History of the Jews in Central and Eastern Europe - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

History of the Jews in Central and Eastern Europe

IntroductionSlide2

OSTJUDEN X WESTJUDEN

Type of culture which almost disappeared in the Holocaust

Austria, big cities in Bohemia, Hungary, German parts of Poland

Jewishness above all a RELIGIOUS QUESTIONSlide3

Antisemitism in Antiquity

Anti = against

Sem (Shem) = patriarch, one of the three sons of Noah

Caused by ignorance and irrational fear of unknown and different

Ancient Rome and Greece

Against monotheism

Ignorance – believed that Jews sacrify Greek kids in the Temple

Believed that Jews spread leprosy – a reason of the expulsion from Egypt

Jews refused to asimilate and continued to respect the traditionSlide4

Poland as a Refuge

1st c. BCE : Hasmonean Kingdom of Israel = an independent Jewish state

 became a client kingdom

&

a province of the ROMAN Empire = JUDEA, 6th c. CE

Jewish- Roman Wars:

1) Great Jewish Revolt, 66-70 CE

TITUS besieged

& destro

yed Jerusalem, looted and burned Herod´s Temple

&

Jewish strongholds

&

massacred and enslavened a large part of Jewish populationSlide5

Poland as a Refuge

2) Bar Kochba´s Revolt, 132-135 CE

Jewish state crushed by a massive Roman army

HADRIAN attempted to root out Judaism

To erase memory of JUDEA renamed it to SYRIA PALAESTINA after Phillistines, the ancient enemies of Jews

Majority of Jews of Judea killed, exiled or sold to slavery

Jews though continued to live in Judea (completion of the Mishnah, Jerusalem Talmud, Safed – kabbalah)Slide6

Exile

To Mesopotamia, Egypt, N Africa

&

Spain =

SEPHARDI JEWS

To Turkey, Greece, Italy

&

then Central Europe =

ASHKENAZI JEWS

Later the majority of the European Jews

Lost Hebrew – YIDDISH

To C

& EE in the 11

th

&

12

th

C. – Crusades

Financial reasons for killing JewsSlide7

Jews have to wear a distinctive garb

Consistent separation of Jews and Christians

Jews are not allowed to own or rent any land

Limited in crafts

Merchants, money lenders - medieval antisemitism often inspired by economy reasons

1215 – IV. Lateran CouncilSlide8

Antijudaism of the Church

Jews are against the mainstream beliefs and thus are responsible for their suffering

Jews =

O

ld Israel

Church = New Israel

„The only and real“

Johannes Chrysostomus (Church father, 4th c.)

Jews are equal to evil and are on the level of animals

Since the 10th c. – devil portrayed as a buck with a Jewish nose

Jews paralelled to annoying insect

 can be chased away or stamped out with impunitySlide9

Medieval Antisemitism

„It would be licit to hold Jews because of their crimes (of failing to embrace Christianity) in perpetual servitude, and therefore the princes may regard the possesions of Jews as belonging to the State.“

St. Thomas Aquinas, De Regimine Judeorum

Church triumphant over synagogue, Strassbourg, c. 1230Slide10

Medieval Antisemitism

313 – Milan Edict – legalized christianity but not judaism

6th c. Codex of Justinian

Jews are not allowed to hold public functions, build new synagogues and have sexual intercourse with ChristiansSlide11

Poland as a Refuge

14

th

C. – Plagues – attacking Jews MORE THAN ETHNIC HATRED = A WAY TO CRITICIZE the MONARCHS who protected them

& MONARCHIC FISCAL POLICIES which were OFTEN ADMINISTRED B

Y JEWS

Frederic II, 1236

Jews subjects of the Emperor

 Jews became

dependent on the royal power

and were gradually isolated from their neighbourhoodSlide12

Accusation of host dessecration

IV th Lateran Council

An unleavened bread will be replaced by a host and laics will not receive wine during the communion

New dogma: Christ´s blood and body are present in the host

1243 – first accusation of Jews in Germany (Belitz by Berlin) of host dessecration

False trials and pogroms (

14th c. Brussels, Deggendorf, Knoblauch, Pulkau,

Kouřim)Slide13

Accusation of ritual murder

(the blood libel)

Norwich – 1144 – accusation of crucifying a Christian boy before Eastern

Jews murder innocent children and virgins and need their blood as a remedy

Led to numerous pogroms – e.g. Prague, 1336 several tens of Jews were burnt for „using Christian blood“ – „Jews need blood to prepare matza.“Slide14

Expulsion from Frankfurt, 1614

„1380 persons old and young were counted at the exit of the gate and herded onto ships on the river Main.“

Expulsions

1290 from England – untill 1650

France – Jews expulsed from 1306/ 1394 untill 1789

Italy – 1350-1450

Russia – Jews not allowed since the 14th c- untill 1722

1492 – 97 - Jews expulsed from Spain and Portugal – about 100 thousand victims

1541 expulsed from the Bohemian kingdom

1744 Maria Theresa expulsed Jews from the Bohemian LandsSlide15
Slide16

Poland as a Refuge

Boleslaus III, 12th c

Jews= backbone of the Polish economy

Boleslaus the Pious, 13th c.

Charter of Jewish LibertiesSlide17

Poland as a Refuge

Casimir the Great, 14th c.

Amplified Jewish liberties – prohibited kidnapping of Jewish children

Black death – blood libel and pogroms

15th c. – POLICY OF TOLERANCE – accepting Jews from W EuropeSlide18

Poland as a Refuge

16th c. –

Vaad = Jewish

Parliament (Diet)

1648 – Jews 500 000 = 5% of the population

The richest merchants also financiers

Mediators between town and country

Large group of poor people

Chmielnicki

massacres of Jews – emigration to Central Poland and to W Europe

Over 200 000 victimsSlide19

Poland as a Refuge

18th c. – church renewed medieval discrimination – protection of kings and nobles less efficient

Withdrawal to STETLEKHS – great poverty