I didn't know that they did, what evidence have you got?
2007-01-24 20:01:28
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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Europe has long history of Anti Semitism. It can be traced back to the beginnings of the Christianity, because the story of the crucifixion is one of Jews turning on Jesus. The fact that Jesus was a Jew didn't register.
The Jewish faith struggled to survive during the Middle Ages, in Eastern Europe pogroms where enacted against Jews, and where some of the most horrific state sponsored acts until the holocaust.
The Jewish faith was easily recognisable, and because they had to live within walking distance of the synagogue, they formed communities. This also made them separate, and even today we see how the general populace can become suspicious, even hostile to people who have a separate identity and culture.
In Germany there was perception that Jewish families held the wealth of the country, especially the banks. Whether this was true doesn’t matter, that was the perception.
After the defeat of Germany in WW1 many felt that the country had been 'stabbed in the back' by unrest within Germany. The Kiel mutiny, and strikes amongst armament workers where instigated by the communist party, many of whose leaders where Jewish. .
This all mixed up into an apocalyptic rage within post war Germany, where easy targets like Jewish bankers where accused of profiting from the war, or Jewish communists for undermining the soldiers at the front by organising strikes. It is no exaggeration to say that all the problems experienced by Germany in the aftermath of WW1 (and they where very considerable) where blamed on Jewish people
Hitler simply latched onto the simmering racial resentment, and used it for his own ends. We can see the same today when the BNP flood a town with party workers whenever there is a sniff of racial tension.
Mix in his and Nazi's belief in Ayrian superiority, and the 'final solution' becomes inevitable when they gain power.
The Jews where not recognised as human beings by Nazi's but as a problem which needed a solution. The solution was the death camps.
2007-01-25 04:35:07
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answer #2
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answered by Corneilius 7
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Most people these days differntiate between the Nazis, who wanted to exterminate the Jews, and the vast majority of the German people who either did what they were told through fear and intimidation, or were not involved in the Holocaust.
The Nazis wanted to purify Germany, regarding the Jews as subhuman (crazy huh) and destroying German culture. They tried to justify this insanity by saying the Jews were responsible for the economic problems of the Weimer Republic in the 1920's and 1930's.
After Adolf Hiltler came to power, he determined that the Jewish population of Germany were a security risk, and this became the 'legal' framework for deporting them from Western Europe to the East, where they were either exterminated en masse, or worked to death.
Also, it is worth pointing out that it wasn't just Germans, many other countries such as Vichy France, Poland, Serbia, and Hungary collaborated with the Nazis in their 'Final Solution'.
It wasn't just Jews either; anyone that the Nazis considered below them became victims, from Roma gypsy's to ordinary Polish people.
But really there is no explanation that educated people can understand for what happened, anymore than we can understand the madness of the genocide in Rwanda or in Bosnia and the former Yugoslavia during the 1990's ...
2007-01-25 14:06:46
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answer #3
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answered by Our Man In Bananas 6
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most of the jews living in germany between the wars were migrants from eastern europe with a long tradition of working in finance. typical jewish occupations involved lending, banking, law, acountancy and so on. the financial crisis in germany in the 20s meant that there was a perception that jews were getting rich off the labour of german workers, that they were taking advantage of the situation. for the true anti semites in the rising nazi party it became easy too point to succesful jewish businesses and claim that they were robbing the workers into poverty. when humiliating jews the nazis would often make them do 'real work' i.e. force them to dig holes for no purpose etc. illustrated no better than in the concentration camps. people always look for a scapegoat when things go wrong and with the encouragemnt of hitler and his cadres the germans, as a nation, adopted the jews as there object of hate.
2007-01-25 08:04:27
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answer #4
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answered by bruce j 1
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Sulieman read Mien Kampf if you want Hitler's rationalization for getting rid of the Jewish.
