Antisemitism Ww2 Summary

Anti-Semitism in the context of this book is the belief or behavior hostile towards Jews just because they are Jewish, including stereotyped views and teachings proclaiming the inferiority of Jews. Burrin presents a comprehensive historical synthesis that shows how, during the period from world war 1 onward, antisemitism was gradually and ever more formidably built into the thinking of Hitler, the Nazis and the Germans, until it became central to the German value system and the German self-image. Burrin argues that antisemitism was a weapon used in the struggle to assert a Nazi identity as it contained not only negative image of Jews but a positive vision of Germans hence led to the realization of values like health, power and culture. The

For if negative images are important to reinforce the Jews, it is doubtful that they would by themselves carry people to lengths so extreme as a genocide if were not strongly linked to values held positively. Nazis did not hate the Jews simply because they believed in negative side of their culture but because they were convinced that the Jews were threatening, attacking or destroying the values they cherished. The Nazis imposed their own interpretation that was grounded on racism and in which antisemitism had a central place but they did not create it from scratch rather it had solid roots in German

These representations had their basis in the idea that Jews had always nourished and had hatred against Christians and longed for revenge of which the Messiah was to be the instrument by giving them at long last dominion over the world. The objective was after all the creation of a Germany able to dominate the European continent and to remould it politically and racially in order to attain a position if not of world class at least of a world superpower. But first the Nazis had to build a popular community according to the motto One People, One Leader, One Empire starting by ending the divisive work of the Jews. For Jews were dividers of excellence. Their constant method had been inside politics to use their opportunity to overthrow aristocratic elites. Their aim was to destroy the national principle everywhere. In Nazi perception, this meant that the Jews were simultaneously using the instrument of