Setting the Scene

Was there much antisemitism before Hitler?

First, let's look at the meaning of antisemitism.

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, antisemitism means "discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group".

Curiously, however, the word 'semite' doesn't mean Jew. Semites include both Arabs and Jews! But the phrase 'antisemitism' only refers to discrimination against Jews.

We've uncovered some sources that talk about the long-term factors leading to the Holocaust...

On one hand... Source A: “The Jew – who, as everyone knows, has a God all to himself – in ordinary life strikes us mainly by his outward appearance... we wish to have nothing in common with a man who looks like that.” —adapted from a German book by Richard Wagner, 1850 Source B: “There are always a great many Jews among the crowd on the Kurfürstendamm, and suddenly the students attacked individuals whose features were unmistakably Jewish... striking them with their sticks... a student came up from behind and brutally struck a Jew across the head with his cane. The Jew turned round quickly and hit back with two canes he had snatched in the struggle a short while before.” —adapted from an eyewitness account in Berlin (the capital of Germany), March 1921

On the other... Source D: “Although a hardcore of radical anti-semites existed within the party, most members avoided engaging in antisemitic activity. Millions of Nazi voters did not cast their vote for the party just because the Nazis were antisemites. They were prepared to accept the Nazis only if the party offered them bread, jobs and hope for the future... As late as 1936, a Jewish funeral in a village in western Germany could be accompanied by Nazi leaders... As late as 1938, the heads of the SS could oppose Kristallnacht on the grounds that the disturbances might be too violent.” —Oded Heilbronner, 2004

Source C:



The tombstone reads, “12,000 Jewish soldiers died on the field of honor for the fatherland”. It was drawn regarding WWI. It was produced by the German Jewish Veterans Organisation in 1920. Think: why do you think the German Jewish Veterans Organisation produced this leaflet?

Activity 2:
Do you think there was much anti-Jewish sentiment before Hitler*? Why or why not?
Post your answers below!
*Clue: Sources A to C give a different picture from Source D!

Further Reading:
Antisemitic documents before Hitler