History of Antisemitism Exam 2 Review

Lectures

When do Nazis take control of Germany?

1933

History of Jews in Spain

• 1000 years 
• Jews played a role in the Iberian Peninsula
• Muslims - jihadist conquest 711 
  • Crossed into southern spain and conquered Visagod 
• Took 700 years to regain that land - Christians 

When do Nazis take control of Germany?

1933

History of Jews in Spain

• 1000 years 
• Jews played a role in the Iberian Peninsula
• Muslims - jihadist conquest 711 
  • Crossed into southern spain and conquered Visagod 
• Took 700 years to regain that land - Christians 

Spain’s Jews

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• Lived scattered through the land, from the tiny villages to the biggest cities
• Acted as counselors to Kings
• Aragon

What kind of intellectual achievements did Jews have in Spain?

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• Astronomers, instruments 
• Made important original contributions to philosophy and mathematics 
• Renaissance of the Hebrew language

When did an abrupt end come to the Jewish population in Spain?

• Ended in 1492 
• They Expelled all Jews from Spain - Expulsion (great catastrophe)
• Isabella and Ferdinand did this 
• Destroyed a 1000 year old culture 

What kind of antisemitism is the expelling of the Jews in Spain?

• Racial antisemitism - highly significant
• This is the type of antisemitism that took place in Europe 
• Jews are seen as an inferior race and baptism will not change them - still have evil attributes

Why was the expulsion of Jews significant in Spain?

• It was significant because this was racial antisemitism
• This is type of antisemitism that took place in Europe
• Jews are seen as an inferior race and baptism will not change them - still have evil attributes
  • Jews were seen as an alien presence by forced conversion but had to be physical removal - Holocaust became a possibility
• Emergence of full racial antisemitism is what brings the Holocaust to happen

Beginning of the 13th Century

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• Christians took missionary duties towards Jews
• Two major orders: Dominicans and the Franciscans (orders of monks) 
  • Augustine Doctrine - influenced all of the popes for centuries 
  • Why this deviation from this long standing belief that Jews would suffer and go their own way
    • The failures of the Crusades - only the first crusades were the Muslims successful 

Reconquista - Christians had faith in this act

• Friars turned their attention to converted Muslims 

• Spain and North Africa 

• Castile and Aragon were hit by the black death pretty well 

• 1385 - defeat

1391

• Year of Disaster for Jews (Arch Dicone of Seville Ferin Martinez was a fanatic anti-Semite)
  • Bloody riots - forceful conversions of Jews
  • Spread throughout Seville and Aragon
  • He sought to prove that by destroying the synagogue would not do anything to themselves
• Mass slaughter of Jews
• Pergraums
• 2-3 years after - the largest Jewish community is reduced by a third as a result of these mass slaughters
• In numerical terms - greatest catastrophe that had happened to European Jews (Death toll exceeds the rye land in 1096 (which was another year of disaster for the Jews

During 1931, Jews would…

• Receive no military aid
• Be ghettoized - attacked ghettos
• Orgy of Bloodhed and rape at extreme scales
• Rape of Jewish women - pergaum
• Most Jewish men were butchered
• Jewish women and children would be sold into slavery (if you consented to being baptized nothing would happen to you - great majority did this)
• Most things were stolen from Jews
• Jewish quarter of seville looked like a wasteland

Qordova

• Spanish Town
• Defensive units were not equal to the task
• Jewish Quarter was invaded and another massacre happened
• Martinez’ followers and some of the upplerclassmen
• This was not a spontaneous outbreak

Taledo

• Attacked on June 20, could not resist the attackers anymore
• Many of the members were put to the sword, burned, women and children were sold into slavery
• Conversion saved them

Madrid

• No more Jews left after this

July 9

• Valencia (major spanish city)
• 14-15 men approached the gate
• Terrible battle - Jewish quarter seized
• 1 Christian killed - called vengeance because of it
• Valencian Jews escaped
  • Jews would hold crosses and would want to be baptized

Converso Problems

New Christians are called Conversos

1412 - Anti Jewish Laws were issued under Queen Catalina

• Laws of Catalina
  • Confine the dwelling places of Jews and Muslims to certain places to separate them 
  • Given 8 days 
  • Jews were forbidden to serve Christians
• Earlier decrees said the Jewish doctors could not help Christian patients and any medical roles  
• Created a new social entity and posed new problems in the cities
• Total violation of Spanish tradition
• Conversos were determined to capture the spanish government and would enslave Christians

What were the the real purpose behind the prohibitions of the Laws of Catalina?

