Rise of Anti-Semitism in Europe from the Dreyfus Affair, 1890 to 1939

Question: Analyze the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe from the Dreyfus affair in the 1890’s to 1939.

Thesis: As Jews began to gain emancipation throughout Europe and later would assert their nationalism towards wanting a Jewish homeland, they became a scapegoat to the economic problems after WWI and the Dreyfus Affair, especially in the way that Hitler gained the support of the people through mass politics, and thus a wide array of actions were taken against in the Jews in Holocaust starting in the late 1930’s by Germany of Western Europe in contrast to that of Russia in Eastern Europe.

Paragraphs:
I. Causes of Jews being blamed, leading up to Nazism
A. Jewish Nationalism/Pride o 1. In response to the Christian Socialists who believed that Jews were suppose to be suppressed- Theodore Herzl establishes his idea of Zionism in his book “Der Judenstat”
§ This book advocated the need for a Jewish homeland outside of Europe, an idea that seemed very foreign to other religions o 2. Jews able to publicly practice religion, become more prominent in society than other ethnicities
B. Dreyfus Affair angers France and Germany o 1. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in French army, is accused of passing French secrets to the German army in 1894
§ Dreyfus is sent into a life of imprisonment while Western Europe begins to resent the Jewish people. o 2. Dreyfus affair is a great example of the willingness of the Catholic Church and monarchists to join a conspiracy against a scapegoat
II. Jews are blamed for WWI, Hitler rises to power to take charge of situation in Germany
A. Treaty of Versailles
1. German economy is left in ruins, Jews blamed for this
§ Great Depression and high WWI costs led them into inflation and poverty o 2. Jews become Easy scapegoat- there were a lot of conspiracies going around, became easy to blame them for military failure
§ Hitler believes that Jews, along with Communists, were responsible for causing strikes, subversion, and revolution on the home front during WWI
B. Weimar Republic taken out, Hitler takes power
1. Nature of Hitler’s power
§ Mein Kampf and mass politics- believed that Germany’s destiny was to conquer the world
§ Propaganda and his obsession with the anti-Semitic music and essays of the composer Wagner (“Das Judenthum in der Musik”)
2. Hitler sees common enemy, leads Nazi party to want to attack Jews
§ Knows they are problem leads them to find a solution in the New Order and finally the “Final Solution”
III. Results of anti-Semitism/actions taken in Eastern Europe
A. Jews are oppressed by the government
1. Jews are forced to live in the most western part of Russian lands (Pale)
2. Tsars used Jews as scapegoats
§ Jews took up a majority of the top Soviet Communist leadership, led to Hitler wanting to take action
3. Many pogroms started- action taken to show anti-Semitism
§ Pogroms against Zionism- led to not allowing the Jews to move to Palestine
IV. Results of anti-Semitism/actions taken in Western Europe
A. Pre-Holocaust
1. Jews were singled out- told to wear the Juden star and put signs up on their stores saying that the owners are Jewish
2. Kristallnacht, 1939- Germans had right to destroy Jewish homes, synagogues, and stores during one night in November
B. The start of the Holocaust
1. Hitler’s New Order- established Nazis/Aryans as the master race and ability to conquer those less worthy, such as Jews and Slavic peoples
2. Leads up to the mass murdering of Jews in labor camps and gas chambers using the new technology of WWI, cyclone B, 6 million Jews die in concentration camps, ghettos, and in medical experiments