Antisemitism in Europe

overview about antisemitism in Europe

Antisemitism,[1] or Judeophobia,[2] has a long history in Europe.[3] The worst manifestation of antisemitism in Europe's history is the Holocaust.[4]

The adjective of antisemitism is antisemitic. Those who hold antisemitic views are called antisemites.[5]

Before 20th century

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20th Century

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The Holocaust

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The Holocaust was a genocide[6] committed by Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 during World War II. It was known as the Final Solution. The Nazis' plan was to rid Europe of Jews. They succeeded in killing up to 67% of Jews – at least 6,000,000.[4] The planning of the Holocaust was rooted in antisemitism.[4][7]

21st century

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In a 2013 survey of 5,847 Jews in Europe, 76% thought that antisemitism had increased in the previous five years, while 29% had thought about moving countries as they felt unsafe.[8] In a 2023 survey done by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in Europe, it was found that as many as one-third of Western Europeans believed in stereotypes of Jews. This was reportedly worse in some eastern European countries, particularly Hungary (37%), Poland (35%) and Russia (26%).[9] In Eastern Europe, the level of antisemitism is found to be high.[10]

Croatia

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20th century

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21st century

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Croatian Wikipedia

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Between 2009 and 2021, Croatian Wikipedia was controlled by a group of far-right administrators who promoted Holocaust denial by censoring[11][12] the war crimes of the pro-Nazi Ustaše-ruled Independent State of Croatia (NDH)[13] and blocking dozens of rule-abiding users for trying to remove the false content.[11]

Željko Jovanović, the Minister of Science of Croatia back then, also advised against the use of the Croatian Wikipedia.[14] The most serious violation by the far-right administrators was their anti-historical designation of the Jasenovac concentration camp, in which 77,000–99,000 were killed,[15] as a "collection camp".[11] Their Holocaust denial was condemned by scholars, officials, advocacy groups and media critics.[11]

Following a year-long investigation (2020–21) by the Wikimedia Foundation, several complicit users and administrators were either banned or demoted, with one of the administrators found to have consolidated his or her power with 80 sockpuppet accounts.[16]

Ireland

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The banner of the pro-Nazi antisemitic[17] Irish Catholic Blueshirts.
 
Pro-Nazi antisemitic[17] Irish Catholic Blueshirts marching down the street.

Overview

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Ireland has been predominantly Catholic throughout history.[18] Just as other Catholic countries, antisemitism is deep-rooted in Ireland.[18]

Early modern period

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As per specialized historians, Irish Catholics played an active role in the Catholic Spanish Inquisition's persecution of Jews (1478–1834),[19] killing as many as 300,000 Jews by false convictions of "crypto-Judaism",[20] a charge slapped on Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity under Catholic Spanish rule.[20]

Critique

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David Collier, an Irish researcher in Middle East affairs, [21] noted that antisemitism among contemporary Irish is derived from[21]

20th century

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Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, pro-Nazi sentiment was common among the Irish due to their dislike of the United Kingdom,[25] which was fighting Nazi Germany.[25]

World War II

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In July 1940, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) praised Nazi Germany as the "friends and liberators of the Irish people" in a statement, with little to no opposition from the Irish public.[25][26] Meanwhile, the IRA worked with Nazi spies to plot attacks on British troops in Northern Ireland[25][26] and circulated materials accusing Éamon de Valera's neutral Irish government of being owned by "Jews and Freemasons".[25][26]

As per declassified MI5 documents, IRA leading figures Seán Russell and James O'Donovan – both veterans of the Irish War of Independence – were the main Irish contacts with Nazi Germany.[25][26] They got Nazi weapons, plotted joint attacks on British troops and discussed with Hitler a possible German invasion of Northern Ireland to facilitate Irish "reunification".[25][26]

As per Kurt Haller, an anti-Nazi German diplomat who testified in the Nuremberg Trials,[26]

James O'Donovan [...] asked for German support for the occupation of Northern Ireland [. ...] seemed most interested in obtaining delivery of weapons, ammunition and explosives.

