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Antisemitism, the prejudice or discrimination againstJews, has had a long history since theancient times. While antisemitism had already been prevalent inancient Greece and theRoman Empire, its institutionalization in EuropeanChristianity after thedestruction of theancient Jewish cultural center inJerusalem causedtwo millennia ofsegregation,expulsions,persecutions,pogroms,genocides of Jews, which culminated in the 20th-centuryHolocaust inNazi German-occupied European states, where 67% of all European Jews were murdered.[1]
Antisemitism in Europe in theMiddle Ages was largely influenced by the Christian belief that the Jewish people werecollectively responsible for the death of Jesus through the so-calledblood curse ofPontius Pilate in the Gospels. Persecutions against Jews were widespread during theCrusades, beginning in 1095, when a number of communities, especially in France and theRhineland,were massacred.[2]
On many occasions, Jews were accused of the ritual murder of Christian children in what were calledblood libels. The first known blood libel was the story ofWilliam of Norwich (d. 1144), whose murder sparked accusations of ritual murder and torture by the local Jews.[3] TheBlack Death which devastated Europe in the 14th century also gave rise to widespread persecution. In the face of the terrifying spread of the plague, the Jews served as scapegoats and were accused ofpoisoning the wells. Many Jewish communities in western and central Europe were destroyed in a wave of violence between 1348 and 1350.[4][5] For example, some two thousand Jews were massacred by burning inStrasbourg, in February 1349, upon a decision by the city council, before the plague had reached the city.[6][7] In the German states a total of approximately 300 Jewish communities were destroyed during this period, because of Jews being killed or driven out.[8]
Another aspect of medieval antisemitism was the many restrictions imposed on the Jews. They were excluded from many occupations because of the fear of competition with the local population. For the most part, they could not own land, since, under thefeudal system, the pledge of loyalty required from a vassal upon theenfeoffment of land had the form of a Christian oath; however, there were exceptions.[9][10] Their residence in cities was often limited to specific areas known as ghettos. Following theFourth Lateran Council, in 1215, Jews were also ordered to wear distinctive clothing,[11][12] in some instances a circular badge.[13][better source needed] Some Jews managed to evade the humiliating requirement of wearing a badge by bribing the local authorities.[14]
In the later Middle Ages, Jews were expelled from smaller and larger regions across western Europe as well as the German lands, including monarchy-wide expulsions fromEngland, in 1290, andFrance, in 1306 and 1394.[15] The greatest expulsions of Jews were in Spain (1492) and Portugal (1496), where Jews were ordered to convert to Christianity, or to leave the country within six or eleven months, respectively.[16]
TheProtestant Reformation saw a rise of antisemitism withMartin Luther'sOn the Jews and Their Lies.
TheRenaissance,Enlightenment andimperialist eras led to a series of increasingly xenophobic and non-religious expressions of antisemitic phobias and outrages, even as much of the continent had experienced significant political reformation.[17][18]
In western Europe, Jews were largely limited by local monarchs, especially as a consequence of the growing fear of competition with the local merchants due to the fact that the main occupation of Jews was commerce and banking. Notable examples are the limitation of the number of Jews allowed to settle inBreslau issued byFrederick II of Prussia in 1744 and the banishment of Jews fromBohemia by the archduchess of Austria Maria Theresa, who later also stated that Jews had to pay for remaining in the country.[19]
With the development of the banking system and the need of rulers for financing their growing state apparatus, the term "Court Jew" was used in some western European states. The court Jews were businessmen and bankers who received privileges from the sovereign and acted as their treasurers and tax collectors.[20][better source needed][21]
In many cases, the court Jews obtained significant power as the "right hand" of the sovereign; in other cases, the court Jews were blamed for the financial problems of the states or when the sovereign lost his power. One notable court Jew wasJoseph Süß Oppenheimer (1698–1738) the financial planner for Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg in Stuttgart. Oppenheimer was executed after the death of the Duke and his story was used by Nazi propaganda.[22]
Most of Europe's Jewish population was concentrated in central and eastern Europe within the borders of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Jews of Poland had been granted an unprecedented degree of religious and cultural autonomy since theStatute of Kalisz in 1264, which was ratified by subsequent Kings of Poland and the Commonwealth. Nevertheless, the Cossack uprising ofBohdan Khmelnytsky in Polish-controlled Ukraine (1648) devastated many Jewish communities and tens of thousands of Jews were massacred, expelled, or sold as slaves by Khmelnytsky's Tartar allies. Between 1648 and 1656, tens of thousands of Jews—given the lack of reliable data, it is impossible to establish more accurate figures—were killed by the rebels, and to this day the Khmelnytsky uprising is considered by Jews to be one of the most traumatic events in their history.[23]
Following thePartitions of Poland by Russia, Prussia, and Austria at the end of the 18th century, most Polish Jews found themselves under Russian rule. In order to restrict the Jews from spreading throughout the Russian Empire and to protect Russian merchants from competition, thePale of Settlement was established in 1772 by the empress of RussiaCatherine II, restricting Jews to the western parts of the empire with the exception of a number of Jews who received permission to live in major cities, such as Kiev and Moscow.[24][25][better source needed]
By the end of the 19th century a new type of antisemitism had begun to develop in Europe,racial antisemitism.[26] It started as a part of a broader racist world view and belief of superiority of the "white race" over other "races", while existing prejudice was supported by pseudo-scientific theories such asSocial Darwinism.[27]
The main idea of racial antisemitism, as presented by racial theorists such asJoseph Arthur de Gobineau, is that the Jews are a distinct and inferior race compared to the European nations. The emphasis was on the non-European origin and culture of the Jews, meaning they were beyond redemption even if they converted toChristianity. This modern antisemitism emphasized hatred of the Jews as a race and not only due to their Jewish religion. The rise of modern antisemitism together with the rise of nationalism and the nation state brought a wave of antisemitism as Jews struggled to gain their rights as equal citizens. In Germany, this brought up theHep-Hep riots in 1819 when the Jews of Bavaria were attacked for claiming their civic rights.[28]
One of the most famous examples of the 19th century was theDreyfus affair,[29][30] when a French officer of Jewish origin,Alfred Dreyfus, was accused of high treason in 1894. The trial sparked a wave of antisemitism in France: eventually Dreyfus was found innocent of the charges in 1906. The affair greatly inspiredTheodor Herzl.[31]
In Eastern Europe, religious antisemitism remained influential as theIndustrial Revolution affected those areas less. During the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, a number ofpogroms occurred in Russia, sparked by various variables such as antisemitic political movements, theassassination ofTsar Alexander II in 1881 andblood libels[32][33] about Jews killing Christian children. The most famous blood libel was theBeilis Trial that took place inKiev in 1903 when a local Jew was found innocent from the accusations of killing a Christian boy.[34][35]
Another example of modern antisemitism in Europe was theconspiracy theory of Jewish world economic domination, as presented in the hoaxThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion[36][37] which was first published in Russia in 1903 and became known outside Russia after theRussian Revolution of 1917. This theory was strengthened by the leading part Jews like theRothschild family played in the European banking system. Thepogroms in 1881 and after the first RussianRevolution of 1905 cost thousands of Jewish lives and more than a million migrated to America. The second Russian revolution and the civil war that came afterwards sparked a new wave of pogroms against the Jews as nationalist militias and regular armies fought over the control of the country. The casualties from the pogroms were estimated in tens of thousands dead.[38][better source needed]
The Holocaust was among the most significant events in modernJewish history and one of the largestgenocides in history. Approximately six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for roughly two-thirds of all European Jews.
By the early 20th century, the Jews of Germany were the most integrated Jews in Europe. Their situation changed in the early 1930s after the German defeat inWorld War I and theeconomic crisis of 1929, which resulted in the rise of theNazis and their explicitly antisemitic program.Hate speech which referred to Jewish citizens as "dirty Jews" became common in antisemitic pamphlets and newspapers such as theVölkischer Beobachter[39] andDer Stürmer[40] Additionally, blame was laid on Jews for having caused Germany's defeat inWorld War I (seeDolchstosslegende).
