From Black Death to Blood Libels, The Jews did it

 

We tend to look at events surrounding us as unique to the present, as divorced from history. The description of the Holocaust as "unique" or "mysterious" suggests this, and reinforces the perception. That such descriptives originate with respected scholars and intellectuals reinforces this perception. The purpose of my writings is to establish our historical experience as, if not causal, then continuing precedent. And precedent, as evidenced by the "mystery" of the survival of antisemitism in the 21st century for example, is retained in cultural memory, an inheritance always available. Blaming "Hitler" for the Holocaust may be consoling, since he is dead and no longer a threat, but it does not respond to the real problem facing Jewish survival.

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Antisemitism and Jewish Survival

 

By David Turner on 06 July, 2011

From Black Death to Blood Libels, The Jews did it

 

"Jews should be slaves to Christians and at the same time treated kindly due of humanitarian considerations." Third Lateran Council, 1179, Canon 24

 

Part 7 in a continuing series representing a first draft of my book, Antisemitism and Jewish Survival: Zionism for the 21^st century. Next week, The Year 1492: "Purity of Blood" and the Spanish Inquisition.

 

The Black Death

 

The plague known as the Black Death traveled from the orient to the Middle East andEurope. It devastated Europe, more than a third of the total population dying from the disease in the mid-14th century. Although Jews also were victim, rumors spread accusing them of poisoning Christian wells in order to spread the disease (ibid. p. 127). Hundreds of Jewish communities were destroyed. "On January 9, 1349, nearly the entire Jewish population of Basel was massacred by townspeople." That massacre was typical of others perpetrated across Europe as, "the people and local leaders ofSwitzerland, France and Germany accused Jews of poisoning wells. Most were burnt alive… in 1215 Pope Innocent III … passed [an edict that inspired] Nazi Germany in the 20th century –Jews were required to wear a yellow badge at all times."

  

Burning of Jews during the Black Death epidemic, 1349

 

In Strasbourg, a city not yet touched by the plague, 900 Jews were gathered together and burned alive.

 

Another anti-Jewish rumor involved a supposed cabal of rabbis that gathered inSpain intent on harming Christians. According to this myth Jewish communities throughout Europe were instructed by the cabal to poison Christian wells. Five hundred years later that myth would resurface as The Protocols of Elders of Zion.

                                                              

 

Blood libels

 

Another myth that grew up in this period accused Jews of ritual murder of Christian boys. The myth usually involved the kidnapping of a pre-pubescent youth who would be tied or nailed to a cross in mockery of the Christian Eucharist. The child would suffer a wound similar to that delivered to Jesus on the cross, the blood then supposed to be used in the baking of Passover matzo.

 

Simon of Trent, supposedly murdered in this fashion in 1475, was canonized by Pope Sixtus V in 1588. A cult developed around Simon that survives to the present. Although officially disbanded in 1965 by Pope Paul VI, evidence of its continuation is available on Catholic organization internet sites. 

 

Even today blood libel accusations continue to excite the imagination of some Christian communities. The most celebrated modern case involved a Russian Jew, Menahem Beilis, who was arrested on July 21, 1911 for the murder and mutilation of a Ukrainian youth. Acquitted after spending two years in jail, the peasant making the charge eventually admitted that his accusations were based on tutoring by the police. 

 

And one year after the liberation of Auschwitz, of the more than 24,000 Jewish residents of pre-war Kielce, Poland, 200 survivors returned home only to be faced with a pogrom inspired by… a blood libel. Thirty-five were murdered, and two Jews who just happened to be on a train passing through the city were also murdered.

 

 

 

Most recent in this series, Antisemitism and Jewish Survival:

 

1. The Crusades (1096-1272): 'Rehearsal' for Holocaust

2. Anti-Jewish Persecution and the failed Parousia: the year 1000

3. St. Augustine saves the Jews: The Draft Book, Part 4 

 

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Fun stuff to read, tell and watch:

Now FREE to watch all 91 minutes: "Defamation," from Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/3rvhdvc

Some of His Best Friends Are Jewish: The Saga of a Holocaust Revisionist By Nathaniel Popper. Link: http://tinyurl.com/3v6m88c

...an Israeli lawyer has filed a class-action lawsuit against former President Jimmy Carter, seeking $5 million in damages because his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" allegedly defamed Israel. Link: http://tinyurl.com/3pltqg2

"...when you have laws against questioning the Holocaust narrative, you are screaming at the other person to stop thinking!!!" ---Mike Santomauro. *Anthony Lawson's Holocaust Video "were the Germans so stupid"... Link: http://tinyurl.com/44nsrco

An anti-Semite condemns people for being Jews, I am not an anti-Semite.--Mike Santomauro. Link: http://tinyurl.com/42z9p8o

Start reading DEBATING THE HOLOCAUST in under a minute: http://tinyurl.com/3f8h874

Peace.

Mike Santomauro

Editorial Director

ReporterNotebook@gmail.com

Call anytime: 917-974-6367

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