Part 3
(Continued from last week)
Despite all the active anti-Semitism amongst most layers of the people, the Jews were little affected in their economic life and the free occupations. The security of the minority—in 1914 there were 600,000 Jews in Germany, barely 1% of the total population—was never in serious danger. Their enemies disagreed amongst each other and were burdened with opposing interests. Political parties striving to become predominant over others sought to engage minorities, of which the Jews were the most sought after. Jews who were striving for emancipation were the most decisive and reliable party.
Already in 1872 Pope Pius IX pronounced his mistrust of the Jews by publishing anti-Jewish controversies in the Vatican newspapers. This encouraged respected clergymen from his area to speak out against the learning of the Talmud and encouraged others to pronounce the “Krieg des Judentums gegen das Christentum” (War of the Jewish religion against Christianity). At the same time the Catholic church was fighting Protestantism from Prussia, who after their victory over Catholic France and Austria felt their superiority. Shortly after the establishment of the Empire under Prussian domination, the Prussian Protestant church leadership pronounced that the Jews were the greatest danger for the church.
It was particularly the intellectuals who dared not attack Bismarck directly, but blamed his advisors for all the economic difficulties, but they were listened to sympathetically only if they circled around the actual difficulties and blamed the Jews for all evils. Those who had no direct understanding of the complicated management of the domestic economy defined the stock exchange as “Jüdischer Schwindel,” and considered the development and establishment of stock companies as Jewish action to plunder the German nation. But many realized that blaming the Jews had no effect on the economic situation.
Already in the 1870s many anti-Semites realized that without a national organization their activities would have no more than local success. Consequently, in the summer of 1880 many banded together and organized a “plebiscite” with famous names used to convince the plain people to sign up. Students especially were active in collecting signatures with many sending out newsletters to other students urging them to sign up and to collect other signatures. The petition requested exclusion of the Jews from federal positions and the teaching profession. In some cities, already in the beginning of 1881, unions of German students were founded. The push of the students was so big, and the liberalism so discredited, that by the end of the year, the anti-Semitic organizations had reached into almost all schools. Attempts to organize the craftsmen were successful only in a few local areas.
Many sensible citizens realized what was happening and in what direction the land was going. Freiherr von Frankenberg wrote, “Sie haben den Sturm gesät, und sind unangenehm überrasched, dass die Saat stürmisch in die Halme schiesst und den Sämann überwuchert” (They have sown the storm, and are now unpleasantly surprised that the seed shoots stormily into the stalks and overruns the seeder).
Reading this quote, I am wondering whether Winston Churchill’s commander in chief of the Bomber Command, Sir Arthur Harris in 1942, had this as his source when he authorized the carpet bombing of Dresden. Sir Arthur said, “They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.” The actual origin of that phrase is in Hosea (8:7): “They that sowed the wind, shall reap the whirlwind.”
There never was a unity of mind in the various levels of the people and consequently no national organization then came into being. In 1885 a writer stated, “The Jews are therefore standing before a catastrophe, which has to end with their demise or push-back to their lot of the Middle Ages.”
Also, in Austria-Hungary the development of anti-Semitism originated from the Catholic church. A pamphlet named “Der Talmudjude” was issued in the Universität Prag. For many years the journalists and publishers looked to the German anti-Semites for guidance and copied their activities.
In September 1882 an “Internationaler antijüdischer Kongress” was organized in Dresden, for the purpose of strengthening the connection with the “Donaumonarchie,” and Austria and Hungary were the only outside countries invited. The closing manifesto spelled out in lengthy paragraphs how to fight against the Jews. Particularly in Hungary, which was not yet as socially advanced as Germany, the agitators felt that Germany should lead the way, and only when successful there, would Hungary follow. Whether this pressure was the cause for the “Judendebatte” in the Prussian House of Representatives, in November 1880, is not known.
Many German and Austrian citizens who lived or worked in the Russian-controlled areas were able to spread the anti-Semitism there, through the distribution of Russian-language pamphlets and the St. Petersburger Herold. During the reign of Alexander II, German specialists could freely move around the country, with unrestricted contact with Russian publicists and intellectuals. It is possible that this influence was the cause of the first pogroms. German anti-Semitic writings were translated into Russian and distributed. When Alexander II was murdered in March 1881, enough anti-Semitism had been spread in the upper circles of the government that the Jews were accused as having been the murderers.
(To be continued next week)
By Norbert Strauss
Norbert Strauss is a Teaneck resident and Englewood Hospital volunteer. He frequently speaks to groups to relay his family’s escape from Nazi Germany in 1941.