The Nazi antisemitic program quickly expanded beyond mere speech. Starting in 1933, repressive laws were passed against Jews, culminating in the 1935Nuremberg Laws which removed most of the rights of citizenship from Jews, using a racial definition that was based on descent, rather thana definition which was based on religion.[citation needed] Sporadic violence against Jews became widespread during theKristallnacht riots in 1938, which targeted Jewish homes, businesses, and places of worship, killing 91 acrossGermany andAustria.[citation needed]
With the Naziinvasion of Poland in 1939 and the beginning ofWorld War II, the Nazis began the extermination of Jews in Europe. The Jews were concentrated inghettos[41] and later they were sent toconcentration anddeath camps where they were immediately or eventually murdered.[42] In the occupied territories of the USSR, Jews were murdered bydeath squads,[43] sometimes with the help oflocally recruited units. This practice was later replaced by gassing the Jews in the death camps; the largest of these wasAuschwitz.[citation needed]
With the end of World War II in 1945, surviving Jews began to return to their homes, while many chose to emigrate to the United States, the United Kingdom, andBritish-controlled Mandatory Palestine.[citation needed] To some extent, the antisemitism of the Nazi regime continued in different guises.[citation needed] Claims ofblood libel and persecution of Jews continued, in part due to fear that returning Jews would attempt to reclaim property stolen during the Holocaust or expose assistance given by elements of the local population in previously Nazi-occupied territories. An example was theKielce pogrom, which occurred in 1946 in Poland when citizens violently attacked Jews based on a false accusation of the kidnapping of a Christian child.[citation needed]
The postwar period also witnessed a rise in antisemitic persecution in the USSR. In 1948, Stalin launched the campaign against the "rootless cosmopolitan" in which numerous Yiddish-language poets, writers, painters, and sculptors were killed or arrested.[citation needed] This culminated in theDoctors' Plot, issued between 1952 and 1953, during which a number of Jewish doctors were arrested and accused of attempting to murder leading party leaders. Modern historianEdvard Radzinsky has also suggested that Stalin planned to deport the Jewish population of the USSR to exile inKazakhstan,Siberia or theJewish Autonomous Oblast.[44]
Antisemitism has increased significantly in Europe since 2000, with increases in verbal attacks and vandalism such as graffiti, fire bombings of Jewish schools, and desecration of synagogues and cemeteries. Those incidents took place not only inFrance andGermany, but also inBelgium,Austria, and the United Kingdom. In those countries, physical assaults against Jews including beatings, stabbings, and other violence, increased markedly, in a number of cases resulting in serious injury and even death.[45][46] Moreover, theNetherlands andSweden have also had consistently high rates of antisemitic attacks since 2000.[47][full citation needed] A 2015 report by the US State Department on religious freedom declared that "European anti-Israel sentiment crossed the line into anti-Semitism."[48]
This rise in antisemitic attacks is associated on the one hand with theMuslim antisemitism (described below) and on the other hand with the rise of far-right political parties owing to the economic crisis of 2008.[49] There are a number of antisemitic political parties in the EU,[50] and a survey in ten European countries—specifically Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom—revealed high levels of antisemitic attitudes.[51] Greece'sneo-Nazi party,Golden Dawn, won 21 seats in parliament, although these had all been lost by 2019.[52]
In Eastern Europe antisemitism in the 21st century continued on a similar scale to the 1990s. The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the instability of the new states has brought the rise of nationalist movements and accusations against Jews of responsibility for the economic crisis, controlling local businesses and bribing the government, alongside traditional and religious motives for antisemitism (blood libels for example). Most of the antisemitic incidents are against Jewish cemeteries and buildings (community centers and synagogues). Nevertheless, there were several violent attacks against Jews in Moscow in 2006 when a neo-Nazi stabbed nine people at the Bolshaya Bronnaya Synagogue,[53] the failed bomb attack on the same synagogue in 1999,[54] the threats against Jewish pilgrims in Uman, Ukraine[55] and the attack against amenorah by extremist Christian organization in Moldova in 2009.[56] In 2008, the radicalSvoboda (Freedom) party of Ukraine captured more than 10% of the popular vote, giving electoral support to a party well known for its antisemitic rhetoric. They joined the ranks ofJobbik, an openly antisemitic party, in the Hungarian parliament.[57] This rise in the support for far-right ideas in western and eastern Europe has resulted in the increase of antisemitic acts, mostly attacks on Jewish memorials, synagogues and cemeteries but also a number of physical attacks against Jews.[58]
According to a report by TheEuropean Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, since theOctober 7 attacks, there has been a 400% increase in antisemitic activities across Europe. Additionally, 96% of Jews in Europe face antisemitism in their everyday lives.[59]
A 2005 French study showed that anti-Jewish prejudice was more prevalent among religious Muslims than among non-religious ones; 46% expressed antisemitic sentiments compared to 30% of non-practising Muslims in France. Only 28% of the religious Muslims were found to be totally without such prejudice. The few studies available which had been conducted among Muslim youth in various western European countries showed some similar outcomes. A 2011 study of elementary school children inDutch-language schools inBrussels by a Belgian sociologist showed that about 50 percent of Muslim students in second and third grade could be considered antisemites, versus 10% of others. Also in 2011, Gunther Jikeli published findings from 117 interviews with 19-year-old Muslim youths inBerlin,Paris, andLondon, the majority of whom voiced antisemitic feelings.[60] Participants in theantisemitic riots outside the Israeli embassy in 2009 were said to be mainly Muslim youth,[60] supported by left-wing autonomousBlitz activists.[61][62]
Islamic terrorists have been involved in some violent attacks on Jews. In 2012 in Toulouse, armed terroristMohammed Merah, the child of Muslim parents from Algeria,[63] murdered four Jews. Merah had previously targeted French army soldiers. A brother of the shooter, Abdelghani Merah, said he and his siblings had been brought up on antisemitic views espoused by their parents.[63][64] In September 2024,Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission's coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life in Europe, stated at aUnited Nations workshop that the current rise of antisemitic events "reminds us of the darkest days of Europe".[65]
The summary of a 2004 poll by the "Pew Global Attitudes Project" noted, "Despite concerns about rising antisemitism in Europe, there are no indications that anti-Jewish sentiment has increased over the past decade. Favorable ratings of Jews are actually higher now in France, Germany, and Russia than they were in 1991. Nonetheless, Jews are better liked in the U.S. than in Germany and Russia."[66]According to 2005 survey results by the Anti-Defamation League,[67] antisemitic attitudes remain common in Europe. Over 30% of those surveyed believed that Jews havetoo much power in business, with responses ranging from lows of 11%in Denmark and 14%in England to highs of 66%in Hungary, and over 40%in Poland andSpain. The results of religious antisemitism also persist and over 20% of European respondents agreed that Jews wereresponsible for the death of Jesus, with France having the lowest percentage at 13% and Poland having the highest number of those agreeing, at 39%.[68]
A 2006 study in theJournal of Conflict Resolution found that although almost no respondents in countries of theEuropean Union regarded themselves as antisemitic, antisemitic attitudes correlated with anti-Israel opinions.[69] Looking at populations in 10 European countries,Charles A. Small andEdward H. Kaplan surveyed 5,000 respondents, asking them about Israeli actions and classical antisemitic stereotypes. The surveys asked questions about whether people thought that the IDF purposely targets children or poisons thePalestinian water supplies.[70] The study found that "people who believed the anti-Israel mythologies also tended to believe that Jews are not honest in business, have dual loyalties, control government and the economy, and the like." The study found anti-Israel respondents were 56% more likely to be antisemitic than the average European.[70]
