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Anti-Jewish boycotts are organizedboycotts directed againstJewish people to exclude them economical, political or cultural life. Antisemitic boycotts are often regarded as a manifestation of popularantisemitism.[1] Anti-Jewish boycotts have taken various forms since the late 18th century, from early campaigns in Western Europe and Nazi boycotts in the 1930s–40s, to Arab boycotts before and after Israel’s establishment.[2]
In Hungary, promotion for boycotts began in 1875 with an antisemitic speech fromGyőző Istóczy in the Hungarian House of Representatives.[3][4] From the 1880s there were calls in some of the Catholic press, such as the daily newspaperMagyar Állam, for Jews to be boycotted.[5] The government passed laws limiting Jewish economic activity from 1938 onwards.[6]
In Russia, after a series ofanti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire followingthe assassination of Tsar Alexander II, towards that end in 1880 they were forbidden from purchasing land or taking mortgages (see theMay Laws). Quotas limited Jewish access to educational institutions and from 1892 they were banned from participation in local elections and could constitute no more than 10% of company shareholders.[7]
In 19th century Austria,Karl Lueger, an antisemitic mayor of Vienna who inspired Hitler,[8] campaigned for a boycott of Jewish businesses as a last resort for his party.[9] Jews were only allowed to live in Vienna from 1840. An organization called theAntisemitenbund campaigned against Jewish civil rights since 1919. Austrian campaigns tended to heighten around Christmas and became effective from 1932.[10]
In Ireland, FatherJohn Creagh inLimerick campaigned against the town's small Jewish community in 1904, leading to a boycott of Jewish businesses and the departure of the Jewish population from the town.[11]
In Ukraine, there was a boycott of Jews in Galicia, with allegations of Jewish support for Poland, while Poles in Galicia boycotted Jews for supporting Ukraine.[1] In 1921, the German student union, theDeutschen Hochschulring, barred Jews from membership. Since the bar was racial, it included Jews who had converted to Christianity.[12] The bar was challenged by the government leading to a referendum in which 76% of students voted for the exclusion.[12]
In Quebec, French-Canadian nationalists organized boycotts of Jews in the thirties.[13]
TheNazi boycott of Jewish businesses in Germany took place on 1 April 1933 as a response to theJewish boycott of German goods which had started soon afterAdolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor on 30 January 1933.[14]
It was the first of many measures against theJews of Germany, which ultimately culminated in the "Final Solution". It was a state-managed campaign of ever-increasing harassment, arrests, systematicpillaging, forced transfer of ownership to Nazi party activists (managed by theChamber of Commerce), and ultimately murder of owners defined as "Jews". In Berlin alone, there were 50,000 Jewish owned businesses.[15]
In Poland, the Endeks (founded byRoman Dmowski) organized boycotts of Jewish businesses across Poland.[16] Polish universities placed growing limits on the number of Jews allowed to attend,[17] (seenumerus clausus) and increasingly forced them to sit separately from non-Jewish students, a practice known as "Ghetto benches" which became law in 1937. In 1936. Prime MinisterFelicjan Sławoj Składkowski called for "economic struggle" and "economic boycott of the Jews became formal government policy from June 4, 1936".[18][19]Kosher slaughter was banned in Poland in 1936 and in Germany in 1930[20] following the similar legislation enacted inmany other European countries.
In the US, Nazi supporters, such asCharles Coughlin (an Irish immigrant), encouraged a boycott of Jewish businesses. Coughlin's radio show attracted tens of millions of listeners and his supporters organized "Buy Christian" campaigns and attacked Jews.[21]
In Palestine, the Arab leadership organized boycotts of Jewish businesses from 1929 onwards, with violence often directed at Arabs who did business with Jews.[22] A series of riots in Egypt described by one British Embassy official as "clearly anti-Jewish" occurred in 1945, starting on the date of theBalfour Declaration. In the following weeks, the Egyptian press attacked Egyptian Jews as capitalists, white-slave traders, and other slurs while calling for a boycott of Jewish goods. Later in 1945, the Arab League began a boycott of Jewish businesses in British Mandatory Palestine.[23]
In the 2000s, theBDS movement, which advocates for a total boycott of Israeli products, is regarded by some Jewishcivil rights organizations (such as theAnti-Defamation League and theSimon Wiesenthal Center), as well as pro-Israel organizations and scholars as driven by antisemitism.[24][25][26] This has been disputed by the BDS movement itself and Jewish supporters of BDS.[27][28][29]
The first appearance of political antisemitism in Hungary was, as mentioned earlier, the speech of Győző Istóczy in the House of Representatives in 1875.
[...] Polish laws against ritual slaughter (shehita) enacted in April 1936 and, in a final and drastic form, in March 1939.
