Antisemitism Background and History

Toward the end of 2011 Phyllis Goldstein published A Convenient Hatred: the history of antisemitism.  Ms. Goldstein writes about her motive for writing the book.

My hope is that this book will spark more insights, further conversation, and additional learning. Only by facing history and ourselves can we begin to meet the challenges of the present and build a more just and tolerant future.

Foreword by Sir Harold Evans

Antisemitism is a very peculiar pathology that recognizes no national borders. It is a mental condition conducive to paranoia and impervious to truth. . . . Once an emotional stereotype has been created—of the Jews, of blacks, of Catholics, of Muslims—it is readily absorbed in the bones
like strontium 90, an enduring poison that distorts the perceptions of the victims.

The book is also available in Kindle edition from Amazon.

Phyllis Goldstein is the senior writer for Facing History and Ourselves. Facing History and Ourselves is an international education organization that links history to the moral questions of our time. They claim over 150 staff members across the United States.

From the Wikipedia article on the history of antisemitism:

The history of antisemitism – defined as hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group – goes back many centuries; antisemitism has been called "the longest hatred."^[1] Jerome Chanes identifies six stages in the historical development of antisemitism:

1. Pre-Christian anti-Judaism in ancient Greece and Rome which was primarily ethnic in nature
2. Christian anti-semitism in antiquity and the Middle Ages which was religious in nature and has extended into modern times
3. Traditional Muslim antisemitism which was—at least in its classical form—nuanced, in that Jews were a protected class
4. Political, social and economic antisemitism of Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment Europe which laid the groundwork for racial antisemitism
5. Racial antisemitism that arose in the 19th century and culminated in Nazism
6. Contemporary antisemitism which has been labeled by some as the New Antisemitism^[2]

In writing about contemporary antisemitism, which has been labeled by some as the New Antisemitism, Chanes suggests that these six stages could be merged into three categories: "ancient antisemitism, which was primarily ethnic in nature; Christian antisemitism, which was religious; and the racial antisemitism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."^[3] 

In practice, it is difficult to differentiate antisemitism from the general ill-treatment of nations by other nations before the Roman period, but since the adoption of Christianity in Europe, antisemitism has undoubtedly been present. The Islamic world has also seen the Jews historically as outsiders. The coming of the scientific and industrial revolution in 19th century Europe bred a new manifestation of antisemitism, based as much upon race as upon religion, culminating in the horrors of the Nazi extermination camps of World War II. The formation of the state of Israel in 1948 has created new antisemitic tensions in the Middle East.

Dr. Chanes dedicated his 2004 book, Antisemitism: A Reference Handbook, to his wife, Dr. Eva (Chaviva) Fogelman, for her "unflagging encouragement and support for her numerous helpful and practical suggestions at every stage."

Further information about the peculiar Nazi version of antisemitism, together with their claim to the superiority of the so-called Aryan race may be found by searching this blog using both race and Aryan as search words.