According to a poll conducted by theAnti-Defamation League (ADL) in 2012, antisemitic attitudes in ten European countries remain at "disturbingly high levels", peaking in Eastern Europe and Spain, with large swaths of the population subscribing to classical antisemitic notions such as Jews having too much power in business, beingmore loyal to Israel than their own country, or "talking too much" about the Holocaust. In comparison with a similar poll conducted in 2009, several of the countries showed high levels in the overall level of antisemitism, while other countries experienced more modest increases:[71]
In January 2019 the European Commission published a survey of 28 countries which showed a wide gap in perceptions between Jews and non-Jews in Europe. 89% of the Jews surveyed thought that antisemitism had "significantly increased" over the last five years, whereas only 36% of non-Jews believed the same.[72]
A CNN-sponsored poll in 2018 established that antisemitic stereotypes were very prevalent in Europe. One fifth of the people surveyed declared that Jews havetoo much influence in media andpolitics, and one third stated theyknew little or nothing about the Holocaust.[73] In 2023, 52% of 8,000 Jews from 13 European countries surveyed said they have experienced antisemitism in public in the year before the survey, 90% responded they had encountered antisemitism online in the past year.[74] Overall, Jews in Europe are pessimistic about antisemitism and expect it to get worse, but most have no intentions to leave Europe.[75]
Polling data taken in 2015-2016 shows the following results regarding the proportions ofChristians in the following countries who would reject Jews as family members, neighbors or citizens.[76][77]
| Country | % Reject Jews as family members (at 95% confidence level) | % Reject Jews as neighbors (at 95% confidence level) | % Reject Jews as national citizens (at 95% confidence level) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armenia | 66 | 33 | 33 | |||
| Belarus overall[77] | - | - | - | - | 13 | |
| Belarus, Orthodox Christians | 32 | 17 | 11 | |||
| Belarus, Catholic | 37 | 16 | 16 | |||
| Bosnia overall[77] | - | - | - | - | 8 | |
| Bosnia, Orthodox | 39 | 9 | 6 | |||
| Bosnia, Catholic | 39 | 12 | 9 | |||
| Bulgaria | 31 | 9 | 7 | |||
| Croatia | 26 | 12 | 9 | |||
| Czech Republic (Catholics only) | 35 | 18 | 15 | |||
| Estonia, overall[77] | - | - | - | - | 10 | |
| Estonia, Orthodox | 25 | 10 | 5 | |||
| Georgia | 62 | 18 | 12 | |||
| Greece | 52 | 22 | 17 | |||
| Hungary | 24 | 15 | 14 | |||
| Latvia overall[77] | - | - | - | - | 9 | |
| Latvia, Orthodox | 25 | 9 | 8 | |||
| Latvia, Catholic | 29 | 11 | 8 | |||
| Lithuania | 50 | 24 | 23 | |||
| Moldova | 49 | 21 | 13 | |||
| Poland | 31 | 21 | 19 | |||
| Romania | 54 | 30 | 23 | |||
| Russia | 37 | 19 | 13 | |||
| Serbia | 30 | 10 | 8 | |||
| Ukraine | 29 | 13 | 5 | |||
A major source of antisemitism in Armenia is Israel's strongrelations with and arms sales toAzerbaijan. During theSecond Nagorno-Karabakh War,Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) presidentArayik Harutyunyan accused Israel of complicity in a 'genocide' against Armenians.[78]Armenians in Lebanon burned the Israeli flag, along with the Turkish and Azerbaijani flags at a protest during that war.[79] In April 1998,Igor Muradyan, a famous Armenian political analyst and economist, published an antisemitic article in one of Armenia's leading newspapersVoice of Armenia. Muradyan claimed that the history ofArmenian-Jewish relations has been filled with "Aryans vs. Semites" conflict manifestations. He accused Jews of inciting ethnic conflicts, including the dispute overNagorno-Karabakh and demonstrated concern for Armenia's safety in light of Israel's goodrelations with Turkey.[80]
In 2002, a book entitledNational System (written by Romen Yepiskoposyan inArmenian andRussian) was printed and presented at theUnion of Writers of Armenia. In that book, Jews (along with Turks) are identified as number-one enemies of Armenians and are described as "the nation-destroyer with a mission of destruction and decomposition." A section in the book entitledThe Greatest Falsification of the 20th Centurydenies the Holocaust, claiming that it is a myth created byZionists to discredit "Aryans": "The greatest falsification in human history is the myth of Holocaust.... no one was killed in gas chambers. There were no gas chambers."[81] Similar accusations were voiced by Armen Avetissian, the leader of the small ultra-nationalist party, Armenian Aryan Order (AAO), on 11 February 2002, when he also called for the Israeli ambassador Rivka Kohen to be declaredpersona non-grata in Armenia for Israel's refusal to give the Armenian massacres of 1915 equal status with the Holocaust. In addition, he asserted that the number of victims of the Holocaust has been overstated.[82]
In 2004, Armen Avetissian expressed extremist remarks against Jews in several issues of the AAO runThe Armeno-Aryan newspaper, as well as during a number of meetings and press conferences, leading to his party's exclusion from the Armenian Nationalist Front.[83] He was arrested in January 2005 on charges of inciting ethnic hatred.[84] Shortly after, during a prime time talk show, the leader of thePeople's Party and the owner of ALM television channel,Tigran Karapetyan, accused Jews of assisting Ottoman authorities in the 1915 Armenian Genocide. His interviewee, Armen Avetissian stated that "the Armenian Aryans intend to fight against the Jewish-Masonic aggression and will do what it takes to repress evil in its own nest." Speaking about Armenia's Jewish community Avetissian said that it consists of "700 of those who identify themselves as Jews and 50,000 of those whom the Aryans will soon reveal while cleansing the country of Jewish evil." The Jewish Council of Armenia addressed its concerns to the government and various human rights organizations demanding to stop promoting ethnic hatred and to ban ALM. However, these demands were mostly disregarded.[83]
On 23 October 2004, the head of the Department for Ethnic and Religious Minority Issues, Hranoush Kharatyan, publicly commented on so-called "Judaist" xenophobia in Armenia. She said: "Why are we not responding to the fact that on their Friday gatherings, Judaists continue to advocate hatred towards all non-Judaists as far as comparing the latter to cattle and propagating spitting on them?"[83] Kharatyan also accused local Jews of calling for "anti-Christian actions."[85] The Jewish Council of Armenia sent anopen letter to PresidentRobert Kocharian expressing its deep concern with the recent rise of antisemitism. Armen Avetissian responded to this by publishing yet another antisemitic article in theIravunq newspaper, where he stated: "Any country that has a Jewish minority is under big threat in terms of stability." Later while meeting with the Chairman of theNational Assembly of ArmeniaArtur Baghdasarian, head of the Jewish Council of ArmeniaRima Varzhapetian insisted that the government took steps to prevent further acts of antisemitism. Avetissian was arrested on 24 January 2005. Several prominent academic figures, such asLevon Ananyan (the head of theWriters union of Armenia) and composer Ruben Hakhverdian supported Avetissian and called upon the authorities to release him.[86] In their demands to release him they were joined by opposition deputies andombudsmanLarisa Alaverdyan as the authorities had arrested him for political speech.[87]
In September 2006, while criticizing the AmericanGlobal Gold corporation, ArmenianMinister of EnvironmentVardan Ayvazyan said during a press conference: "Do you know who you are defending? You are defending kikes! Go over their [company headquarters] and find out who is behind this company and if we should let them come here!"[88][89] After Rimma Varzhapetian's protests, Aivazian claimed he did not mean to offend Jews, and that such criticism was intended strictly for theGlobal Gold company. On 23 December 2007, The Jewish Holocaust Memorial in central Yerevan was vandalized by unknown individuals. ANaziswastika symbol was scratched and black paint was splattered on the simple stone. After notifying the local police,Rabbi Gershon Burshtein, aChabad emissary who serves as Chief Rabbi of the country's tiny Jewish community said "I just visited the memorial the other day and everything was fine. This is terrible, as there are excellent relations between Jews and Armenians." The monument has been defaced and toppled several times in the past. It is located in the city's Aragast Park, a few blocks north of the centrally located Republic Square, which is home to a number of government buildings.[90]
On 12 February 2021, the Holocaust Memorial in Yerevan was once again vandalized.[91] On 15 November 2023, a month into theGaza war, theMordechai Navi Synagogue was set fire to.[92]
Antisemitism has a long history in Austria, typically focused on the large presence of Jews in Vienna. The Jews were systematically destroyed 1938–1945.[93] Evidences of the presence of Jewish communities in the geographical area today covered byAustria can be traced back to the 12th century. In 1848 Jews were granted civil rights and the right to establish an autonomous religious community, but full citizenship rights were given only in 1867. In an atmosphere of economic, religious, and social freedom, the Jewish population grew from 6,000 in 1860 to almost 185,000 in 1938.[citation needed] In March 1938, Austria was annexed byNazi Germany and thousands of Austrian Jews were sent to concentration camps. Of the 65,000 Viennese Jews deported to concentration camps, only about 2,000 survived, while around 800 survived World War II in hiding.[94] In the Habsburg Empire, the antisemitic movement was strongly concentrated on Vienna.[95]
