Table Of ContentANTISEMITISM
ANTISEMITISM
Myth and Hate from Antiquity to the Present
MARVIN PERRY AND
FREDERICK M. SCHWEITZER
* ANTISEMITISM
Copyright © Marvin Perry and Frederick M. Schweitzer, 2002.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002
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ISBN 978-1-349-38514-0 ISBN 978-1-349-38512-6 (eBook)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Perry, Marvin.
Antisemitis,n : myth and hate from antiquity to the present / Marvin Perry
and Frederick M. Schweitzer.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Anti-Jewish propaganda-History. 2. Antisemitism-History. 3.
Christianity and antisemitism. 4. Blood accusation. 5. Holocaust denial.
I. Schweitzer, Frederick M. II. Title.
DS145.P415 2002
305.892'4-dc21
2002022035
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CONTENTS
Preface VII
Introduction
1. The Trial and Death ofJesus: The Myth of "Christ Killers"
and the "Criminal People" 17
2. Ritual Murderers: Christian Blood and Jewish Matzohs 43
3. The Diabolization ofJews: Demons, Conspirators,
and Race Defilers 73
4. Homo Judaicus Economicus: The Jew as Shylock, Parasite,
and Plutocrat 119
5. Denying the Holocaust: A Neo-Nazi Mythology 175
6. Antisemitic Myths Blackwashed: The Nation of Islam
Inherits a Devil 213
Conclusion 259
Appendix I Jewish-Muslim Relations in History 265
Appendix II Canada's Attempts to Curb Ernst Zundel's Antisemitic
Actions as a Public Danger 269
Notes 279
Index 303
PREFACE
THIS BOOK HAS TAKEN MUCH LONGER TO WRITE than either of us an
ticipated when we embarked on it more than a few years ago, the principal
reason being that there is no end to mythmaking about Jews. While we were
in the last stages of revising our work, the events of September 2001 suddenly
made the myths discussed in this book newly relevant and their irrational na
ture more glaring. Throughout the Islamic world the bizarre tale quickly
spread that Jews had engineered the bombings of the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon. As proof, its proponents, descending deeper into the world of
delusion, maintained that four thousand Jews, warned by Israeli agents, did
not report to their offices at the World Trade Center on September 11. This
belief in an international Jewish conspiracy is only one of several classic myths
about Jews that are widely believed in the Muslim world, all imported from
the Christian West, copied in the most literal way from the enormous corpus,
medieval and modern, of European antisemitism. The widespread propaga
tion and acceptance in the contemporary Arab Islamic world of these discred
ited myths is another illustration, in a different time and place, of the historic
antisemitism that scarred Christian Europe.
The vastness of the topic and space constraints have compelled us to be
extremely selective. Thus even in our longest chapter, which discusses that
common anti-Jewish delusion, the "rich Jews" and their putative economic
wizardry, much material on Jewish economic history had to be deleted or dras
tically abbreviated. In writing the chapters, the memory of the Holocaust,
which was the terrible fulfillment of mythical thinking, was ever present. Our
research into the murky area of anti-Jewish myths, particularly those that de
monize and dehumanize the Jewish people, reinforces our belief that histori
ans need to explore more fully the power and significance of the nonrational in
human affairs. Our experience also confirms the assertion that Jewish history
is an integral part of general history, particularly in the generations after
emancipation when Jewish genius contributed so much to Western thought,
VIII ANTISEMITISM
science, the arts, and economic life. Knowledge of Jewish history, literature,
and institutions is required to explain this extraordinary burst of creativity.
Nor can the rise of ultranationalist movements in the nineteenth century and
their fascist heirs in the twentieth century, which saw Jews as an alien race and
a threat to the nation, be understood without reference to the roles played by
Jews in these nations and the negative images, inherited from the Christian
past, that people had about Jews. The authors of this volume hope that an ex
amination of the evolution, nature, and meaning of antisemitic myths will con
tribute, however modestly, to diminishing the power and appeal of what has
been aptly called "the longest hatred."
In the process of writing this book, we have contracted many debts for
guidance and assistance. Chapter 1 owes much to two recognized authorities
in the field, Manhattan College colleagues Professors Donald Gray and Clau
dia Setzer. We wish to thank Manhattan colleagues Professor Robert Kramer
for his translation of Hitler's 1920 speech, Dr. Eleanor T Ostrau for her help
with Civilta Cattolica material, and Dr. Joseph Castora for his translation of
Origen.
