Medieval Prejudice Against Jewish People

Religious prejudice isn’t a new concept. The idea didn’t begin with the birth of Christianity or the birth of Islam. The idea that prejudice has been a societal norm since the beginning of civilization would not be too far of a stretch. Prejudice is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as, “injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one's rights; especially, detriment to one's legal rights or claims.” This essay will explore the medieval prejudice against the Jewish people and the modern prejudice against the Jewish people, by use of The Devil and The Jews: The Medieval Conception of the Jew and Its Relation to Modern Anti-Semitism by Joshua Trachtenberg and class discussion topics. The basis of
The fact that this idea dated back as far as it did, made it fact, and allowed for the easy manipulation of ideas to make the Jews an “other.”
In order to continue a prejudice, the group being prejudiced against must be designated as an “other,” a group that is different than the majority and poses a threat to the foundations of society, whether rational or not. The following are reasons that made the Jewish people an “other” and allowed the continuation of anti-Semitism for the centuries after medieval Europe. One reason for the continuation of anti-Semitism is the anxiety that plagued medieval Christians. These people were dealing with the incoming Monguls and Terks and the plague, which was killed at least one-third of the European population during its reign of terror. There was a need for a scapegoat, a group of people to place the blame of the crisis that were taking place, and that scapegoat was the Jews. New ideas came about that the Jews were poisoning the wells, magicians, and trying to kill the Christians. In The Devil and The Jews: The Medieval Conception of the Jew and Its Relation to Modern Anti-Semitism, Joshua Trachtenberg states on page 57, “But
The thought processes continued and provided undertones throughout the beginning of the modern world. As rational thought was proposed and technology was developed, life improved for those living in Europe. Widespread war was mostly avoided until the summer of 1914 and after World War I, also known as the War to End All Wars, and The Great War, most of Europe was left in shambles, especially Germany. Germany’s economy was experiencing terrible inflation and due to their loss, was also given the blame for the war, which included the reparations to pay for all of the grief and destruction caused by The Great War. During this low point was when one of the most notable leaders in history rose to power, his name, Adolf Hitler. Due to the national humiliation left in the wake of World War I, the Germans felt it necessary to blame someone, anyone. Obviously the Germans didn’t lose the war because they ran out of supplies and their people weren’t starving because they couldn’t produce enough food to feed their population. All of these terrible things happened because the Jews sold them out. The Jewish people caused the fall of Germany and because of that, the Jews needed to pay for the terror they caused. The only way to make the Jewish people pay is to exterminate them because they were a well-educated people that controlled a significant portion of the funds in Europe. This reasoning led to the horror of