Anti-Semitism, hostility to the Jews (Semites), has long been actively exhibited in severities and attacks of various kinds. A movement of the late 19th century manifested in various countries, especially Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Romania, and France. It may have been attributed to different motives in different countries, but on the whole owed its origin less to the fact of the Jews being a 'peculiar people' by race and religion, than to the comparatively high position won by them in the financial and political worlds.
In Western Russia there was a great outburst against the Jews in 1881, in which men, women, and children were slaughtered. The Russian government, by its anti-Jewish policy, may be said to have sanctioned this murderous outbreak, which was followed by harsh laws and actual persecutions, though afterwards there was a mitigation of the severity shown towards the Jews. Yet in 1903 the world was startled by a terrible massacre of Jews at Kishinef, in Bessarabia, connived at by the authorities on the spot; and towards the end of 1905, in connection with the Russian revolutionary movement, there were dreadful massacres of Jews in Odessa, Kishinef, and other towns, the authorities being similarly involved. In Russia, hatred of the Jews was party due to the position they occupied throughout the country as money-lenders.
In Rumania their position resembled what it was elsewhere in mediaeval times, and was less favourable than it was even under the Turks. In Germany, even before Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party the movement was worked chiefly by politicians for their own ends, though the racial and religious question also had some influence; and among the ignorant the .belief that the Jews murder Christian children for ritual purposes was revived, as also in Austria-Hungary. In Austria-Hungary the movement was partly political, partly social and economic, partly religious.
In France anti-Semitism was employed chiefly as a weapon by monarchists and clericals as against republicanism, and by the socialists as against capitalism, racial antipathy having also its influence in the movements. In Britain, anti-Semitism was much less severe, owing to there having been a very large influx of Jews from the Continent, forming part of Britian's immigration policy.
Anti-Semitism hit a climax in the 1930's with Adolf Hitler and the German Nazi Party with the wholesale slaughter of Jews throughout Europe, which provided an excuse for other world powers to oppose Germany's expansion through war - though economic reasons seem much more likely - and culminated in the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, subsequently named Israel, following the end of the Second World War. Research Anti-Semitism
The Gestapo (German: Geheime Staatspolizei, secret state police) were the Nazi secret police formed in 1933 under Hermann Goering. They were administered from 1936 by the SS and were infamous for their brutal methods. Research Gestapo
The Sicherheitsdienst or SD was an intelligence and security force formed in 1931 to protect and serve the German Nazi party. The Sicherheitsdienst carried out many tasks including intelligence gathering and subversion and assassination. Research Sicherheitsdienst
Albert Einstein was a German Swiss mathematical physicist. He was born in 1879, and died 1955. His first job was in a patent office in Berne, where, finding the work undemanding, he turned his attention to problems in theoretical physics and in 1905 successfully used the quantum theory to explain the photoelectric effect, for which he received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. In 1905 he also published a paper on molecular motion, and a paper in which he put forward the special theory of relativity, describing the effects of motion on observed values of length, mass, and time. One consequence of his theory is that mass, m, is equivalent to energy, E, a concept expressed by the equation E = mc2, where c is the speed of light. This equation is the basis of all calculations of the energy released by nuclear reactions. He extended his ideas in the general theory of relativity which was published in 1915, and which is concerned with gravitation and the effects of accelerated motion.
The first independent verification of general relativity was obtained in 1919 when the bending of light was observed during an eclipse. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. However, he was unable to accept as final the probabilistic description of physics which quantum theory involved. In 1913 he returned to his native Germany to take up a professorship at the University of Berlin, but as a Jew he experienced Nazi persecution, and in 1932 was forced to leave the country. After a brief stay in Britain he settled in the USA, and eventually became an American citizen. Research Albert Einstein
Anne Frank was a German-Jewish girl who wrote a vivid and tender diary while hiding from the Nazis during the Second World War. She was born in Frankfurt in 1929 and died in Belsen concentration camp in 1945. She and her family moved to the Netherlands in 1933 after the Nazis began to persecute Jews. In 1942, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, the family hid in a secret annexe behind the Amsterdam office of her father's business. Two years later, the family was betrayed to the Nazis and arrested. Research Anne Frank
Emil Hacha was a Czechoslovakian lawyer and politician. He was born in 1872 and died in 1945. Following the annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938 by NaziGermany, Emil Hacha became President with the resignation of the current President, and in 1939 signed over the state to Hitler. He became president of the German protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Following the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945 he was arrested, and died in prison. Research Emil Hacha
George VI was king of Great Britain and Ireland from 1936 until his death in 1952. George VI was a conscientious and dedicated man, who worked hard to adapt to the royal role into which he was suddenly thrown by the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII. The King paid a State Visit to France in 1938, and to Canada and the United States in 1939, being the first British monarch to enter the USA. His dedication to duty, particularly during the Second World War, when he remained for most of the time at Buckingham Palace, and when he and his wife visited severely bombed areas in the East End of London and elsewhere in the country, gained him great popularity. The King developed a close working relationship with his wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, as most of Europe fell to NaziGermany. Recognising the total nature of modern warfare, in 1940 the King instituted the George Cross and George Medal, to be awarded for acts of bravery by citizens.
Having served in the Navy during the Great War, including at the Battle of Jutland, the King was anxious to visit his troops whenever possible. He went to France in 1939 to inspect the British Expeditionary Force, and to North Africa in 1943 after the victory of El Alamein. In June 1944, the King visited his Army on the Normandybeaches ten days after D-Day, and later that year he visited troops in Italy and the Low Countries. In 1947, the King undertook a major tour of South Africa, accompanied by the Queen and their daughters, PrincessElizabeth and PrincessMargaret - the first time a sovereign had undertaken a tour with his family. When India and Pakistan became independent in 1947, George ceased to be Emperor of India. Changes in the Commonwealth meant that its tie was no longer based on common allegiance to the Crown, but upon recognition of the Sovereign as Head of the Commonwealth. Research George VI
Haakon VII was King of Norway from 1905 to 1957. He was born in 1872 and died in 1957. He was the second son of King Frederick VIII of Denmark, his elder brother being King of Denmark. King of Norway during the Second World War, he fled to England with the British forces when they evacuated in June 1940, and from exile he led the resistance against the Nazi occupiers. Research Haakon VII
Hans van Meegeren, also known as Henricus van Meergern was a Dutch art forger. He was born in 1889 and died in 1947. He mainly forged Vermeer's paintings. His 'Vermeer' Christ at Emmaus was bought for Rotterdam's Boymans Museum 1937. He was discovered when a 'Vermeer' sold to the Nazi leader Hermann Goering was traced back to him after the Second World War, but even then the police didn't believe it to be a fake, believing instead he had collaborated with the Nazis. To convince them of his abilities as a forger van Meegeren painted another forgery under their supervision. Finally receiving the fame he lusted after, he was sentenced to a year's imprisonment, he died two months later. Research Hans van Meegeren
Heinrich Himmler was a German Nazi leader. He was born in 1900 at Munich and died in 1945. After joining the Nazi party in 1925 he was appointed head of the SS which he developed from Hitler's personal bodyguard into a powerful party weapon. He was the founder and head of the Gestapo, and instigated the systematic liquidation of racial groups, being responsible for the deaths of more than seven million people. Research Heinrich Himmler
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
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Abbreviations
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