Germany and the Holocaust Day 1: Objective: Where does the eternally “bad Jew”

come from? Stems/Roots and historical reasoning?

Big picture: How do the centuries of historical ‘persecution’ relate to what we know
happened to the Jews in the Holocaust? Does it make you think more broadly about
the world in which Adolf Hitler was born into?

Extra note: implicit bias: centuries of rhetoric hang onto certain words and phrases,
without our full understanding. We use words and phrases all the time that have
connotations attributed to them, that we cant fully grasp. For example,

- After reading through some of your answers, I want to let you know that the
psychi of Hitler and the german people’s willingness to follow along, is a
major theme of this class. It is going to be something that will appear and
reappear time and time again. The Questions of “why did he do it?” and “why
didn’t anyone stop them”, are some of the most contested historical
questions in modern history.
- After reading Bauer, however, I hope you all got a sense of the antiquity from
which anti-Semitism was created. From the Egyptian empire, to the Roman
Empire, Bauer’s explanation of how anti-semitism began (although brief) is a
great place to start. So, lets get into pairs, and think about the ways we go
from religious harmony to the St’s basically calling for their death. So split
into groups and I’ll give you each a specific question to answer that will lead
us to find out why this rhetoric occurred.
- Another aspect, was that in certain parts of the Middle Ages, during both
Christian and Muslim rule, the Jews were seen as both intellectual, but also
second class citizenry- can anyone point out why that is? (pg. 25)
- What were some of the things Jews were held responsible for, or that caused
hatred and attacks?: pg 29; blood libel; death of Jesus; middlemen of money
as debt collectors for aristocracy (because Christians couldn’t handle money
religiously)
- Start with Bauer:
o Q: Can someone give a brief overview/summary of the Jewish ‘Exodus’
o On pg. 17, it says that “Jews were considered a strange and, indeed,
dangerous phenomenon.” Why is that?
o Q: Which myth caused problems for the Jewish people?
o Q: What was the supersession myth?
o Q; Where did the imagery surrounding Jews in the Middle Ages come
from?\
o Can anyone explain what Limpieza de sangre is?
- End Bauer at Martin Luther, and bring in Purple book-> Martin Luther
excerpts.
- I want you to go through Martin Luther’s text and pick out some of the verbs
and adjectives he uses to describe the Jews. What are they to him? Title it in
your journal as “Rhetoric surrounding Jews” by Martin Luther. Keep this at
the front of your journal so you can reference and add to the list of author
 and rhetoric. The main point of doing this is observe and establish if there is
a pattern.
- Nostra Aetate: observe and take in when it was written- how long after the
end of WW2, in relation to the Nuremburg trials?
- Extra knowledge piece: research Kiddush Ha’shem