As per Erwin von Lahousen, a Nazi German general who also testified,[26]

Frank Ryan[27] suggest that the German invasion of Britain would be an opportune moment for the seizure of Northern Ireland [. ...] Ryan had told [Edmund] Veesenmayer[28] that [Éamon] de Valera would support [...] provided he considered it a legitimate risk to take.

After surrender of Nazi Germany

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After Adolf Hitler's death on April 30, 1945, Éamon de Valera, the Prime Minister of Ireland, mourned the death of Hitler[25][29] with backing from the Irish parliament.[25][29] De Valera also denied reports of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as "anti-national propaganda", reportedly out of refusal to acknowledge that the Jews could have suffered more than the Irish.[30]

21st century

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Since 2013,[31][32] an unfounded theory claiming the existence of "Irish slaves" in 17th century North America prior to the arrival of African slaves has been popularized by Neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers[31][32] in both Ireland and the United States.[31][32] The theory is sometimes called the "Irish slaves myth". The myth reportedly originated from the book To Hell Or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland, written by Irish journalist Seán O'Callaghan (1918–2000)[31][33] and published by The O'Brien Press in Dublin, Ireland.[33]

The myth has been widely condemned by scholars as a far-right conspiracy theory downplaying the suffering of African Americans in history,[31][32] who were enslaved until 1865, segregated until 1965 and systemically discriminated against until now.[34] Despite To Hell Or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland promoting the widely condemned far-right myth, the book is still on sale in the Sinn Féin Bookshop[35] run by the Irish nationalist Sinn Féin party.[35][36]

In spring 2024, antisemitism in Ireland reportedly worsened with the Israel–Hamas war's escalation, where antisemites felt justified to harass Jews under the guise of supporting Palestine, and some Irish Jewish community leaders were doubtful if Ireland was still safe[37] for the approximately 2,700 Jews – 0.054% of the 2023 Irish population[38] – in Ireland. In November 2024, it was revealed that textbooks teaching that

  • the Jews "killed Jesus"
  • Israel was "uniquely aggressive"
  • the Auschwitz was a "prisoner of war camp" rather than an extermination camp
  • Judaism "believed that violence and war are sometimes necessary"

were widely circulated in Irish schools[39] and shaping children's mind.[39] The findings were confirmed by the European Jewish Congress (EJC).[40] Meanwhile, the Government of Ireland has not responded to the matter, nor have any strong reactions been seen from the Irish public.[39]

Poland

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Romania

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Armenia

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The flag of the pro-Nazi Armenian-Aryan Racialist Movement (AARM).
 
The logo of the Marxist-Leninist militant[41] front Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA).

58% of the population[42] of Armenia[43][44] – a Caucasian country allied with Russia,[45] China,[46] Iran[47] and Syria under Bashar al-Assad[48] who killed over 400,000 Syrians[49][50] – are found to be hostile to Jews. 62% of them are found to be aged 18–34. The percentages are the highest in Eastern Europe, making Armenia apparently the most antisemitic Eastern European country.[42] Garegin Nzhdeh (1886–1955), an Armenian nationalist who recruited thousands of Armenians to fight for Nazi Germany, is still popular among Armenians.[51][52]

From the 1930s through the Holocaust, Armenian-American media, including but not limited to the Hairenik,[53][54] fully backed Adolf Hitler and defended the Holocaust as a "necessary surgical operation" by demonizing Jews as "poisonous elements",[53][54] while 20,000 Armenian Nazi volunteers[54][55] hunted for Jews and other "undesirables" on behalf of the Nazi German Army.[54][56]

Despite such history, hundreds of statues have been erected across Armenia in honor of Garegin Nzhdeh.[51][52] Meanwhile, the only synagogue in Armenia's capital Yerevan was attacked four times in a row between 7 October 2023 and 11 June 2024.[57] Members of the Marxist-Leninist militant[41] front Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia[58] (ASALA) claimed responsibility for the attacks, some of which involved the synagogue being set on fire.[59]

