"The Jews find their greatest interest in a lot of things." Barres cited this sentence when the Dreyfus affair, showed contempt and distrust of the French population against the Jewish people. The ‘uprooted' people, that is to say, the Jewish people, had no nation nor a state, they were everywhere and were considered to contribute to the decline of France and other nations they occupied.
Based on this thought of Barres, it is worth noting the rise of popular anti-Semitism and politics, where intellectuals, journalists and businessmen discuss but eventually divide. How did the term ‘antisemitism' appear in 1873? German Marr expressed unease with the changes in society. What were the premises that allowed a glimpse of the special status of Jews in the late nineteenth century? How can we explain this ‘ victimhood' in the words of Rene Girard?
These questions lead us to the following problem: despite the apparent integration of the Jewish community in European societies in the nineteenth century, how can we explain the emergence of anti-Semitism before 1914?
I.The beginning of a nationalist drift
II. The rise of anti-Semitism in the 1880s
III. Anti-Semitism became violent, and led to division of corporations
- During the nineteenth century, Jews had had more rights and freedoms.
In France and Holland, the Jews enjoyed the same status as other citizens and coexistence between the two communities remained peaceful. In the new nations like that of Italy and Germany, Jews were integrated with the national unification of the two countries in 1861 and 1871 respectively. Progress was also evident in the establishment of Austria-Hungary in 1867. Thus, in much of Europe, Jews had the right to vote, the right to undertake freedom of movement, access to public offices, etc.
-According to Eric Hobsbawm, ‘the Ashkenazi Jews assimilated the middle class in central and western Europe, they did not speak Yiddish, and did not even understand it', which is proof of integration and theirr assimilation. Some of the Jews, especially among the bourgeoisie, were ready to renounce their religion to marry Protestants or Catholics.
- In England, the Jews had the same status as Catholics and non-conformists. They could exercise all the trades, but had no voting rights. However, they earned the right to be elected in 1858. In Romania and Russia, the Jews did not have the same rights as other nations. Moreover, they remained ghettoized in Russia as the ‘area residents' from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Moreover, this social integration, even though, faced a traditional Judaism.
Tags: Catholics, non-conformists, the Jews, traditional Judaism, anti-Semitism, Dreyfus affair, victimhood
[...] However, no discriminatory legislation was adopted due to lack of parliamentary support unlike England which ended the Jewish immigration by the ‘Aliens Act' in 1905. - The scandal of the Panama Canal in 1892, involving several businessmen and politicians, including some Jews (Cornelius Hertz, Baron de Reinach) was also used by political forces. Indeed, unparliamentary and anti-Semites of any kind jumped at the opportunity to support the ideas of Edward Drumont and take more space on the political scene. A new right took up anti-Semitism and attempted to consolidate the middle classes, workers and Catholics. [...]
[...] It combined the anti-Semitism of Rochefort (denouncing the Jewish capital exploiting workers in Intransigeant) and Father Bailly (Catholic anti-Judaism and anti- Masonic) while resuming the pseudo-scientific theories. According to them, the Jew is distinguished by a physical type (bent nose, twinkling eyes, protruding ears). The Jews were held responsible for the social and economic inequalities of the time, they were also held to be responsible for the defeat of 1871. -Drumont did not reject the Socialists, the latter seeing the Jews as a way to oppose the capitalist society, but opponents were increasing among Republicans in the government and liberal Catholics. [...]
[...] Thus, this case is about the existence if anti-Judaism in Europe which grew along with the birth of an international Jewish consciousness. In this traditional Judaism, there existed addition of persistent prejudice against the Jewish community. c. Persistent prejudices A family of German Jewish origin, the Rothschilds have been known since the eighteenth century by their first investment in railways and banks. ‘Jewish moneylenders and traders are synonymous for me', wrote Alphonse Toussenel in one of his books in 1845. [...]
[...] Captain Dreyfus was falsely accused of espionage in 1894 which triggered a wave of anti-Semitism by newspapers (La Libre Parole, the Gauls) and movements of crowds in all major cities in France, reflecting the spread in the belief of anti-Semitism. Two opposing camps formed: the anti-Dreyfus and Dreyfus. The anti-Dreyfusards appeared more like the French guarantors of cohesion and its main institutions were the army and the Church. Semitic leagues took the lead thereafter. Facing them, the League of Defense of Human Rights, created in 1898 by Senator Trarieux, struggled to establish the truth alongside Dreyfusards with Zola, Clemenceau, Jaures and Lazarus, a journalist and editor of Stock. [...]
[...] - The construction of identity was no longer only by country and by language, but by biological criteria.The term ‘race' was synonymous with nation. We pass anti-Judaism with the difference of religion and belief in anti-Semitism bearing on pseudo-scientific racist theories.The idea of a Jewish physiognomy, reflecting the particular disadvantage of race was spreading. Its presence explained all the ills of society: poverty of workers, the misfortunes of the Church and the French division. - There were fears of a Jewish conspiracy, a State within the State under Louis Veuillot. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
