A Study Of The Roots Of German Racial Anti-semitism

During the year 1933 and 1945,the Nazis and their accomplices made organized persecutions and massacres to the Jews in Germany and its occupied territories.Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler,over 600 million Jews were killed in the irrational actions of the Nazis,Holocaust is one of the most important events of 20th Century.It is not only the catastrophe of the Jewish nation,but also one for all mankind.After this disaster,mankind has never stopped investigating its causes.It is believed that"remembering history is the best way to prevent it from happening again".Holocaust has its profound historical,political,ideological,and economical significance.It is the final result of the integration of various anti-Semitic factors.But within these factors,racial anti-Semitism is the core element that led to Hitler’s slaughter of the Jews.Therefore it is set as the research topic of this thesis.Through exploring the roots of German racial anti-Semitism and their impact on Hitler and the Nazis,the author attempts to explain why Holocaust took place in Germany,rather than any other country in the region.German racial anti-Semitic ideology has the following three roots:the root of religion,the root of ethnic and the root of racism.All of these characteristics can be divided into sub segments as follows:The paper begins with the introduction.This part introduces the origin of this writing and an overview of relevant studies.It covers the biographies and the problems this article want to solve.In order to make the expressions of this paper more clear and explicit,at the end of this part,the author explains the definition of the term "anti-Semitism" and its usage.The paper continues in accordance with the three roots of German racial anti-Semitism,namely religious,ethnic and racial.The first chapter is the religious roots,also called the tradition of Christianity anti-Semitism.Religious anti-Semitism is mainly composed of two parts:the first is prejudices against Jews,such as accusing the Jews of killing Jesus Christ,blood libel,host desecration and other stereotypes of the Jews.The second is anti Jewish policies and instruments of the church and the state of Christianity,such as forbidding the Jews to own land,depriving of their property,expulsing,isolating,and even killing them.The second quarter,Germany as a traditional Christian country was inevitably affected by the influence of religious anti-Semitism.Religious anti-Semitism prevailed in the region of Germany.During the period of Martin Luther’s Religious Reform,religious anti-Semitism in Germany became more severe.The second chapter is the ethnic root of German racial anti-Semitism.First,the Enlightenment of European opened the door to the secular society,let them think about the Jewish problem from ethnic and racial prospective,and laid a philosophical foundation for racial anti-Semitism by this way.Second,unlike other countries in Europe,during time of the 19th century,Germany embarked on a road of cultural nationalism,which has a strong negative impact on Jews in Germany.Third,German nationalism anti-Semitism became more urgent under the stimulus of the outstanding achievements of the Jewish liberation of Germany.Fourth,anti-Semitism shaved a strong performance both in the field of German culture and religious,which promoted the development of anti-Semitism in Germany,and laid the groundwork for the arrival of racial anti-Semitism.The third chapter is the root of racism.First,racism is the core of racial anti-Semitism.The theories of Racism developed into several stages like ancient race theory,modern racism and racial science,ethnic division between human being was increasingly detailed.About the Jews,they were picked from the white race and became an independent race.This is the basic premise of racial anti-Semitism.Second,compared with other European countries,Germany used the racism theories in domestic society,more against the Jews,to consolidate the development of national identity.Racism were widely disseminated in the field of German culture,and gained a strong support of German elite groups,which led to a strong anti-Semitic racial culture of German.Thirdly,compared to political parties in other European countries,political parties and organizations based on racial anti-Semitism appeared in Germany,which promoted the spread of racial anti-Semitism and also expanded its impact.These three roots of religion,nationalism and racism combined to promote the development of racial anti-Semitism of German at the end of 19th Century.The first problem this paper wants to solve is completed,next,it went on to address the second issue of the paper to be discussed,namely the impact of these three sources of anti-Semitism on Hitler and the Nazis,and why the Holocaust took place in Germany.First,the Christianity anti-Semitism provides a basis for the Nazi anti-Semitism propaganda legislation,moreover,under the influence of the long-standing anti-Semitic stance,Roman Catholic and German Protestant took the attitude of appeasement or even supported Hitler’s and Nazi’s anti-Semitism.Second,under the influence of German nationalism,Hitler formed the idea of German nation was most superior and the Pan-Germanism,Hitler desired to establish German state without Jewish.Nationalism became an important weapon for Nazi to incite the German people and persecute the Jews.Moreover,under the long-term impact of the idea about the supremacy of German nation,German people became the accomplices even executioners of the Holocaust.Third,racism is a theoretical foundation for Hitler’s slaughter of the Jews.German racists were also very supportive of Hitler and the Nazi Party to practice their racist theories.They provided strong intellectual support for the Holocaust.Under the combined effect of these three roots,the Holocaust finally appeared in Germany without suffering strong resistance,eventually led to the killing of more than 600 million Jews by Nazi race machine.The last part is the conclusion.Exploring the root of German racial anti-Semitism helps to understand why the Holocaust occurred in Nazi Germany,to help people reflect on this disaster and misfortune in mankind’s history.However,any research and study on human disaster will eventually come down to the question of how to prevent and avoid tragedies from happening again,and this is also the real purpose of such studies.To avoid the reoccurrence of the Holocaust,the key point is to solve the conflictions of values in a multi-ethnic society,regardless of religion or nationality,human must adhere to equality,freedom and liberation and rational thought,respect for other religious and ethnic self-rights,while developing their own.All religions and ethnic groups have to be in line with the spirit of "harmonious" to resolve religious disputes and ethnic hatred,develop equality dialogue among ethnics,this must be an effective way to avoid the outbreaks of extreme racist acts.