Another important thing I had learned during this FMS 313 course was that the origin of the word “antisemitism” originated in Germany. This is not surprising being that throughout Germanic history the Jewish minority experienced discrimination with varying degrees of intensity there which culminated with the Holocaust of the World War Two era. Although the Holocaust was horrific in scope throughout Europe, it undeniably originated with the Nazi regime of 1930s Germany.
Here is what I wrote for the weekly discussion board when the topic focused on the various facets comprising antisemitism through time. This also included some websites I looked into for research for the post.
“Discrimination against or prejudice or hostility against Jews” is the blunt, matter-of-fact way that dictionary.com terms antisemitism. After scrolling down a bit, though, the site presents a rather interesting an informative little morsel that I was completely unaware of before. It states that the term is of German origin (Antisemitusmus) and stated that the term was supposedly first used by Wilhelm Marr. He was a 19th century German nationalist, radical, and race agitator who started an anti-Jewish organization in 1879.
While continuing to peruse through some other websites relating to the matter of strong anti-Jewish sentiment, I came upon one which provided a more in-depth description titled: http://www.cdn-friends-icej.ca/antiholo/defantis.html The site provides a more extreme definition from French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre: “The attributing of all or part of one’s misfortunes, and those of one’s country, to the presence of Jewish elements in the community and proposing to remedy this state of affairs by depriving the Jews of certain of their rights; by keeping them out of certain economic or social activities, by expelling them from the country, by exterminating them, etc.”
Tying in with this statement, the site goes on to express that components of antisemitism follows the path from holding certain negative beliefs against Jewish people which can lead to increasingly negative feelings that can ultimately lead to acting out against them. This site also briefly states that most people would not view themselves as being bigoted but have justifiable reasons for holding prejudicial views against Jewish people. “Zionism On The Web”: http://www.zionismontheweb.org/antisemitism/EU-definition-of-antisemitism.htm makes numerous statements regarding antisemitism, a chief one being: “Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.”
Unsurprisingly, this stance is directly relevant to incidents of international terrorism which have become increasingly virulent during the past decade. Regarding Robert Wistrich, the Los Angeles Times Book Review of January 24, 2010 mentions numerous examples of anti-Semitic actions throughout history from his book A Lethal Obsession, detailing these events from antiquity up to jihadists of the present day. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/24/entertainment/la-ca-robert-wistrich24-2010jan24
Until reading course materials, I was completely unaware of Wistrich and did not realize he has devoted his entire academic career to studying what he calls “the longest hatred” as the L.A. review notes. Apparently, he has written numerous books (some award winning) on this highly contentious matter and has been affiliated with some of the world’s most prestigious universities such as Oxford and Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.