Antisemitism did not cease to exist in the aftermath ofWorld War II and continued to be part of Austrian political life and culture with its strongest hold in the political parties and the media.Bernd Marin, an Austrian sociologist, has characterized antisemitism in Austria after 1945 as an 'antisemitism without Jews', since Jews constituted only 0.1 percent of the Austrian population. Antisemitism was stronger in those areas where Jews no longer lived and where previously practically no Jews had lived, and among people who neither have had nor have any personal contact with Jews.[96][97] Since post-war prejudice against Jews has been publicly forbidden and tabooed, antisemitism was actually 'antisemitism without antisemites', but different expressions of it were to be found in the Austrian polities. During the 1980s, the taboo against open expressions of explicitly antisemitic beliefs has remained, but the means of circumventing it linguistically have extended its boundaries in such a way that the taboo itself appears to have lost some of its significance. Anti-Jewish prejudices which had remained hidden began to surface and were increasingly found in public settings. Thus, verbal antisemitism was rarely expressed directly, but rather used coded expressions, which reflected one of the country's major characteristics – ambivalence and ambiguity toward its past.[96][97]
Today the Jewish community of Austria consists of about 8,000 persons. Contemporary antisemitism was reported fromSerfaus during 2009 and 2010. Several hotels and apartments in the renowned holiday resort have confirmed a policy of not allowing Jews on their premises. Bookings are tried to be detected in advance based onracial profiling, and are denied to possibleorthodox Jews.[98] Some are concerned about a potential rise in antisemitism following the victory of the far right Freedom Party – founded by Nazis – in the September 2024 elections.[99][100] Two days before the elections, the party caused controversy when party officials sung and SS song at the funeral of former member.[101]
Over a hundred antisemitic attacks were recorded inBelgium in 2009, a 100% increase from the year before. The perpetrators were usually young males of immigrant Muslim backgrounds from theMiddle East. In 2009, theBelgian city ofAntwerp, often referred to as Europe's lastshtetl, experienced a surge in antisemitic violence.Bloeme Evers-Emden, an Amsterdam resident andAuschwitz survivor, was quoted in the newspaperAftenposten in 2010: "The antisemitism now is even worse than before the Holocaust. The antisemitism has become more violent. Now they are threatening to kill us."[102]
The behavior prompted by the 2012 local elections in the municipality of Schaarbeek impelled the president of the Coordination Committee of Jewish Organizations in Belgium, Maurice Sosnowski, to observe that "'candidates who belonged to the Jewish community were attacked for their affiliation' and the municipality saw a 'hate campaign under the pretext of anti-Zionism.'"[103]Several other incidents occurred in 2012- in November Demonstrators at an anti-Israel rally in Antwerp rally chanted "Hamas, Hamas, all Jews to the gas." In October, a synagogue in Brussels was vandalized by two unidentified male perpetrators who spray-painted "death to the Jews" and "boom" on the wall.[104]
The increased frequency of antisemitic attacks started in May 2014, when four people were killed in ashooting at the Belgian Jewish Museum in Brussels.[105] Two days later, a young Muslim man entered the CCU (Jewish Cultural Center) while an event was taking place and shouted racist slurs.[106] A month later, a school bus in Antwerp, that was driving five-year-old Jewish children was stoned by a group of Muslim teens.[107] Towards the end of August 2014, a 75-year-old Jewish woman was hit and pushed to the ground because of her Jewish-sounding surname.[108]
In2020 Israel asked that theCarnaval parade inAalst be canceled because of antisemitism.[109] UNIA, Belgium's federal equality agency, reported a 1,000% increase in antisemitic incidents in the two months following the outbreak of theGaza War, compared with similar periods in previous years.[110] In the wake of these staggering statistics, the International Movement for Peace and Coexistence (IMPAC) raised concerns about issues of bias regarding how the Palestinian-Israel conflict is presented in Belgian schools.[110]
Antisemitism became a political force in Bulgaria in the late 19th century.[111] In World War II the community of about 50,000 was largely protected whenKing Boris III refused to hand over the Jews to the Nazis. After the war most went to Israel.[112][113]
There are about 2,000 Jews still living in Bulgaria today. In early 2019, an incident occurred in Bulgaria where rocks were thrown at a synagogue inSofia, Bulgaria's capital city. Though no one was hurt, the incident occurred only a short time after antisemitic graffiti was found on a monument for victims of Bulgaria'scommunist regime, which ruled Bulgaria from 1945 to 1989.[114]
TheCzech lands are known for having less antisemitism than surrounding countries are, despite occasional flare-ups of it such as the 1899Hilsner Affair. In the late 19th century Czech nationalists were sharply critical of conservative Jews who supported the German government based in Vienna, and also the radical Jews who organized a socialist party in Prague.[115] After 1919Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia, strongly opposed antisemitism.[116][117] He left office in 1935 and subsequently there was increasing hostility.[118]
In 2019,Associated Press reported that antisemitism was on the rise, especially from far-right, pro-Russian elements: two physical attacks and three instances of vandalism were reported.[119] The 2024 annual report of theFederation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic (FJC) reports a 90% increase of antisemitic incidents in 2023 from the previous year (2022).[120][121]
Antisemitism in Denmark has not been as widespread as in other countries. Initially, Jews were banned as in other countries in Europe, but beginning in the 17th century, Jews were allowed to live in Denmark freely, unlike in other European countries where they were forced to live in ghettos.[122][better source needed]
In 1819 a series of anti-Jewish riots in Germany spread to several neighboring countries including Denmark, resulting in mob attacks on Jews in Copenhagen and many provincial towns. These riots were known asHep! Hep! Riots, from the derogatory rallying cry against the Jews in Germany. Riots lasted for five months during which time shop windows were smashed, stores looted, homes attacked, and Jews physically abused. 2011, 2012, and 2013 averaged around 43 antisemitic incidents a year, which included assault and physical harassment, threats, antisemitic utterances, and vandalism.[123] In July 2014, during theGaza War, there was an increase in antisemitic rhetoric as death threats were expressed against Jews in Denmark.[124] In August 2014, theCarolineskolen, a Jewish school, kindergarten, and daycare complex in Copenhagen was vandalized, some windows were smashed and graffiti was sprayed on the school walls which referred to the ongoing conflict between the Israeli military and the militant groupHamas.[125] In February 2015, a Jewish man was killed and two police officers were injured duringa shooting outside themain synagogue of Copenhagen.[126]
In 2017 animam inCopenhagen called during Friday prayers for the slaughter of allJews, citing ahadith.[citation needed] TheMiddle East Media Research Institute translated parts of his speech, warning the Jewish community in Denmark, who reported theimam to Danish police officials.[127] Recent efforts to outlaw infantcircumcision for non-medical reasons have been characterized as motivated by xenophobia in general or antisemitism in particular.[128] Jonatan Cohn, leader of AKVAH (Department of Mapping and Knowledge-sharing of Antisemitic Events, a department ofJødisk Samfund [da]), describes the proposal as the main thing that "destroys the night sleep of Jewish Danes", more so than antisemitism among "young Muslim men", and goes on to say that[129]
Apart from the troubling aspect of the many half-truths, the misinformation and the often rather hostile tone that characterizes the circumcision debate, it raises a series of unpleasant questions for many Danish Jews: If a criminalization of so central a part of Jewish religion and culture were to actually be passed, for how long can one then continue one's existence in Denmark? (...) Arabic bullies have so far not managed to create among the Danish Jews so lasting and general an uneasiness that one might need to leave one's fatherland because one intends to continue to practise one's religion. This dubious honour belongs solely toJyllandsposten and its friends in the circumcision debate.
