ANTI-SEMITISM

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. The essay traces anti-Semitism all the way back to Rome. Do you agree? Or do you feel that it is a more recent vintage? The essay suggests a way it started, do you agree? If not, how do you think anti-Semitism started?
2. In many countries, anti-Semitism is quite prevalent. Could anti-Semitism in such countries be a cover for some other political gain or problem, such as hiding the failure of a government to provide basic needs?
3. Do you believe Hitler tapped into a well of anti-Semitism and used that as a means for rising to power? Or was it something else?
4. Do you believe that anti-Semitism will ever end? If so, when? How?
5. The essay places some of the blame on Jews themselves. Do you agree? If so, how much of the blame belongs to the Jews themselves?
6. Do you believe that the severest criticism of the state of Israel is really anti-Semitism hiding under the guise of political criticism? See, Two-State Illusion by IAN S. LUSTICK Published: September 14, 2013 in the New York Times op-ed.
7. How could God allow anti-Semitism – hatred for His people? How could God have stopped it without interfering with man’s free will? Do you think God even recognized the danger of anti-Semitism? Why didn’t God stop it before it got started?
8. Do you believe the UN is anti-Semitic? The UN Human Rights Commission? How about the Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement that seems to have been favorably adopted by many Universities?
9. What does an individual citizen have to gain by being anti-Semitic?
10. Can some Jews be anti-Semitic?
11. Is there a way for Jews to counter anti-Semitism?
12. Do you think men are more anti-Semitic than women?
13. Have you ever witnessed or been the victim of anti-Semitism? What did you do?
14. The essay cynically credits commercial competition for converts as the initiator of the myth that Jews were to blame for Jesus’ crucifixion. Do you agree? If not, why would the early Christian faith teach such a myth? Perhaps they actually believed it, but then why would the Christian Church continue the myth in the face of such counter historical evidence? Especially when the consequences of the myth have been, continue to be, and will be in the future, so dire.
15. At the time this essay is being written, two disturbing events have happened at the campuses of two prestigious universities. At UCLA, a woman was denied a position on the student council because she was Jewish. Yet little was done about this. Contrary to this, two University of Oklahoma students were expelled because they stated that no Black would ever be allowed to join their fraternity. What do you think about this dichotomy in treatment of anti-Semitism versus bigotry? Especially at supposedly progressive and open places such as universities who proudly tout themselves as bastions of tolerance and understanding.
16. Did Hitler cause the Holocaust, or did the events occurring in Germany during his rise shape and create Hitler? Depending on your answer, how does the answer affect the responsibility of others in positions of power in the Nazi regime?
17. After the drop in support for the Nazi party in 1932, it is rumored that Hitler contemplated suicide. What if he had committed suicide in 1932, do you think the Holocaust would have occurred? If Hitler had never been there and if you believe WW II would have occurred without him, what would have been different?
18. Do you believe the rumors that Hitler had Jewish blood via his grandmother who was a maid in a Jewish household and became pregnant by one of her employer’s sons? What about the rumors that he was homosexual?
19. Where do you think Hitler developed his fanatical anti-Semitism? Or do you think his anti-Semitism was not even real, just a means to an ends (of using the German fears discussed in the essay for the purpose of gaining power)?
20. What do you think the story is about Hitler and his niece, Geli Raubal? Did she commit suicide or was she murdered?
21. Putting aside the fact that Hitler was pure evil, do you believe that Hitler was one of the most transformative personalities of the twentieth century, if not the most transformative? Do you think Hitler’s policies saved Germany from an economic depression?
22. Who do you think set the Reichstag fire on 27 February 1933? Communists, Nazis, or a lone wolf arsonist?
23. Can you envision circumstances similar to those in 1933 Germany which would allow passage of a law similar to the Enabling Law of 23 March 1933 giving the head of the government total power to put through any measure without approval of the other branches of government?
