice Judaism.
Feeling insecure about the true faithfulness of the Marranos,
the inquisition
began with little success. In the end, King Ferdinand felt that
the only way to insure the purity of Christianity and to deter
Marranos from going back to Judaism was to expel all the Jews
from Spain. This Edict
of Expulsion proclaimed that all Jews must leave Spain;
many fled to Portugal. Although not the first of its kind (as
the
British expelled their Jews 200 years before), this came as a
shock to most assimilated Jews. This expulsion, as well as
the
many others, is only a small piece of the history of antisemitism
and Jewish legacy.
First Racial Law: The Sentencia-Estatuto
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Image: Theodore Fritsch,
Handbuch der Judenfrage |
The
Sentencia-Estatuto of Toledo in 1449 decreed that no Jew could
hold either public or private offices nor benefices in which they
may do injury, harm and other abuses to Old Christians of pure
blood.
Theodore Fritsch Book 1896
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Image: Theodore Fritsch,
Handbuch der Judenfrage |
Perhaps prompted by Marr’s book, the Handbuch der Judenfrage
was written by Theodor Fritsch at the end of the 19th century.
In 1893, Fritsch ran an antisemitic publishing house that published
another pamphlet, considered the antisemitic catechism. However,
in 1896, this manuscript was changed to become “The Handbook
of the Jewish Question. The most important facts for the evaluation
of the Jewish people” (pictured). This type of material
would continue to be used through the Nazi era and proved to be
a great influence to other antisemitic writers.
Lateran Councils
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Image: Pope Innocent
III, pope of the Fourth Lateran Council in the Lateran
Palace |
A series of five
important general councils held at Rome from the twelfth
to the sixteenth centuries.
Martin Luther's Antisemitic Writings
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Image: Painting of
Martin Luther
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During the 16th century, the Catholic Church came into crisis.
The Reformation movement was an effort to purge the church of
abuses that had become a part of the daily life of the institution
since the Middle Ages. With the continuing problems in the church,
some of the Catholics broke ties and began to reform their ideas
of what Christianity should be, thus resulting in the birth of
Protestantism.
The most notable of these reformers was Martin Luther, a former
Catholic monk. His posting of his 95
theses disputing the power and efficacy of Indulgences became
a "hammer heard 'round the world" that would reshape
the way people viewed the Catholic Church. Consequently, his
subsequent writings, while redefining the position of Christians
with God and the Catholic Church, also redefined the European
contempt for Jews: On
The Jews and Their Lies, 1543.
Luther's letters showed his attitude towards
Catholicism and theology. They also reveal that his hatred of
Jews, best seen in his 1514-16 letters, was not some affectation
of old age, but was present very early in his life: Letters
to Spalatin. See also "Martin
Luther: Hitler's Spiritual Ancestor" by Peter F. Weiner.
Wilhelm Marr Book 1879
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Image: Wilhelm Marr,
Der Weg |
Wilhelm Marr coined the term antisemitism in 1879 in his manuscript
“The Victory of the Jews Over Germans” (pictured).
This book would be a precursor for more vicious antisemitic
works,
but standing alone it gives a glimpse into the mindset of the
average German in the late 19th century. Antisemitism did not
begin
with
Hitler; it was rooted much further back as is evident with this
work.
Mark Twain: Concerning The Jews
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Image: Mark Twain |
Concerning
the Jews, Mark Twain's article from Harper's
News in March of
1898 is his response to letters from American Jews regarding
a magazine article he published describing the show of military
force in the Austrian Parliament in Vienna.
Pope Urban II
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Image: Pope Urban
II calls for the First Crusade at Clermont Cathedral, Bibloteque
National du Paris |
Pope
Urban II's call for the first crusade.
Voltaire: The Philosophical
Dictionary
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Image: Voltaire, or
Francois Marie Arouet, Born Nov. 21, 1694
|
The
Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire is a series of short
essays arranged in a dictionary format.
Emile Zola: J'Accuse
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Image: Newspaper L'Aurore
referring to Zola's letter to the President of the French
Republic
|
The writer Emil Zola was firmly convinced of Dreyfus' innocence.
Zola wrote a series of articles during 1896 and 1897 in his
newspaper
Le Figaro, arguing on behalf of Dreyfus. In January 1898, Zola
wrote in the liberal paper L'Aurore a letter to the President
of France, Felix Faure. The letter opened with the words "J'accuse"
("I accuse"), and Zola accused the government and military
of lying about Dreyfus.