— Jonatan Cohn
Iman Diab and Güray Baba, members ofIntact Denmark with a self-described "minority background", report being accused of being "antisemites, traitors, persecutors of minority parents" due to their involvement in the circumcision debate.[130] In February 2024,The Associated Press reported that the number of antisemitic incidents in Denmark "reached levels not seen since World War II," according to Henri Goldstein, the leader of the country's Jewish community; Goldstein cited theGaza War as the cause of this growing antisemitism.[131]
Despite the fact that a large majority of French people have favorable attitudes towards Jews,[132] acts of anti-Jewish violence, property destruction, andracist language are a serious cause for concern.[133] A majority of reportedhate crimes in France are antisemitic hate crimes.[134][better source needed]According to French Prime MinisterManuel Valls: "We have the old anti-Semitism ... that comes from the extreme right, but [a] new anti-Semitism comes from the difficult neighborhoods, from immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa."[135] The most intense acts of antisemitism are perpetrated by Muslims ofArab orAfrican heritage.[136]
According to a 2006 poll by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, 71% of French Muslims have positive views of Jews, the highest percentage in the world.[137] According to the National Advisory Committee on Human Rights, antisemitic acts account for a majority— 72% in all in 2003— of racist acts in France.[138] 40% of racist violence perpetrated in France in 2013 targeted the Jewish minority, despite the fact that Jews represent less than 1% of the French population.[139]
With the start of theSecond Intifada, antisemitic incidents increased in France[citation needed]. In 2002, theCommission nationale consultative des droits de l'homme (Human Rights Commission) reported six times more antisemitic incidents than in 2001 (193 incidents in 2002). The commission's statistics showed that antisemitic acts constituted 62% of all racist acts in the country (compared to 45% in 2001 and 80% in 2000)[citation needed]. The report documented 313 violent acts against people or property, including 38 injuries and the murder of someone withMaghrebin origins byfar-right skinheads.[140]
About 7,000 French Jews moved to Israel in 2014. This was 1% of the entire French Jewish population and a record number since World War II.[141] Conversations within the European Jewish community indicate that antisemitic attacks in France are the impetus for the high emigration figures.[142] French Prime Minister Manuel Valls expressed his concern about the trend: "If 100,000 French people of Spanish origin were to leave, I would never say that France is not France anymore. But if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure."[135] The trend of increased emigration continued into 2015 due to a rise in assaults and intimidation by Muslim extremists.[143] Emigration levels declined in each year from 2015 through 2020.[144] However, a 2024 survey showed that 68% of French Jews feel unsafe in light of rising antisemitism, and many are considering emigrating.[145]
From the early Middle Ages to the 18th century, Jews in Germany were subjected to many persecutions but they also enjoyed brief periods of tolerance. Though the 19th century began with a series ofriots and pogroms against the Jews,emancipation followed in 1848, so that, by the early 20th century, the Jews in Germany were the most integrated Jews in Europe. The situation changed in the early 1930s with the rise of theNazis and their explicitly antisemitic program.Hate speech which referred to Jewish citizens as "dirty Jews" became common in antisemitic pamphlets and newspapers such as theVölkischer Beobachter andDer Stürmer. Additionally, blame was laid on Jews for having caused Germany's defeat inWorld War I (seeDolchstosslegende).Anti-Jewish propaganda expanded rapidly. Nazi cartoons that depicted "dirty Jews" frequently portrayed a dirty, physically unattractive, and badly dressed "Talmudic" Jew in traditional religious garments similar to those which are worn byHasidic Jews. Articles attacking Jews, while concentrating on the commercial and political activities of prominent Jews, also frequently attacked them based on religious dogmas, such as theblood libel.
The Nazi antisemitic program quickly expanded beyond mere speech. Starting in 1933, repressive laws were passed against Jews, culminating in theNuremberg Laws which removed most of the rights of citizenship from Jews, using a racial definition that was based on descent, rather than a religious definition which determinedwho was a Jew.[146] Sporadic violence against the Jews became widespread during theKristallnacht riots, which targeted Jewish homes, businesses and places of worship, killing hundreds across Germany and Austria. The antisemitic agenda culminated in thegenocide of the Jews of Europe, known as the Holocaust.
In 1998,Ignatz Bubis said that Jews could not live freely in Germany. In 2002, the historian Julius Schoeps said that "resolutions by the German parliament to reject antisemitism are drivel of the worst kind" and "all those ineffective actions are presented to the world as a strong defense against the charge of antisemitism. The truth is: no one is really interested in these matters. No one really cares."[147]
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A 2012 poll showed that 18% of theTurks in Germany regard Jews as inferior human beings.[149][150] A similar study found that most of Germany's native-born Muslim youth and children of immigrants have antisemitic views.[151][failed verification]
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A 2017 study on Jewish experiences of antisemitism in Germany byBielefeld University found that individuals and groups perceived as belonging to the extreme right and extreme left were equally represented as perpetrators of antisemitic harassment experienced in the previous twelve months, such as oblique or overt insults (reported by 62% and 29% of respondents respectively) or physical assaults (reported by 3%), and that a large part of the insults and attacks was attributed to Muslims. The study also found that 70% of the participants feared a rise in antisemitismdue to immigration, citing the antisemitic views of refugees.[152] This is despite the fact that there is "no reliable correlations between the refugee influx and the numbers of anti-Semitic attacks".[153]
In February 2019, crime data released by the government for 2018 and published inDer Tagesspiegel showed a yearly increase of 10%, with 1,646 crimes linked to a hatred of Jews in 2018, with the totals not finalised as yet. There was a 60% rise in physical attacks (62 violent incidents, compared to 37 in 2017).[154] As of 2020, antisemitic crimes in Germany reached their highest level since Germany began keeping statistics.[155] Following the outbreak of theGaza war in October 2023, there has been a reported surge in antisemitism and antisemitic incidents to levels that have not been seen in years.[156] In June 2024, the organization RIAS reported 4,782 antisemitic incidents,[157] an increase of 80% compared to the previous year, with more than 70 percent of the incidents being "Israel related". RIAS employs theIHRA definition of antisemitism, which has been criticized for being too broad in including legitimatecriticism of Israel.[158]
Antisemitism has remained a significant issue in Greece. TheGreek economic crisis was one of the main factors in the rise in the scope of antisemitic incidents and the rise of Greece'sneo-Nazi party,Golden Dawn, which won 21 seats in parliament in 2012. A number of events of vandalism have occurred throughout the country – in 2002, 2003, and 2010, the Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki was vandalized, in 2009 the Jewish cemetery in Ioannina was attacked several times and in the same year, the Jewish cemetery in Athens was also attacked. In 2012 in Rhodes, the city's Holocaust monument was spray-painted with swastikas.[159]
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Hungary was the first country afterNazi Germany that passed anti-Jewish laws.[160] In 1939, all the Hungarian Jews were registered.[161] In June 1944, Hungarian police deported nearly 440,000 Jews in more than 145 trains, mostly toAuschwitz.[162]
Antisemitism inHungary is manifested mainly in far-right publications and demonstrations.Hungarian Justice and Life Party supporters continued their tradition of shouting antisemitic slogans and tearing theUS flag to shreds at their annual rallies inBudapest in March 2003 and 2004, commemorating the 1848–1849 revolution. Further, during the demonstrations held to celebrate the anniversary of the 1956 uprising, a post-Communist tradition celebrated by the left and right of the political spectrum, antisemitic and anti-Israel slogans were heard from the right wing, such as accusing Israel of war crimes. The center-right traditionally keeps its distance from the right-wing Csurka-led and other far-right demonstrations.[163]
In 2012, a survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League found that 63% of the Hungarian population holds antisemitic attitudes.[164]
A two-yearboycott of Limerick's Jewish community was instigated by Catholic priestJohn Creagh in 1904, who claimed that Jews "came to our land to fasten themselves on us like leeches and to draw our blood".[165] A 2007 survey found that 20% of Irish people wanted Israelis to be barred from becoming naturalized Irish citizens while 11% were against the naturalization of Jews. Opposition to accepting a Jew into the family was slightly stronger among 18- to 25-year-olds.[166][167] In 2024, manyIrish Jews reported feeling threatened due to theirJewishness,[168][169][170][171] while the President of theWorld Jewish Congress criticized the Irish school curriculum as "unabashedly antisemitic".[172]
A 2012 survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), of five European countries in regard to antisemitism included Italy.[173] Of those surveyed:
A 2025 poll found that 15% of Italians believe that attacks on Jewish people are 'justifiable', and 18% believe antisemitic graffiti on walls and other public spaces is legitimate.[174]
Twodesecrations of Holocaust memorials, in Jelgava and in the Biķernieki Forest, took place in 1993. The delegates of the World Congress of Latvian Jews who came to Biķernieki to commemorate the 46,500 Jews shot there, were shocked by the sight ofswastikas and the wordJudenfrei daubed on the memorial. Furthermore, Articles of antisemitic content appeared in the Latvian nationalist press. The main topics of these articles were the collaboration of Jews with the Communists in the Soviet period, Jews tarnishing Latvia's good name in the West, and Jewish businessmen striving to control the Latvian economy.
