Antisemitism in Europe

Antisemitism has a long history in Europe. The worst manifestation of antisemitism in Europe's history is the Holocaust.

Before 20th century

Main articles: Jews § History, and Inquisition

20th Century

Main articles: Pogrom and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

The Holocaust

Main articles: The Holocaust, Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, and List of Nazi concentration camps

Further information: Mein Kampf, Nazism, Ion Antonescu, Iron Guard, Ante Pavelić, Ustaše, and Independent State of Croatia

The Holocaust was a genocide committed by Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 during World War II. It was known as the Final Solution. The Nazis' plan was to rid Europe of Jews. They succeeded in killing up to 67% of Jews – at least 6,000,000. The planning of the Holocaust was rooted in antisemitism.

21st century

In a 2013 survey of 5,847 Jews in Europe, 76% thought that antisemitism had increased in the previous five years, while 29% had thought about moving countries as they felt unsafe. In a 2023 survey done by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in Europe, it was found that as many as one-third of Western Europeans believed in stereotypes of Jews. This was reportedly worse in some eastern European countries, particularly Hungary (37%), Poland (35%) and Russia (26%). In Eastern Europe, the level of antisemitism is found to be high.

Ireland

Further information: Arthur Griffith, Inquisition, and Spanish Inquisition

The banner of the pro-Nazi antisemitic Irish Catholic Blueshirts.

Pro-Nazi antisemitic Irish Catholic Blueshirts marching down the street.

Ireland has been predominantly Catholic throughout history. Just as other Catholic countries, antisemitism is deep-rooted in Ireland. As per specialized historians, Irish Catholics played an active role in the Catholic Spanish Inquisition's persecution of Jews (1478–1834), killing as many as 300,000 Jews by false convictions of "crypto-Judaism", a charge slapped on Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity under Catholic Spanish rule.

David Collier, an Irish researcher in Middle East affairs, noted that antisemitism among contemporary Irish is derived from

• Religious antisemitism: Classic Christian belief that "Christians are the new Jews" as "the Jews killed Jesus"
• Political antisemitism:
  • Popularity of the Irish nationalist Sinn Féin party whose founders promoted conspiracy theories about Jews
  • Projection of anti-British sentiment onto Israel due to the belief that "Britain gave the Jews Israel" akin to the British settler colonialism in the history of Ireland.

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, pro-Nazi sentiment was widespread among the Irish due to antagonism towards the United Kingdom, which was fighting Nazi Germany. After Adolf Hitler's death on April 30, 1945, Éamon de Valera, the Prime Minister of Ireland, mourned the death of Hitler with backing from the Irish parliament. De Valera also denied reports of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as "anti-national propaganda", reportedly out of reluctance to acknowledge that the Jews could have suffered much more than the Irish.

In spring 2024, antisemitism in Ireland reportedly worsened with the Israel–Hamas war's escalation, where antisemites felt justified to harass Jews under the guise of supporting Palestine, and some Irish Jewish community leaders were doubtful if Ireland was still safe for the approximately 2,700 Jews – 0.054% of the 2023 Irish population – in Ireland. In November 2024, it was revealed that textbooks with the biased claims that

• the Jews "killed Jesus"
• Israel was "uniquely aggressive"
• the Auschwitz was a "prisoner of war camp" rather than an extermination camp
• Judaism "believed that violence and war are sometimes necessary"

were widespread in Irish schools and shaping children's mind. The findings were confirmed by the European Jewish Congress (EJC). Meanwhile, the Government of Ireland has not responded to the matter, nor has any outrage been seen from the Irish public.

Poland

See the main article: Racism in Poland § Jews

Romania

Main articles: Iași pogrom § Interwar period, and Odessa massacre (1941) § Interwar period

Further information: Iron Guard

Armenia

The flag of the pro-Nazi Armenian-Aryan Racialist Movement (AARM).

The logo of the Marxist-Leninist militant front Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA).

58% of the population of Armenia – a Caucasian country allied with Russia, China, Iran and Syria under Bashar al-Assad who killed over 400,000 Syrians – are found to be hostile to Jews, including 62% of those aged 18–34. The percentages are the highest in Eastern Europe, making Armenia apparently the most antisemitic Eastern European country. Garegin Nzhdeh (1886–1955), an Armenian nationalist who recruited thousands of Armenians to fight for Nazi Germany, is still popular among Armenians.

From the 1930s through the Holocaust, Armenian-American media, including but not limited to the Hairenik, fully backed Adolf Hitler and defended the Holocaust as a "necessary surgical operation" by demonizing Jews as "poisonous elements", while 20,000 Armenian Nazi volunteers hunted for Jews and other "undesirables" on behalf of the Nazi German Army.

Despite such history, hundreds of statues have been erected across Armenia in honor of Garegin Nzhdeh. Meanwhile, the only synagogue in Armenia's capital Yerevan was attacked four times in a row between 7 October 2023 and 11 June 2024. Members of the Marxist-Leninist militant front Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) claimed responsibility for the attacks, some of which involved the synagogue being set on fire.

Related pages

• Babi Yar
• Kristallnacht
• Croatian Wikipedia
• National Fascist Party
• Tomás de Torquemada
• Odessa massacre (1941)
• Jedwabne pogrom (1941)
• November 2024 Amsterdam attacks