Antisemitism

Jews have been persecuted since the beginning of documented time.

This religious group has been poked, prodded, exiled, and in recent

years, massacred for their religious beliefs. This racial prejudice is

called anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is the vicious weapon of

propaganda used to break down the Jews psychologically before the

armies of Germany even began to annihilate this religious group during

World War Two ("anti-semitism" 47).

The NAZI Party led in this mass murdering of the Jewish people. The

head of the NAZI Party, Adolph Hitler, proclaimed that he was not a

racist, yet killed over six million defenseless people because of their

race. Hitler also declared, redundantly, in his speeches, that he did not

desire World War Two. These are some of his last words: "It is not true

that I, or anyone else in Germany wanted a war in 1939. It was wanted

and provoked exclusively by those international statesmen who either

were of Jewish origin, or worked for Jewish interests. This led to the

merciless opposition to the universal poisoner of all peoples,

International Jewery" (Rossel 10).

As one can see, anti-Semitism could not be stopped in the era of

World War Two, because Hitler outlawed any media that wasn't showing

hatred toward the Jews. The only radio broadcasts were his hate filled

speeches and news reports that he approved. The only programs on

television also had to be approved by Hitler or someone under him. No

newspapers were allowed to say anything that, in any way, insulted a

Nazi, or any other German. If any Jew was caught insulting a German,

they were immediately executed or tortured until death. This fear that

had been provoked by the death, starvation, and abuse of the

Holocaust, was another type of propaganda brought about by the Nazis

(Zeman 26).

Another reason that Jews were hated was jealousy. They were

believed to be God's chosen people. Hitler took advantage of this, and

used it as another opening for propaganda. Soon, the Jews were

blamed for the death of Christ and said to have brought all of the pain

and suffering on the world. It was said that God was punishing the Jews,

and the rest of the world, for not receiving Him, and once the Jews were

gone, the Garden of Eden would thrive again. This ridiculous theory was

later declared unchristian by the Second Vatican Council (Roth 47).

Anti-Semitism was even in an innocent children's fairy tale. In Snow

White , the children were to think of Snow White as Nazi Germany after

World War One, the apple that put the beautiful princess to sleep was

the Jewish people, and the wonderful, handsome prince was Adolph

Hitler who woke the beautiful princess with a kiss, which represented his

leadership (Zeman 76).

Another reason for anti-Semitism's great popularity was that, for a fact,

people enjoy hate. They do not necessarily enjoy this emotion as they

do "happiness," but it brings about interest in an otherwise emotionless

being. The emotion generated by Nazi propaganda and the show of the

movement of the Holocaust that was presented to the Germans stood

out against the drabness of everyday life in the Weimar Republic. This

feeling was a splash of color on the subdued background of Germany

(Zeman 13).

As ridiculous a these approaches toward racial hatred may seem, the

racism of the Holocaust was not limited to only the Jewish people. In

fact, it is generally believed that a total of eleven million people were

killed by the Nazi regime, only about six million of these were Jewish.

Among these victims were political opponents, Gypsies, the mentally ill,

homosexuals, Jews, and others who were considered the "undesirables"

of Germany ("anti-Semitism"