The Thoughts of Wesley son of Cornelius

We now jump through time quickly. Large nations have broken into smaller ones, communication with areas like China and Russia have been open, now the once called East is now the Middle East, and the United States has spread from sea to shining sea. We now stop around 1914. The world is tense. Alliances of unusual kind have been made. Many thoughts and plans are hidden. In June of that year one man assassinates the heir to the Austrian throne. Quickly the world is ushered into The Great War (now called World War I). Strangely, the country that reflected the Old West—Germany—allies with the country that reflected the Old East—the Ottoman Empire. In 1918 the war would come to an end, and Germany would be beaten, tired, and in disarray and the Ottoman Empire would be no more. The Ottoman Empire would be divided five ways: Turkey would claim its independence, Lebanon and Syria would be under the mandate of France, and Iraq and Palestine would be under the mandate of Great Britain.

France would establish Lebanon and Syria, and Britain would establish Iraq. Palestine was a different story. The British had guaranteed the establishment of a national Jewish home and the safeguard of current Palestinian inhabitants. Due to the Zionist movement, (the Jewish belief that the Jews need a homeland) many Jews moved to the British Mandate of Palestine. The immigration increased rapidly with the increase of anti-Semitism in the desolate country of Germany.

Germany was in chaos. The Great Depression starting in 1929 was another blow to the region. What would fill the void? One man and his ideology: Adolf Hitler and Nazism. Hitler would spark the nationalism that was lacking by teaching the superiority of the Aryan race. The other people groups would be spotted out. The Jews would be the largest group not tolerated and eventually persecuted. I note five reasons the Jews were persecuted the most of any minority by the Nazis.

1) The Jews were strong nationalists, not necessarily German nationalists, however. The Nazis accused the Jews of stabbing the country in the back during World War I. Ironically, many Jews joined the Germany army during WWI.

2) While Germany plunged into economic disaster, the Jews remained financially secure due to the fact most of the Jews were bankers (see possibly why in earlier post). The Nazis accused the Jews of keeping the interest rates on loans high.

3) The Jews were not apart of the Aryan race. The teachings of social Darwinism were well rooted in the philosophy of that time.

4) The Europeans had a history of anti-Semitism. This belief was spread initially by the corrupt Church. The belief that the Jews killed Christ was a thought that never completely went away with the passing of time.

5) The largest population of Jews in Europe was in Poland (see previous post as well). Poland would be invaded by Germany in 1939 …

the beginning of World War II.