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The Florida Holocaust Museum: History, Heritage and Hope Permanent Exhibition

Early Oppression

Throughout history, the words Jew and Jewish have meant many things...religious group...racial group...nation...culture. The Jewish religion was the first to worship one supreme being, and prescribed a set of rules for daily life that was contradictory to commonly held beliefs. Most early acts of persecution were based on punishing observance of Jewish ritual (Antiochus IV imposed the death penalty on any Jew who observed the Sabbath). Because they rejected the messianic claims of Jesus, the Jews were discredited by the church and labeled the "killers of Christ" and agents of the Devil.

Despite the intolerance of the Catholic Church, Jews achieved a certain level of acceptance throughout most of Europe. Charlemagne sent a Jew as part of his delegation to Baghdad in 797 CE, and Jewish communities existed peacefully throughout the Holy Roman Empire. The first crusade to the Holy Land brought with it the end of peaceful coexistence as tens of thousands of Jews were slaughtered and entire communities were destroyed. The later crusades saw forced conversions, expulsions, and a growing belief that the Jews were to be kept outside of accepted society. As Jews kept more to themselves, it became easier to lay blame for the ills of society on them. Even the Black Death (the bubonic plague of the 14th century) was rumored to have been started by Jews who poisoned wells.

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6. Jewish Population in Europe, 1933 Jews have lived in Europe for more than two thousand years. The American Jewish Yearbook placed the total Jewish population of Europe at about 9.5 million in 1933. This number represented more than 60 percent of the world's Jewish population, which was estimated at 15.3 million. Most European Jews resided in eastern Europe, with about 5 1/2 million Jews living in Poland and the Soviet Union. Before the Nazi takeover of power in 1933, Europe had a dynamic and highly developed Jewish culture. In little more than a decade, most of Europe would be conquered, occupied, or annexed by Nazi Germany and most European Jews--two out of every three--would be dead. - Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

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