NP German History (Anti-Jewish) pre-1933 (was GRGR Re: German sadism)

[davemarc]

> From: Lorentzen / Nicklaus <lorentzen-nicklaus at t-online.de>

> if goldhagen's thesis would be 
>    true, one would have to find this elimination wish  b e f o r e  1933
in some 
>    social forms, be that spontaneous pogroms like in russia or a sharply 
>    polarizing state affair (- read proust on it!) like in france or a 
>    significantly higher degree of labor market exclusion like in the
anglo-saxon 
>    countries. but you won't find this in german history. 

I'm not necessarily a Goldhagen-partisan, but I'm also unconvinced that
this if-then theory is valid.  I don't present the following material
(drawn from Martin Gilbert's The Holocaust) as *overwhelming* evidence of
the pre-1933 presence of the elimination wish in spontaneous pogroms, a
sharply polarizing state affair, and labor market exclusion in Germany
history, but I do think it shows that to blankly assert "you won't find
this German history" doesn't do justice to actual German history.

Gilbert quotes Martin Luther writing "honest advice" in 1543 on how Jews
should be treated:  "their synagogues should be set on fire, and whatever
does not burn up should be covered or spread over with dirt so that no one
may ever be able to see a cinder or stone of it."  He also advised that
Jewish homes should be "broken down or destroyed," that Jews should be "put
under one roof, or in a stable, like Gypsies, in order that they may
realize that they are not masters in our land" and put to work to earn a
living "by the sweat of their noses."  Alternately, he posits, these
"poisonous bitter worms" should be stripped of their belongings "which they
have extorted usuriously from us" and exiled "for all time."  

Moving ahead to the period before World War I, Gilbert writes that German
Jews could enter German militaries "only with difficulty, and certain
regiments almost entirely excluded Jews."  Yet "Man for man, the Jewish and
non-Jewish war casualties were in an almost exact ratio of the respective
populations."  
Post World War I, German Jews played significant roles in rebuilding the
nation.  At the same time, there was sentiment that Jews were to blame for
Germany's defeat.  There were clashes between Jews and Jew-haters in
Berlin.  (I don't have material on German reaction to the Dreyfuss case
specifically--how 'bout it out there?)

As early as 1920, the Nazi party declared that "No Jew...may be a member of
the Nation" and called for the expulsion of post-1914 Jewish immigrants
(more than 18,000 people).  It was one of several extremist groups that
targeted Jews.  In 1923, Arthur Ruppin noted that "the anti-Semitic
administration in Bavaria expelled about seventy of the 350 East European
Jews from Bavaria during the past two weeks, and it is said that the rest
will also be expelled before too long."  1930 began with Stormtroopers
killing eight Jews.  As the year progressed, Gilbert writes, Jews were
"molested in cafes and theatres, and synagogue services were constantly
interrupted by these uniformed hooligans...."  During the 1930 campaign, 78
Jews were wounded; the popular vote increased the number of Nazi seats from
12 to 107 and established the Nazi party as the second largest in the
nation.  Anti-Jewish violence took place during the opening of the
Reichstag.  As the Nazi deputies made their way there, their supporters
chanted the party slogan "Deutschland erwache, Juda verrecke!" ("Germany
awake, death to Judah!")

Gilbert continues:  "On 15 March 1931 Nazi Party officials were told [in a
"Guide and Instructional Letter for Functionaries"]:  'The natural
hostility of the peasant against the Jews, and his hostility against the
Freemason as a servant of the Jew, must be worked up to a frenzy.'"  In
September, Stormtroopers attacked Jews returning from High Holy Day
worship.  In one incident, three youths beat an elderly man while five
other young men "stood around to protect them."  Over the course of 1931,
50 synagogues were desecrated, and thousands of tombstones in Jewish
cemeteries were desecrated.  But what dominated headlines during this
period were the domestic economic woes that the Nazis blamed largely on
Jews.

In 1932, Hitler received 36% of the votes cast for President.  The Nazi
Party won 230 seats in the Reichstag.  Although seats fell to 196 in a
subsequent vote, Hitler was accepted as Chancellor early in 1933.  

Again, I don't mean necessarily mean this as an endorsement of Goldhagen,
though I do find it interesting that the Nazis seemed to have had great
success in exploiting the hatred that Goldhagen claims to have existed. 
Nor do I wish to make a case that Germany was far worse than other European
nations in its treatment of Jews (that's a pissing contest I'd like to
avoid), though it should be obvious that it certainly ranks among the very
worst. I just want to present some evidence that the German record in the
decades preceding 1933 certainly wasn't as tidy as the claim that "you
won't find this in german history" might lead one to conclude.  

d.