was martin luther's rabid anti-semitism the key factor in the tragedy of 20th century Germany?

Question

He provided a rocksolid foundation of irrational fear and loathing, neatly packaged for Hitler to just pick up and use. Would the Holocaust have happened if it wasn't for Luther?

Answer 1

Since the Nazi "Jew Hate" and "Final Solution" drew from a long and rabid (and ultimately anti Christian) heritage of theologically-distorted Western Antisemitism,Luther and other influential authorities bear much of the responsibilities for laying a foundation for the Holocaust.

However, Nazi Ideology was meant as much to be a replacement for Catholic,Orthodox and Protestant Christianity as an enemy of Judaism. Nazi Antisemitism was basically" pseudo-Darwinist,pseudo-scientific" racism that violated all of the ethical norms of any real form of Christianity.

Nazism in the end had nothing but contempt for "the weak Jewish Christ" and Christianity's Jewish God and theological and ethical system. Nazism exalted the divinity of "Aryanism' (which in reality is a language family not a Nordic so-called race)

I think the Jewish Holocaust and the other ones of the 20th Cent (Roma/"Gypsy",Assyrian,Armenian,Tutsi,Cambodian)would have happened with or without Luther's printed rages.

Answer 2

I know how Luther's views changed later in life, but I think that those changes actually brought him closer to the mainstream of general thought on the subject. That anti-semitism pre-dated Luther, and when he didn't get his way with the Jewish people he just started to agree with everyone around him.

So yes, I think the Holocaust would still have happened if it wasn't for Luther.

Answer 3

Antisemitism was a very ugly phenomenon long before Luther and not just in Germany.
Hard to say whether there was anything that could have stopped the Holocaust.

Answer 4

Its hard to say for sure. But it sure didn't do anything to help prevent the holocaust.

Hitler wasn't especially into christianity, but Luther's writings that attacked Jews may have helped justify Hitler's actions in the eyes of some German Lutherans.