Economic Antisemitism In The Non-Jewish Community

The economic antisemitism dating back to early centuries puts together stereotypes and rumors based on the economic status, jobs, and the economic behavior of the Jewish community. The stereotypes have seemed to be around forever, with many famous authors creating books, reports, articles, and extensive studies out to prove that the normal Jew was considered to be, “the mighty, greedy Jew,” (Reuveni and Wobick-segev, The Economy in Jewish History). Many famous authors and historians have claimed that the Jewish community owns too much power in the banking industry, and some even going as far as to claim they use manipulative ways in order to try to take full control of the world’s finances. Even in today’s modern world, it seems the Jews still
They were often the center of crude nicknames, harsh comments, and bullying when seen walking around town. Many people saw this, and many famous authors wrote about it. Much of the antisemitism in the European commercial world came from the fact that those of the Non-Jewish community could not match the economies of scale and advertising promotions of the Jews at the time (Perry, 141). Mark Twain once wrote, “I am persuaded that in Russia, Austria, and Germany, nine-tenths of the hostility towards the Jewish community comes from the average Christian’s inability to compete successfully with the average Jew in business, in either straight business, or the questionable sort (Concerning the Jews, 1898). Along with this, Abraham Foxman wrote that “it is likely that non-Jews in Medieval or Renaissance Europe harbored feelings of fear, vulnerability, and hostility towards Jews, because they resented being beholden to Jewish lenders,” (Foxman, 65). Not only have famous authors wrote about how Jews have been portrayed economically through history, but it has been an important aspect in some famous plays, including work done by William Shakespeare. In Shakespeare’s famous play, The Merchant of Venice, the character Shylock is characterized as a Jewish moneylender who is considered “unscrupulous and avaricious.” This one character has stuck with the Jewish
Since Ford was a prominent businessman himself, he focused most of the paper on the state of the economy at the time and how the Jews were affecting it. Ford opposed World War One, and claimed it was started by Jews in an effort to gain a profit from them, “International Financiers are behind all war. They are what is called International Jew: German Jews, French Jews, English Jews, and American Jews. I believe that in all those countries except our own the Jewish financier is supreme… here the Jew is a threat,” (Roosevelt, Dearborn Independent). In 1920 through 1921, Ford ran a series of articles that specifically discussed the financial controls of Jews. One article, titled “Jewish Power and America’s Money Famine,” stated that Jews exercised power over America’s money supply by not providing farmers with any money when they needed it the most. The article also stated that a private group of Jews were controlling all of the gold that the country held, which, Ford states, meant the Jews were controlling all of America’s money. Clearly, Ford was writing with antisemitism on his brain. All of the erroneous claims written in the Dearborn Independent and finally gave rise to claims of antisemitism on Ford and his beliefs, which he then caught a lot of flak for. Eventually, in 1929, 15 years after his anti-Semitic talk started, he issued a statement apologizing for his slander on the Jewish