Mitla Pass - Leon Uris

ouncer

Currently reading Mitla Pass. Yes it is an old book but I picked it up and found it interesting. Parts of the book describe the persecution of the Jews from the Russians, the Germans, the Ukranians, the Lithuanians and simply just about everybody in and around the time of the first world war. And then there was Hitler during the second world war. My question is simple. I would like to understand why the jews were hated by so many nations over such a long period of time. More to the point, what did they do to deserve the treatment they received from so many different countries. Please keep in mind I am interested in information prior to the formation of Israel. Many thanks

Ipso

Being accused of killing christ, and when usury was illegal at one point only jews loaned money which led to resentment towards them.

donaghs

ouncer wrote: »

Currently reading Mitla Pass. Yes it is an old book but I picked it up and found it interesting. Parts of the book describe the persecution of the Jews from the Russians, the Germans, the Ukranians, the Lithuanians and simply just about everybody in and around the time of the first world war. And then there was Hitler during the second world war. My question is simple. I would like to understand why the jews were hated by so many nations over such a long period of time. More to the point, what did they do to deserve the treatment they received from so many different countries. Please keep in mind I am interested in information prior to the formation of Israel. Many thanks

They were the only big religious minority in Europe, at the time, outside of Christianity. Being perceived as an ethnic/racial group also compounded feelings of difference. And unfortunately, being different is enough to make some people intolerant. Added to that as mentioned, the killing of Christ and their role as moneylenders (a role that was not exactly chosen: Christians were supposed to avoid "usury", but were able to use Jewish moneylenders as a loophole).

From the Enlightenment onwards, parts of Western and Central Europe became far more tolerant of Jewish people. And from the time of Bismark to the arrival of Hitler, Germany was arguably one of the most tolerant places for Jews, and had a large integrated Jewish population who considered themselves German.

The Russian Empire (up to 1917: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Eastern Poland, the Baltic States) on the other hand, was always an intolerant place, to one degree or another.

echo beach

I think this is the series presented by Simon Sharma shown on the BBC last year, which gave a fairly comprehensive rundown on Jewish history right up to the present. While your question is simple the answer is complex and could fill a library but this might leave you a little wiser.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/story-jews/

ouncer

echo beach wrote: »

I think this is the series presented by Simon Sharma shown on the BBC last year, which gave a fairly comprehensive rundown on Jewish history right up to the present. While your question is simple the answer is complex and could fill a library but this might leave you a little wiser.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/story-jews/

Thanks. I didn't expect an easy answer. My son enjoys history and his perception is that the Jews have been an ethnic minority in any and every country they have lived in. His viewpoint is that when times get hard the ethnic minorities get the brunt force. He suggests that this is true of the Kurds as it is true of the Jews.

I have a lot of reading to do. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.. As a kid I had little interest in this. Being that bit older I enjoy learning the history of our peoples and our nations.