Librarians and libraries have greatly facilitated our researches. Most espe
cially, Brother Thomas O'Connor, FSC, Ph.D. and the Hayes-O'Malley Li
brary of Manhattan College; Eleanor Yadin and the Dorot Jewish Division of
the New York Public Library; the Walsh Library of Fordham University and
its Sidney Rosenblatt Holocaust Collection at Lincoln Center; the Research
Department of the Anti-Defamation League in New York City; the Jacob H.
Schiff Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; Butler Library
of Columbia Universi!:y; the library of Union Theological Seminary; and the
British Library in London.
For reviewing portions of the book, criticism, bibliographical suggestions,
and various forms of assistance, we thank Manhattan colleagues Professors
Joan Cammarata,JeffHorn, Brother Patrick Horner, FSC,John Keber, Claire
Nolte, Mark Taylor, and Nevart Wanger. On specific topics we have had the
benefit of expert guidance from Professor Luc Dequeker of the University of
Louvain, Belgium; Dr. Eugene Fisher, director of the Secretariat for Ecu
menical and Interreligious Affairs of the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops; Rabbi Steven Franklin of Riverdale Temple; Rabbi Leon Klenicki
then of the Anti-Defamation League; Dr. John T Pawlikowski, O.S.M., of the
Catholic Theological Union of Chicago; Professor William D. Rubinstein of
the University of Wales, Aberystwyth; Dr. John Weiss, Professor Emeritus of
Lehman College, CUNY; and Mark Weitzman of the New York Wiesenthal
Center. Special thanks to Mark Freiman and Caroline Zayid of McCarthy Te-
PREFACE IX
trault LLP in Toronto. For some critical references, our thanks go to the
renowned historian Bernard Lewis of Princeton and to Ms. Esther Webman
of the Stephen Roth Institute at Tel Aviv University. For help with scanning,
photocopying, proofreading, secretarial assistance, and general keeping track
of things, our thanks go to Ms. Charlotte Schachter. Friends like Paul and
Gerta Schuyler, and Sister Rose Thering, OP, have helped smooth the way. It
is also a pleasure to acknowledge our indebtedness to the numerous scholars
and writers whose works we have drawn on, those who are cited in the end
notes as well as the many not mentioned.
We gladly acknowledge the highly professional work performed in our
behalf by our editors and the professional staff at Palgrave Macmillan, particu
larly our old (young) friend Michael]. Flamini, Vice-President and Editorial
Director; Amanda Johnson, Assistant Editor; Donna Cherry, Production
Manager; our copyeditor Debra Manette, whose scrupulous diligence and
searching queries have greatly benefited our book. We would also like to thank
AnnJ eanette Kern for proofreading and Chris Cecot for indexing our book.
All these and others not named, we acknowledge with gratitude. Our
book is certainly the better for their help. To be sure, whatever its faults might
be, the responsibility is entirely ours. Our book is the result of a joint and
fruitful collaboration in which we have worked closely for several years cri
tiquing, editing, rewriting, and checking each other's work. If readers find our
work helpful, it is due to the effectiveness of this collaboration. While prepat
ing this volume we also worked on an anthology of historic and contemporary
antisemitic myths, which we expect will be published in the near future.
Marvin Perry wishes to thank Phyllis Perry, his wife of more than forty-six
years, for supporting unreservedly his commitment to this project, for provid
ing the warm companionship that facilitated its completion, and for her com
puter expertise that saved him much time and frustration. He is grateful to
Houghton Mifflin Company for permission to use some of his material from
previously published works, particularly An Intellectual History of Modern Eu
rope (1993) and Western Civilization: A Brief History (4th ed., 2001). His thanks
also to Peter Lang for permission to use passages from his article in Jewish
Christian Encounters over the Centuries (1993), which he coedited with Freder
ick Schweitzer.
Frederick Schweitzer wants above all to avow his wife Jacqueline's tender
loving care, sustained encouragement and great interest in this work, and her
dauntlessly buoyant spirit despite the afflictions that the passing years mete
out to us. A salute also to Manhattan College, his professional home for over