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• Not to protect Christians but the purpose was to destroy Jews’ income 
• Part of a broader policy 
• 100 lashes 
• No minority can not survive 
• Economic social constraints - complete economic strangulation for Jews 
• There are no immigration from Spain 

How did cities react to this influx?

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• Spain’s Christians society 
• Once you convert, you have to participate in Christian ceremonies

Majority of Converts or Conversos needed work but it could not be met

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• Conversos could only turn to the old Christians - but they still hated Jews like previous centuries
• Conversos would have to work longer hours and would have to do their work in Christian neighborhoods 
  • They had to avoid Jewish dietary laws, ten commandments, Shabbat (Sabbath)
• Strain in living a double life took its toll 
• Numbers of people who followed Jewish laws decline

Most Spanish Jews was the only avenue to live

Their children will be educated in Christian schools and abandon the views of their parents - absorbed into a Christian atmosphere

Mid 15th Century

• Conversos rose to high positions in the catholic church
• Long tradition - conversos were considered Mijanos (means swine)
• Conversos would not be covered by Anti-Jewish Laws
  • Conversos were false Christians
  • Came up with a claim that conversos were secret Jews and should be viewed with suspicion - you could not get any converso legislation passed but you can with Jewish legislation

Racial Semitism Emerges

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• Allowed the conversos to have a perception of being evil 
• Were still Jews from the racists 
• Jewish Moral Propensities inherited by the Conversos 
• They remain racially Jews even though they have converted

Spain had Anti-converso (Secret heretics)

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• Hypocritical, pompous, arrogant, wicked, cruel, merciless
• False prophets, thieves, murderers, evil incarnate due to their racial makeup - #stupid

Christians panicked - answer racial antisemitism

• Jews are accused of being evil
• Baptism does not change that - pure racism

Faith Intermarriage

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•  Conversos were scared to support this and move it forward 

  • This would help infect the Spanish people with a sickness and allowed Conversos to go into the office 
  • Between Pure and Impure person 
  • Conversos would contaminate the Old Christian’s blood 
  • Mixed blood contaminates 
  • Conversos were opposed for what they wanted to become while Jews were opposed because of who they were

• Races seemed to be concerned that Spain was on the verge of more faith intermarriages 

• Ethnic fusion

Emergence of racial antisemitism in Europe

• Moving in the direction of the Holocaust
• Large numbers have gained anti-semitic ideas
• Jews that convert to Christianity during the Holocaust will still be killed
• Of course flattered their ego - Old Christians

Old Christians

•  If the old Christians were overtaken by the conversos in the race for social and economic achievements it was only because they would not use such devious method
• One way of handling the conversos problem: large scale massacre - mass extermination (mid to late 15th century many made repeated attempts to implement this)

Ferdinand and Isabella

• Come to power over United Castile and Aragon
• The Rage of the masses against the conversos they had seen the ravages in revegetated produced to many towns they saw the hatred growing and spreading and they realized this must be arrested before it produce new more powerful explosions that might Rock the whole Kingdom remember the rulers are always afraid of instability social instability which is caused by violence at the Grassroots they worry they will destabilize and when their standpoint they had to figure out what could be done in this situation the advice of the conversos to the monarchs was to vigorously punished the Insiders of the riots against them but Ferdinand and Isabella feared that this would cost them the great popularity they were enjoying and they are judgment keeping the common people's support at priority over everything else they wanted 
• Ferdinand and Isabella would not approve of the bloodbath, however did banish the conversos because of their race