TheNetherlands has the second highest incidence of antisemitic incidents in the European Union. However, it is difficult to obtain exact figures because the specific groups against whom attacks are made are not specifically identified in police reports, and analyses of police data for antisemitism, therefore, rely on keyword searches, e.g.Jew orIsrael. According to Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), a pro-Israel lobby group in the Netherlands,[175] the number of antisemitic incidents reported in the whole of the Netherlands was 108 in 2008, 93 in 2009, and 124 in 2010. Some two-thirds of this are acts of aggression. There are approximately 52 000Dutch Jews.[176]
According to theNRC Handelsblad newspaper, the number of antisemitic incidents inAmsterdam was 14 in 2008 and 30 in 2009.[177] In 2010, Raphaël Evers, anorthodox rabbi inAmsterdam, told theNorwegian newspaperAftenposten that Jews can no longer be safe in the city anymore due to the risk of violent assaults. "We Jews no longer feel at home here in the Netherlands. Many people talk about moving to Israel," he said.[102] In 2013, the Dutch Center for Reports on Discrimination (CIDI) noted that there is more antisemitism on the Internet than ever before in its 17-year history.[178]
Jews were prohibited from living or entering Norway by paragraph 2 (known as theJew clause in Norway) of the 1814Constitution, which originally read, "The evangelical-Lutheran religion remains the public religion of the State. Those inhabitants, who confess thereto, are bound to raise their children to the same.Jesuits andmonastic orders are not permitted. Jews are still prohibited from entry to the Realm." In 1851 the last sentence was struck out. Monks were permitted in 1897, andJesuits not before 1956.[122]
The Jew Clause was reinstated 13 March 1942 byVidkun Quisling during Germany's occupation of Norway, but was reversed when Norway was liberated in May 1945. Before the deportation of Danish Jews, there were 2,173 Jews in Norway, at least 775 of whom were arrested, detained, and/or deported; 765 died as a direct result of theHolocaust.[179] After the war and following alegal purge, Quisling was convicted of high treason (including the unlawful change of the Constitution) and shot by a firing squad.
In 2010, theNorwegian Broadcasting Corporation after one year of research, revealed that antisemitism was common among Norwegian Muslims. Teachers at schools with large shares of Muslims revealed that Muslim students often "praise or admireAdolf Hitler for his killing of Jews", that "Jew-hate is legitimate within vast groups of Muslim students" and that "Muslims laugh or command [teachers] to stop when trying to educate about the Holocaust".[180][181][182] Additionally that "while some students might protest when some express support for terrorism, none object when students express hate of Jews" and that it says in "theQuran that you shall kill Jews, all true Muslims hate Jews". Most of these students were said to be born and raised in Norway. One Jewish father also told that his child after school had been taken by a Muslim mob (though managed to escape), reportedly "to be taken out to the forest andhung because he was a Jew".[180][181][182]
It was revealed in April 2012 thatJohan Galtung, a Norwegian sociologist who pioneered the discipline ofpeace studies and conflict resolution, made antisemitic comments during public speeches and lectures.[183] Galtung claimed that there was a possible link between theMossad andAnders Behring Breivik. He also claimed that six Jewish companies control 96% of the media in the United States, a frequent statement made by antisemites. Galtung also claimed that 70% of the professors at the 20 most important American universities are Jewish, and recommended that people read the fraudulent antisemitic manuscriptThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Around 14th–16th centuries the Jews in Poland were relatively well-off, compared to Jews in other European countries or non-nobles in Poland, as shown by the termParadisus Judaeorum (Jewish Paradise).[184][185][186] At the onset of the 17th century, religious tolerance common began to give way to the CatholicCounter-Reformation. From the middle of the 14th century to the end of the 15th century, there were 20 anti-Jewish riots on the territory ofPoland andLithuania; while from 1534 to 1717 there were 53.[187]
Wars of the mid-17th century resulted in vast depopulation of the Commonwealth, as over 30% of the about 10 million population has perished or emigrated. In the related 1648–1655 Cossack anti-Jewish pogroms, during theKhmelnytsky Uprising, 18,000–20,000 Jews were killed on Ukrainian territories out of a total population of 40,000.[188]
On the other hand, despite the mentioned incidents, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a relative haven for Jews when compared to the period of thepartitions of Poland and the PLC's destruction in 1795 (seeImperial Russia and the Soviet Union, below). After an assassination attempt on the life ofAlexander III of Russia, in the 1880s Russian Imperial forces began to settle Russian-speakingLithuanian Jews in Polish-speaking areas. Cultural conflict emerged between the Russian-speaking Jews supported by the Russian Empire, financially and politically, and the Poles.
Leon Khazanovich, a leader ofPoalei Zion, documented anti-Jewish pogroms in 105 towns and villages between November and December 1918.[189] Antisemitism abounded in Poland after Poland's sovereignty restoration, which included the 1937 imposition ofnumerus clausus upon Polish universities to restrict Jewish student admission.[190]
While there aremany examples of Poles rescuing Jews in the Holocaust, there are also instances of antisemitic incidents, when the Jewish population was certain of the indifference towards their fate from the Christian Poles.[citation needed] ThePolish Institute of National Remembrance identified 24pogroms against WWII Jews, the most notable of whichoccurred inJedwabne in 1941. A number of incidents were recorded right after WWII (seeanti-Jewish violence in Poland, 1944–1946). During theCold War, the lingering antisemitism was exploited by theSoviet-backed communist regime to offset political threats, especially in the1968 Polish political crisis:
The collapse of communism in Poland in 1989, allowed for the re-examination of Jewish-Polish history, with a number of events, including theJedwabne pogrom, being discussed openly for the first time. Violent antisemitism in Poland in the 21st century is marginal compared to elsewhere.[191] In 2022, the American civil rights groupAnti-Defamation League (ADL) conducted a global survey on antisemitism. It found that 35% of Poland's people "harbour[ed] antisemitic attitudes", the second highest among the 10 European countries surveyed. Notably, the percentage was significantly lower than the previous ADL survey.[192] Whereas, theCzulent Jewish Association, a Polish Jewish group,[193] reported in 2023 that 488 antisemitic incidents had been recorded in 2022, 86% of which involvedonline harassment and insults. It noted that "Jew" was often used to smear a perceived enemy as "disloyal, an outsider and unpatriotic."[194] Meanwhile, as per theOSCEOffice for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), of the 440 hate crimesprosecuted by thePolice of Poland in 2022, 20% were antisemitic hate crimes, while only 6% were "anti-Muslim" hate crimes.[195][196]
DuringHanukkah of 2023, Polish MPGrzegorz Braun used a fire extinguisher to put out the menorah after a lighting ceremony in parliament.[197] As a result, the Polish parliament stripped him of his immunity, allowing for his potential prosecution.[197] On 1 May 2024, theNożyk Synagogue inWarsaw was hit with three firebombs by a 16-year old.Poland's PresidentAndrzej Duda condemned the firebombing.[198]
ThePale of Settlement was the Western region ofImperial Russia to which Jews were restricted by the Tsarist Ukase of 1792. It consisted of the territories of formerPolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, annexed with the existing numerous Jewish population, and theCrimea (which was later cut out from the Pale).[citation needed] During 1881–1884, 1903–1906, and 1914–1921, waves of antisemiticpogroms swept Russian Jewish communities. At least some pogroms are believed to have been organized or supported by the RussianOkhrana (secret police). Although there is no hard evidence for this, the Russian police and army generally displayed indifference to the pogroms, for instance during the three-dayFirst Kishinev pogrom of 1903.[citation needed] During this period theMay Laws policy was also put into effect, banning Jews from rural areas and towns, and placing strict quotas on the number of Jews allowed into higher education and many professions. The combination of the repressive legislation and pogroms propelled mass Jewish emigration, and by 1920 more than two million Russian Jews had emigrated, most to the United States while some madealiya to theLand of Israel.[citation needed]
In 1903The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an antisemitic tractate, was fabricated by the Russian Okhrana, a literaryhoax, meant to blame the Jews for Russia's problems during the period of revolutionary activity.
