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How Modern Antisemitism started in Germany in 1879
Did Antisemitism Begin in 1879?
Introducing Wilhelm Marr, the father of Modern Anti-Semitism and a few other major anti-Semites: Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Theodor Fritsch, Arthur Dinter, Franz Schrönghamer-Heimdal and Adolf Wahrmund.
(Due to the size of this article, it will be published in two parts. This is Part I.)
Should I call them the “Club of Anti-Semites” before Hitler and the Nazis? The point is that there was a popular, widespread anti-Semitic culture permeating Germany almost 60 years before the Nazis even took power.
The notion supported by the prevalent public knowledge that the Nazis were this weird, unpredictable movement that took over in 1933 because of the Great Depression, only to be defeated in 1945 — this notion is wrong. The formidable anti-Semitism that Hitler propelled to the forefront of everyday German politics existed long before him and the NSDAP and was actively disseminated by members of what was known as the ‘Völkish’ Movement.
The reader can refer to my own article, “How the Swastika came to be used by the German Nationalist Movement” published last March…
