Jew Hatred in Europe

Christian Responsibility for the Persecution of the European Jews (313-1945)

In 313, the Roman emperor Constantine issued The Edict of Milan, which made Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire.  That empire was already weakened by the huge number of non-Romans allowed to settle there and provide soldiers in the Roman army.

When Christianity became the official religion, Jews, who were the minority, were accused of being disloyal to the Roman state. This accusation continues to this day, as numerous Christians claim that American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the United States. Yet, every spring Americans of Irish descent sing and dance Irish songs on St. Patrick day and are never accused of disloyalty despite their huge pronouncements of how wonderful everything Irish was and remains.  Since the Irish are mostly Roman Catholics, it is all right to praise Ireland and be sentimental about its greatness. Yet, Jews who are by religion attached to Israel are accused of disloyalty. “Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.”

Numerous other lies and falsehoods about Jews are commonly believed by Christians. Jews, Christians like to claim, have too much power. If that were so, Christians would not have been able to murder 6 million European Jews between 1932 and 1945, not only in Germany but in nearly every country in Europe. Another favorite lie by Christians regarding Jews is the assertion that Jews will do anything for money. Yet, Christians ran into the homes of deported Jews all over Europe during the holocaust and stole all the property the Jewish families had left behind. Since almost all the European Jews were slaughtered in Christian murder camps, only a few descendants of these Jews survived. These descendants and the few holocaust survivors demanded that the money and property stolen from them be returned to the survivors. This was not done as Christians now shouted that “the Jews want our money and our houses and our art” when all these things have been in the possession of the European Christian population to this day.

Despite the well-known mass murder of six million Jews during the Catholic Hitler’s reign of terror, many Germam churches display, to this day, sculptures on the front of each church showing a large sow whose behind is being inspected by a rabbi who seeks to find his religion in the sow’s derriere. These sculptures may be found all over Germany and other European countries.

Recently, a Jewish man who had converted from Christianity to Judaism sued churches displaying these revolting displays. Yet, the German courts, including the Court of Appeals, refused to order the removal of these hate inspired carvings.

The conclusion any reasonable person must entertain is that hatred of Jews is as much a part of German culture as speaking the German language, driving automobiles, or drinking beer. Culture, or the man made environment, is continued from generation to generation for centuries. There is little chance that Germany will ever become a country without Christian hate of all believers in Judaism.

It is therefore difficult to understand how numerous Russian Jews and others have moved into Germany during the last fifty years. These Jews are at great risk to be slaughtered again whenever a depression or other difficulty should produce another Hitler to carry on the most  cherished German tradition - the persecution of the Jews.

Shalom u'vracha.

  Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications, including The American Jewish Community in the 20th and 21st Century (2021).

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