Even though manyOld Bolsheviks were ethnically Jewish, they sought to uproot Judaism and Zionism and established theYevsektsiya to achieve this goal. By the end of the 1940s, the Communist leadership of the former USSR had liquidated almost all Jewish organizations, including Yevsektsiya.[citation needed]
Joseph Stalin's antisemitic campaign of 1948–1953 against so-called "rootless cosmopolitans", destruction of theJewish Anti-Fascist Committee, the fabrication of the "Doctors' plot", the rise of "Zionology" and subsequent activities of official organizations such as theAnti-Zionist committee of the Soviet public were officially carried out under the banner of "anti-Zionism," but the use of this term could not obscure the antisemitic content of these campaigns, and by the mid-1950s the state persecution of Soviet Jews emerged as a major human rights issue in the West and domestically. See also:Jackson–Vanik amendment,Refusenik,Pamyat.[citation needed] Stalin sought to segregate Russian Jews into "Soviet Zion", with the help ofKomzet andOZET in 1928[citation needed]. TheJewish Autonomous Oblast with the center inBirobidzhan in theRussian Far East attracted only limited settlement, and never achieved Stalin's goal of an internal exile for the Jewish people.[citation needed]
Around the year 2000, antisemitic pronouncements, speeches, and articles were common in Russia, and there were a number of antisemitic neo-Nazi groups in the republics of the former Soviet Union, leadingPravda to declare in 2002 that "Anti-semitism is booming in Russia."[199] Around 2015–19, there have been bombs attached to antisemitic signs, apparently aimed at Jews, and other violent incidents, including stabbings, have been recorded. Antisemitic conspiracy theories were still widespread in Russian media by 2019 as well.[200]
FollowingJewish emancipation in 1896, many Jews in Slovakia (thenUpper Hungary, part of theKingdom of Hungary) had adopted Hungarian language and customs in order to advance. Many Jews moved to cities and joined the professions; others remained in the countryside, mostly working as artisans, merchants, and shopkeepers. Their multilingualism helped them advance in business, but put many Jews in conflict with theSlovak national revival.[201] The leader of the Slovak national revival,Ľudovít Štúr, believed that Slovak Jews lacked a common history, culture, and society with Slovaks.[202] Traditionalreligious antisemitism was joined by the stereotypical view of Jews as exploiters of poor Slovaks (economic antisemitism), and a form of "national anti-Semitism" accusing Jews ofHungarian irredentism, and laterCzechoslovakism as Jews came to be associated with the Czechoslovak state. By the mid-1930s, a broad consensus of antisemitism had emerged across Slovak society.[201][203]
Antisemitism in Slovakia has declined from the mid-20th century, which saw thedeportation and murder of most of the Slovak Jews by theSlovak People's Party government led byJozef Tiso. Antisemitism after the war manifested itself in events such as theTopoľčany pogrom in September 1945.[204] More recently, politicianMarian Kotleba has promoted theZionist Occupation Government conspiracy theory and described Jews as "devils in human skin".[205][202]
in July 2025, Kanye West, was scheduled to perform in slovakia but the event organizers canceled his appearance due to his antisemitic and Nazi-sympathetic statements.[206]
The first noticeable antisemitic movement dates back to 1496 when the entire Jewish community in the territory of Carinthia and Styria was expelled due to the decree issued by EmperorMaximilian I.[citation needed] He was under strong pressure from the localnobility. The last of these evictions was issued in 1828 but restrictions on settlement and business remained until 1861.[citation needed]
Modern antisemitism emerged in Slovenia in the late 19th century, first among ultra-traditionalist Catholics, such as the BishopAnton Mahnič. However, this was still a cultural and religious antisemitism, and not a racist one. Racial antisemitism was first advanced in Slovenia by some liberal nationalists, likeJosip Vošnjak.[citation needed] At the turn of the 20th century, antisemitism spread widely due to the influence ofAustrian Christian Social Movement. The founder of Slovene Christian Socialism,Janez Evangelist Krek, was fiercely antisemitic, although many of his followers were not. However, antisemitism remained a recognizable feature of conservative, ultra-Catholic, and far-right groups in Slovenia until 1945.[citation needed]
About 4,500 Jews lived in Slovene areas before the mass transportation to theconcentration camps in 1941. Many of them were refugees from neighboringAustria, while the number of Slovenian Jews withYugoslav citizenship was much lower.[citation needed] According to the 1931 census, the Jewish community in theDrava Banovina (the administrative unit corresponding to the Yugoslav part of Slovenia) had less than 1,000 members, mostly concentrated in the easternmost Slovenian region ofPrekmurje.[citation needed] In the late 1930s, anti-Jewish legislation was adopted by the pro-German regime of the Yugoslav Prime MinisterMilan Stojadinović, supported also by the largest political party in Slovenia, the conservativeSlovene People's Party. The party's leader, Dr.Anton Korošec had a strong antisemitic discourse and was instrumental in the introduction of thenumerus clausus in all Yugoslav universities in 1938.[citation needed]
The vast majority of Slovene Jewry was murdered inAuschwitz and other extermination camps. The Nazis continued deporting Slovene Jews until 1945. The once-noticeable Jewish community of Prekmurje disappeared. Only individuals have returned; many immigrated toIsrael soon after 1945.[citation needed]
In 1954, the localCommunist party destroyed the last standing synagogue in Slovenia – the synagogue ofMurska Sobota, which had survived the two years of Nazi occupation between 1944 and 1945. Before the final destruction, the synagogue was robbed and burned by the members of the party.[207]
After returning from the concentration camps, many Jews realized they had been dispossessed by the new Communist government. Jewish people were automatically marked as an upper class, although the Nazis took most of the property.[clarification needed] Jews who still owned houses or larger apartments were allowed to live in one room; the rest of their properties were owned by the Communist party. Some of the Jews who opposed this policy were told they were "welcome to leave at any time".[208] Jews were also told it was better for them to leave if they wanted peace fromOZNA.[209]
During theYugoslav socialist period, Jews were allowed to leave to go to Israel. However, if they decided to go, all of their properties and any possessions were automatically taken by the Communist party with no possibility of return.[210] After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, some properties were returned to them. Many Jews who had immigrated from Slovenia to Israel have said they are now too old and too tired to start the process of returning.[211]
In the 1990s and 2000s, antisemitism made a resurgence in Slovenia, mostly linked toanti-globalization andfar-left movements. Since 1990, antisemitic discourse in Slovenia has been predominantly linked to the left of the political spectrum, while it has been mostly absent from right-wing rhetoric. TheSlovenian National Party, which has been described by many as chauvinistic, has not been antisemitic. On the other hand, antisemitic remarks have been frequent among left-wing activists and commentators, as well as among the extra-parliamentary far-right groups.[citation needed]
In January 2009, during theGaza War, the exterior of theMaribor Synagogue was defaced with antisemitic graffiti, includingJuden raus.[212] Although the synagogue is protected by security cameras, the culprits were never found.[213] The synagogue was again vandalised with threatening graffiti in January 2025.[214]
Jews in Islamic-occupied Spain,Al-Andalus, were second-classdhimmis who were targeted inpogroms such as the1066 Granada massacre. In 1492, via theAlhambra Decree, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ordered the expulsion of an estimated 800,000 Jews from the country, and thus put an end to the largest and most distinguished Jewish community in Europe. The coercive baptisms eventually produced the phenomenon of the conversos (Marranos), theInquisition, and statutes of "blood purity" five centuries before the race laws inNazi Germany. From the end of the nineteenth century, Jews have been perceived as conspirators, alongside the notion of a universal Jewish conspiracy to control the world. Following the Soviet revolution and the founding of theSpanish Communist Party in 1920, such "anti-Spanish forces" were primarily identified with the "destructive communist virus," often considered to be guided by the Jews.[215]
During theSpanish Civil War, the alliance betweenFranco's faction andNazi Germany opened the way for the emergence of antisemitism in the Spanish Right. It was during the 1960s that the first Spanishneo-fascist andneo-Nazi groups appeared, such asCEDADE. Later on, the Spanishneo-Nazis attempted to use antisemitic discourse to explain the political transition to democracy (1976–1982) following the death ofGeneral Franco. It drew on the same ideas that had been expressed in 1931 when theSecond Spanish Republic was proclaimed – that political turning points could be explained as the result of various "intrigues". From 1948 until 1986, Israel was not recognized by Spain, and Israel and Spain had no diplomatic ties. In 1978, Jews were recognized as full citizens in Spain, and today the Jewish population numbers about 40,000 – 1 percent of Spain's population, 20,000 of whom are registered in the Jewish communities. The majority live in the larger cities of Spain on theIberian Peninsula, North Africa or the islands.[216]
