Anti-Semitism In Europe

The popularization of Anti-Semitic behaviour and allegations have a long history in Europe. Particularly during the fin de siecle, anti-Jewish sentiments had increasingly found themselves to be in vogue, as much of the European population viewed the Jews as their misfortune. This notion was further agitated by the press running sensationalized stories that villainized the Jewish population. This paper will examine the extent to which the rise and vitality of Anti-Semitism during the fin de siecle in Europe was due to the use of anti-Semitic press, papers and journalists that would publish stories, lore, and rumours that acted to solidify and validate the anti-Semitism beliefs. Particularly in Germany, Anti-Semitism was used popularized as a …show more content…
Already in Europe, anti-Semitism was present in the public sphere, as can be seen through the backlash to the Jewish population’s legal emancipation in 1869 through a series political campaigns. It was thought that the future of Germany, for instance, would be left in peril had the “Semitic element” of Jewishness been allowed to reside freely. So, due to the already present buildup of anti-Semitism, the press was able to take rumours from non-Jews, tweak them to fit with their conclusions, and make them appear legitimate by placing them in print in order to sustain anti-Semitism. For instance, the anti-Semitic journalist Wilhelm Bruhn was known to loiter in pubs, taverns, and on the street with townspeople in order to gain their trust. From there, he would then coach them in their storytelling of certain events that would work well with articles he was working on. By doing this, anti-Semitic journalists had the power to transform and weave together stories into fitting with their own personal agenda. Even if the information that ended up being published turned out to be a fabrication, reports containing these Anti-Semitic slants had the ability to sharpen the …show more content…
This was made possible due to the range in which the press was able to reach across Europe, due to the fact that anti-Semitic articles were written in a multitude of languages. Moreover, they were constructed in such a way that caught the attention of the public and made them follow with stories of anti-Semitism, such as the Dreyfus affair and the Hruza case. Such information resulted in riots and destruction of Jewish property, which illustrated the way in which Europeans reacted to anti-Semitism in ways that manifested themselves in periods of violent outbreaks. Furthermore, the spread of newspapers and the media were so great, the press was able to work as a means to validate the already historically present anti-Semitism found throughout Europe, and also act as a way to newly legitimize these beliefs, thanks to the factual elements that people believed the written word to carry, even though much of what was written was twisted by journalists and entire newspapers that boaSted anti-Semitic views. The press was used as a powerful tool for revitalizing and maintaining the Anti-Semitic movement, and made it particularly accepted and popular during the fin de