24. Hitler conducted his power grab in stages. He began his power grab by demonizing communists and homosexual men who were easy targets before he moved on to demonize more difficult targets, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Germans of African descent, etc. Hitler thus moved in stages, first testing the success then moving on when the power was allowed and/or approved. Finally, of course, Hitler targeted Jews; however, even then, he moved in stages with each stage being progressively more onerous than the previous stage until Hitler had total control before anyone could effectively object or effectively block him. Can you think of any current group which could be demonized in a similar manner for someone seeking to grab dictatorial powers in the United States or in some other country?
25. Do you think Hitler’s campaigns against the early targets could have succeeded without the participation, or at least complacency, of the majority of common Germans?
26. Do you think the Holocaust could have begun if there would have been a clear definition of a Jew or a clear definition of a Jewish identity? The Nuremburg Laws (which gave official sanction to anti-Semitism) identified a Jew as one who practices Judaism. As the essay discussed, such a broad definition is going to be wrong much of the time.
27. There are some scholars who suggest that the killing of WW I immunized and even conditioned the German people against the brutality of the Holocaust and thus the people were not outraged by the acts of the Nazis against various groups. Do you believe that our acceptance of abortion could immunize us against killing in a similar manner?
28. If the Pope would not have agreed to the Concordat in July 1933 which Hitler used to obtain support both in Germany (at that time, nearly 40% of Germans were Roman Catholic and the Concordat placed the Pope’s imprimatur on the Nazi regime) and abroad, do you think the Nazis could have maintained power long enough to consolidate and grow it?
29. Do you think the Nazi party would have survived if the German public, including its news media, had, instead of acceptance and even congratulations, expressed outrage and resisted further actions of the Nazis after the Night of Long Knives on June 30, 1934 (aka the Röhm Putsch) when the SS (under Hitler’s orders) attacked and destroyed the Stormtroopers who had supported Hitler in the early years?
30. During Hitler’s rise to, and consolidation of, power, where was Hindenburg? Where was the press? Where were the courts? Where were the lawyers (who are supposed to protect their clients)? Where were the International Observers (like the League of Nations)? Here was the rest of the government? Where were the governments that were supposed to prevent Germany from re-arming (the Treaty of Versailles prohibited such re-arming)?
31. Could the Nazis have retained power and the Holocaust continue without the general public going along with it? In the novel, Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada and Michael Hoffman, the story is told how the common German was so afraid of the Nazis that they were even afraid to read postcards with anti-Nazi information on them. These people cooperated in self—policing (Germany could not be accurately characterized as a “police state” because there were not enough police to satisfy this definition, thus, it seems that the general populace was co-operating with the Nazis, either through fear or because they agreed or because they were just “going along to get along”). Could such fear be the means by which the Nazis got the people to go along with this genocide?
32. What role do you think teachers had on school children in indoctrinating them against Jews and supporting the Nazi party?
33. Do you think Hitler could have been stopped if Hindenburg had not been persuaded to give up power to him?
34. How can human beings do such things as were done in the Holocaust to each other? How can human beings stand by while others do such things?
35. As a Jew, could you ever accept Paul as being Jewish? Could you reinterpret Paul’s writings in a way that is counter to the anti-Jewish interpretation many use?
36. If one is a Jew for Jesus (a Jewish Jesus follower, and Paul was a Jewish Jesus follower, like many early Christians), is he or she obliged to follow Torah commandments (such as circumcision, kashrut, Sabbath, etc.)? What could be the basis of such action?
37. In the story of Esther, was Haman an anti-Semite or was he an opportunist seeking power by means of killing Jews?
38. Assume for a moment that the year is 2001, you are a non-practicing Jew, and you meet a man who is very popular and well respected in your city, has done many good works for the city as well as for the youth of the city. Also assume that your grandfather was murdered in a Nazi concentration camp and your grandmother barely escaped to the United States and made a life for herself and the family she started in the United States, but has always had psychological scars from the Holocaust. Now, suppose this nice man confesses to you that he was a Nazi SS trooper in the war and was instrumental in deporting thousands of Jews to concentration/death camps. What would you do? Would you, or could you forgive him? Would you report him to the authorities, even though the only evidence you had was his oral confession to you (which he could recant, and remember that he is well respected)? What would you do if he expressly asked you to forgive him? What would you do if he expressly asked you to kill him because he has such guilt on his conscience?