Many of the prejudices cultivated during the Franco years persist in the twenty-first century. According to some,[217] derived from the fact that almost all Spaniards are Catholic, and Spain remains to this day one of the most homogeneous Western countries, Spanish Judeophobia reflects a national obsession with religious and ethnic unity which is based on the conception of an imaginary "internal enemy" plotting the downfall of the Catholic religion and the traditional social order.[218] However, this assumption clashes with the fact that 21st-century Spain is one of the most secularized countries in Europe,[219][220] with only 3% of Spaniards considering religion as one of their three most important values[221] and thus not linking it to their national or personal identity. Furthermore, in modern Spain there is not an "internal enemy" scare but in far-right circles, which are more often focused againstMuslim immigration as well asCatalan andBasque separatism, way more visible phenomena. Modern antisemitic-like attitudes in Spain are actually related to the perceived abusive policies of the State ofIsrael againstPalestinians and in the international scene rather than to any kind of religious or identity obsession,[222][218] and it has been defined by Jewish authors as an "antisemitism without antisemites."[222]
Pablo Iglesias, the founder of the Spanish political partyUnidas Podemos, has a history of antisemitic remarks including: "the Holocaust was a mere bureaucratic problem," "the great Wall Street companies are practically all in the hands of Jews," and "the Jewish lobby supports initiatives against the peoples of the world," among others.[223][224]
AfterGermany andAustria, Sweden has the highest rate of antisemitic incidents in Europe, though theNetherlands reports a higher rate of antisemitism in some years.[47] A government study in 2006 estimated that 15% of Swedes agree with the statement: "The Jews have too much influence in the world today".[225] 5% of the total adult population and 39% of adult Muslims "harbour systematic antisemitic views".[225] The former prime ministerGöran Persson described these results as "surprising and terrifying". However, the rabbi of Stockholm's Orthodox Jewish community, Meir Horden, said that "It's not true to say that the Swedes are anti-Semitic. Some of them are hostile to Israel because they support the weak side, which they perceive thePalestinians to be."[226]
In October 2010,The Forward reported on the current state of Jews and the level of antisemitism in Sweden. Henrik Bachner, a writer, and professor of history at the University of Lund, claimed that members of the Swedish Parliament have attended anti-Israel rallies where the Israeli flag was burned while the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah were waved, and the rhetoric was often antisemitic—not just anti-Israel. But such public rhetoric is not branded hateful and denounced.[227]
Charles Small, director of theYale University Initiative for the Study of antisemitism, stated that "Sweden is a microcosm of contemporary antisemitism. It's a form of acquiescence to radical Islam, which is diametrically opposed to everything Sweden stands for." Per Gudmundson, the chief editorial writer forSvenska Dagbladet, has sharply criticized politicians whom he claims offer "weak excuses" for Muslims accused of antisemitic crimes. "Politicians say these kids are poor and oppressed, and we have made them hate. They are, in effect, saying the behavior of these kids is in some way our fault."[227]
Two documentaries, one produced in 2013 and another in 2015, secretly filmed reporters walking around Malmö wearing akippah. In the 2013 documentary, the reporter only received strange looks and giggles, but in the 2015 documentary, in the mainly MuslimRosengård neighborhood, the reporter was physically and verbally assaulted and had to flee. Fred Kahn, a leader of the local Jewish community, claimed that most incidents are committed by Muslims or Arabs.[228]
There have been Jews in Ukraine since theGreek colonies of the Black Sea coast had their Jewish traders.[229] Antisemitism has existed since at least the time of theRus Primary Chronicle.[229] Leaders[who?] of the Ukrainian nationalists ofOUN (b) participated in the Holocaust duringWorld War II.[230][231] In Ukraine violence against Jews and antisemitic graffiti remains.[232] Antisemitism has declined sinceUkrainian independence in 1991.[233]
In 2004, members of the UK Parliament set up an inquiry into antisemitism, which published its findings in 2006. The inquiry stated that "until recently, the prevailing opinion both within the Jewish community and beyond [had been] that antisemitism had receded to the point that it existed only on the margins of society." It found a reversal of this progress since 2000. It aimed to investigate the problem, identify the sources of contemporary antisemitism and make recommendations to improve the situation.[234][235] As of 2014, 9 percent of the British population held negative attitudes towards Jews.[236] In 2024, there has been a spike in antisemitism.[237] According to theCommunity Security Trust, nearly 2,000 antisemitic incidents were recorded in UK in the first half of 2024, marking the highest number ever documented in a six-month period.[238]
{{cite encyclopedia}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)The fact that the Jews nonetheless managed to acquire land in some regions is only further evidence of the frequent contradiction that existed between theory and practice in their treatment."
Nevertheless, until well into the Middle Ages there still were Jews in rural settlements, and even beyond the period of the Crusades Jews owned lands, vineyards, and fields here or there in the small country towns and even cultivated them; our chief source for this is the Responsa.
Some political parties in EU Member States are openly antisemitic.
Udover det foruroligende ved de mange halve sandheder, misinformationer og den ofte ret så fjendske tone, som præger omskæringsdebatten, rejser den en række ubehagelige spørgsmål for mange danske jøder: Skulle en kriminalisering af en så central del af den jødiske religion og kultur rent faktisk blive vedtaget, hvor længe kan man da fortsætte sin tilværelse i Danmark? (...) En sådan vedvarende og generel uro for, at man kan blive nødsaget til at skulle rejse fra sit fædreland, fordi man har i sinde at fortsætte med at praktisere sin religion, har arabiske bøller hidtil ikke formået at skabe blandt de danske jøder. Denne tvivlsomme ære tilfalder alene Jyllands-Posten og dens venner i omskæringsdebatten.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)In Poland, the semidictatorial government of Piłsudski and his successors, pressured by an increasingly vocal opposition on the radical and fascist right, implemented many anti-Semitic policies tending in a similar direction, while still others were on the official and semiofficial agenda when war descended in 1939 ... In the 1930s the realm of official and semiofficial discrimination expanded to encompass limits on Jewish export firms ... and, increasingly, on university admission itself. In 1921–22 some 25 percent of Polish university students were Jewish, but in 1938–39 their proportion had fallen to 8 percent
Separately, the ADL also asked directly if people have a favourable or unfavourable opinion of Jews. In Poland, 64% said they had a favourable view, while 19% admitted to the opposite. That latter figure was the highest among all countries surveyed [...] When presented with the antisemitic stereotypes, 62% of people in Poland said it was "probably true" that Jews are more loyal to Israel than their own country, 57% that they talk too much about what happened to them during the Holocaust, and 53% that they have too much power in the business world and financial markets.
A Jewish association counted 488 antisemitic incidents in Poland in 2022, a number that the report's author said just scratches the surface.
86% of incidents involved online harassment and insults, while the word "Jew" is frequently used online to label an "enemy" as "disloyal, an outsider and unpatriotic."
First survey of its kind counts 488 anti-Jewish acts in Poland in 2022, more than 4 times the total cited by the European Union the previous year [...] "There is not a Polish politician who hasn't been called a Jew," [the report's lead author Anna] Zielińska told theJewish Telegraphic Agency. Czulent's 2022 report detailed one violent act that resulted in injury, four additional violent attacks, 20 threats, 34 instances of damage to Jewish property and memorial sites, 68 cases of antisemitic mass mailings and 372 instances of "abusive" behavior.
The police records represent the number of proceedings initiated by police for hate crimes cases in 2022, including proceedings that were later discontinued owing to a lack of evidence.
On 14 March 2004, in his public speech to commemorate the establishment of the 1939 Slovak state, Marian Kotleba, the leader of the extreme PP-OS (People's Party Our Slovakia), mocked efforts to come to terms with the Holocaust past and marked out Jews as "devils in human skin". Kotleba further promoted the view of Ľudovít Štúr—the leading representative of Slovak national revival in the nineteenth century—that Jews have no historical, cultural, or social ties with Slovaks. When the Jewish community expressed outrage against the demonstration of Kotleba supporters in Komárno in 2005, Kotleba defended the extremists by accusing Jews of plotting "against the Slovak nation, statehood, and Christian traditions" often with the help of the "Magyar chauvinists and domestic traitors". In Kotleba's eyes, every political skirmish in Slovakia is a "very well prepared performance" directed by Z. O. G. (the "Zionist Occupation Government").
