Aux origines de l’antisémitisme nazi : compter les juifs pendant la Grande Guerre
The origins of Nazi Antisemitism : census of the Jews during the First World WarIn October 1916 the Prussian Minister of War ordered the army to proceed with a census of all Jewish soldiers serving in units at the front. This was done, according to the official explanation, in order to protect the M...
Enregistré dans:
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Langue: | Français |
| Publié: |
2008
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| Accès en ligne: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Résumé: | The origins of Nazi Antisemitism : census of the Jews during the First World WarIn October 1916 the Prussian Minister of War ordered the army to proceed with a census of all Jewish soldiers serving in units at the front. This was done, according to the official explanation, in order to protect the Ministry of War from the widespread accusation that the Jews, for the most part, were draft dodgers. This article explores the origins of this complaint which arose in wartime Germany where the distribution of food and other essential goods was greatly hampered by the excessively large number of institutions and departments created as a result of the fragmentation of decision-making powers and control in the Federal Republic of Germany.The government did not explain to the general population the underlying causes of the dire economic conditions that gripped Germany in that period. Instead, the Jews were blamed for profiteering from the war and for avoiding military service – an accusation which was maintained by right wing organizations and parties.The true statistics showing a substantial presence of “Jews in the armies” were never made public. However, this information was disclosed to anti-Semitic organizations which were highly supported by military and government institutions. This seemed to reinforce the suspicion created by post-war anti-Semites and especially the Nazis, that “the Jew” was not only guilty of being a “communist Jew” connected to the 1918 Revolution and responsible for the “Shame Treaty” (Treaty of Versailles), but that the Jews had already maneuvered to destabilize the German Army during the Great War. Thus a scathing anti-Semitism emerged, new and devastating in its intimate connection to the trauma of the lost war, a scourge Hitler promised to heal by eradicating the Jewish component from Germany society. |
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