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References

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  1. "Working Definition Of Antisemitism". World Jewish Congress. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
    IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism :
  2. 4.0 4.1 4.2
  3. "Discrimination and hate crime against Jews in EU Member States: experiences and perceptions of antisemitism" (PDF). European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2024.
  4. "ADL Survey Finds Harmful Antisemitic Stereotypes Remain Deeply Entrenched Across Europe". Anti-Defamation League (ADL). May 31, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
  5. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3
  6. "The Holocaust in Croatia". Yad Vashem. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
  7. "Jovanović: Djeco, ne baratajte hrvatskom Wikipedijom jer su sadržaji falsificirani" [Jovanović: "Children, do not use the Croatian Wikipedia because its contents are forgeries"]. Novi list (in Croatian). September 13, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
  8. "Croatian Wikipedia Disinformation Assessment-2021 – Meta". Meta Wikimedia. Retrieved 2021-06-14. Many articles created and edited by the members of this group present the views that match political and socio-cultural positions advocated by a loosely connected group of Croatian radical right political parties and ultra-conservative populist movements. The group has been using its positions of power to attract new like-minded contributors, silence and ban dissenters, manipulate community elections and subvert Wikipedia's and the broader movement's native conflict resolution mechanisms.
  9. 17.0 17.1
  10. 18.0 18.1
  11. 20.0 20.1
  12. 21.0 21.1 "David Collier: What Explains Ireland's Extreme Antisemitism?". Middle East Forum. September 12, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  13. 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 25.5 25.6 25.7 25.8
  14. 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.5 26.6
  15. A deputy of James O'Donovan.
  16. An SS leader convicted of crimes against humanity for contributing to the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Serbia and the pro-Nazi Independent State of Croatia (NDH).
  17. 29.0 29.1
  18. Bew, Paul (February 12, 2009). Ireland: The Politics of Enmity 1789-2006. Oxford University Press Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199561261.001.0001. ISBN 9780199561261. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  19. 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4
  20. 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3
  21. 33.0 33.1 "About Sean O'Callaghan". The O'Brien Press. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  22. 35.0 35.1 "To Hell or Barbados - The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland". Sinn Féin Bookshop. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
  23. "How many Jews live in Ireland? | JPR". Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR). Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  24. 39.0 39.1 39.2
  25. "Report reveals troubling pattern of Holocaust minimisation in Irish textbooks". European Jewish Congress (EJC). November 6, 2024. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  26. 41.0 41.1
  27. 42.0 42.1
  28. 51.0 51.1
  29. 52.0 52.1
  30. 53.0 53.1 "New Congressional document exposes Armenian Dashnaks' sympathies for Hitler and Holocaust". Azərtac. May 14, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  31. 54.0 54.1 54.2 54.3 "Pro-Holocaust Movement Tried to Lure Los Angeles Jews To Side With Armenia". NewsBlaze News. May 19, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  32. Thomassian, Levon (2012). Summer of '42: A Study of German-Armenian Relations During the Second World War (1 ed.). Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9780764340451. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  33. Gurevich, Roman (October 26, 2020). "Living in Azerbaijan as a Jew versus being Jewish in Armenia". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  34. "Yerevan's Lone Synagogue Attacked For Fourth Time In A Year". Radio Liberty. June 11, 2024. Retrieved December 2, 2024. Yerevan's only synagogue was attacked again on June 10 when perpetrators threw rocks through a window.
    • Armenian: Հայաստանի ազատագրության հայ գաղտնի բանակ
    • Azerbaijani: Ermənistanın Azadlığı üçün Gizli Erməni Ordusu
    • Georgian: სომხეთის გათავისუფლების სომხური საიდუმლო არმია
    • Greek: Μυστικός Αρμενικός Στρατός για την απελευθέρωση της Αρμενίας