Hatred of the Jews goes way way back in Europe not just Germany. Every European country except one (Republic of Venice) expelled Jews. When Columbus was climbing on his boat in 1492 the harbor was full of ships full of Jews being kicked out of Spain. Venice decided to segregate their Jews and invented the Ghetto. The Catholic Church was behind most of these expulsions. But the Protestants didn't change much in this area of thought. Martin Luther was all for eliminating them. http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGIC,GGIC:2007-03,GGIC:en&q=luther+jews+lies
In fact Luther (a German) was an inspiration to Goebbels when he needed material for his Antisemetic Propaganda. So why are the JEWS so Hated. Socialogically one would say, because they refuse to dump their Religion and Tradition. Thus they "stand out." Like the kid in school that is rediculed and ostracizied because he or she is different (obese, stutterer etc). But there also sometimes seems to me to be something else. Because pursecuting the Jew is so ubiquitious throughout history. I don't know it all most seems like a higher power had/has in for them.
On the other hand this might all be an Eurocentric, Christaincentric point of view.
2007-01-25 08:09:18
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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Neil J's answer is basically fine except that his literacy is very poor.
anti-semitism has existed for centuries in all christian countries, always fostered by the papacy.
So the nazis were latching on to a well-established sentiment.
Also, historically racism has been quite normal.
Germany was undergoing a fundamental crisis in the inter-war years and this produced a stressful social psychology, and the Jews were used as scapegoats for any discontents.
2007-01-25 05:54:45
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answer #6
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answered by Tewks 2
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In Germany you can trace the start of the Nazi anti-semitic trend in the writings of Heinrich von Treitschke. Treitschke was one of the few important public figures who supported antisemitic attacks which became prevalent from 1878 onwards. He attacked the alleged refusal of German Jews to assimilate into German culture and society and the flow of Jewish immigrants from Russian Poland. Treitschke coined a phrase "Die Juden sind unser Unglück!" ("The Jews are our misfortune!") adopted as a motto by Der Stürmer several decades later. Because of his respected status, Treitschke's remarks aroused widespread controversy.
In 1879 Wilhelm Marr formed the Antisemiten-Liga (The Anti-Semitic League).
Additionally, blame was laid on German Jews for having caused Germany's defeat in World War I (Dolchstosslegende).
All of these contributed towards the events of Kristallnacht after which Goebbels declared that "The German people is anti-Semitic. It has no desire to have its rights restricted or to be provoked in the future by parasites of the Jewish race."
2007-01-25 04:38:14
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answer #7
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answered by the_lipsiot 7
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It was the Nazis that hate the Jews. If you're saying the Germans, you are including the Jews, too. Think before you ask a question like that to prevent missunderstandings like that.
2007-01-28 06:26:02
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answer #8
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answered by dodo_loui 2
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First off, it wasn't all Germans. It was a very small amount. The others simply sympathized with Hitler and his regime as a means of getting out of the depression and making their country great again (though look, they've done far more in these past few years than the War ever did for them, and they did it more peacefully, too! So much for the past).
And as for the anti-Semitism, it's always been around. There's been a long history of persecution against people of the Jewish faith and of Jewish heritage, and so they were an easy scapegoat. Hitler used religion and hate to get his power, but once he was there he wanted more... And he had to "purify" the people of any "dirtiness" they may have had.
He was a demented man with some demented followers, but it's definitely not fair to say that all Germans wanted that.
2007-01-25 04:07:05
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answer #9
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answered by Ultima vyse 6
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well, you could spend your whole life trying to understand what it was that was going on his head and heart. and it wouldn't make much sense in the end, unless you also have unlimited capacity to hate in which case you wouldn't need a life time of study. You'd be a nazi or skin head or a white supremist.
Look at the link I supplied to get an overview of theory of prejudice and ant-semitism specifically.
The other links are interesting articles about anti semitism
I like the last article best. It describes what the value system of the people who hate Judaism are really about, what they consider important. It's very disturbing.
All the best, nancy
2007-01-25 05:48:30
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answer #10
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answered by Nancy K 3
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The Jews were seen as the cause for the economic woes that the German people had to face after WWI.
Although, the German people as a whole were not specifically against Jews. The Jews were a target of convenience for Hitler. They were against anyone that did not fit the Aryan ideals. Hitler in his drug induced states would further manipulate the mob mentality & play against the fears of the already distraught German people.
2007-01-25 04:05:15
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answer #11
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answered by Anonymous
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