tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-61757/articlesPittsburgh synagogue shooting – The Conversation2019-10-25T12:32:08Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1221162019-10-25T12:32:08Z2019-10-25T12:32:08ZWith anti-Semitism on the rise again, there are steps everyone can take to counter it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298604/original/file-20191024-170499-8jqpv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, watching the installation of a menorah outside Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Pittsburgh-Synagogue-Shooting-Hanukkah/530bf5e0095d4bd4ab5dd621ee7620b0/18/0">AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Keeping track of all the attacks against American Jews these days is just about impossible unless it’s your full-time job. Consider these incidents, some of many that occurred or came to light just during the month of August 2019: </p>
<ul>
<li>A <a href="https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/08/27/crown-heights-possible-hate-crime-stone-attack/">New York City rabbi was attacked with a paving stone</a>.</li>
<li>Footage surfaced of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/19/us/california-high-school-nazi-salute/index.html">California high-schoolers singing Nazi songs and giving Nazi salutes</a> a year earlier.</li>
<li>An Ohio man was arrested for allegedly making <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/ohio-white-nationalist-anti-semite-arrested-threatening-shoot/story?id=65040200">threats to the Youngstown, Ohio, Jewish Community Center</a>.</li>
<li>The Rockland County, New York, Republicans released an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/29/county-gop-ad-saying-jewish-candidate-is-plotting-takeover-is-slammed-anti-semitic/">anti-Semitic attack ad against a Jewish legislator</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://oneill.iupui.edu/contact/people-directory/daniel-jamie-levine%20.html">We</a> <a href="https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-public-affairs-and-community-service/public-administration/about-us/faculty-staff/jodi-benenson.php">are</a> <a href="https://evans.uw.edu/profile/fyall">professors</a> who teach public administration, a field that prepares students for government and nonprofit jobs. We have all worked in the public and nonprofit sectors, and we also are all Jewish.</p>
<p>We never hid our religious identity before, but we also did not highlight it in our classrooms – until now.</p>
<p>All of us believe we have a responsibility to train our students to work with diverse staff and serve diverse communities. After the mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018 - <a href="https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/shooting-at-a-pittsburgh-synagogue">the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history</a> - and <a href="https://theconversation.com/americas-dark-history-of-organized-anti-semitism-re-emerges-in-todays-far-right-groups-106292">other alarming acts</a>, we sought resources to help us address this tragedy. More broadly, we wanted to better equip our students to address anti-Semitism.</p>
<p>Since we could not find the specific books or scholarly articles in our field that we needed to teach our students to understand anti-Semitism, we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15236803.2019.1646581">wrote our own article</a> that appeared in the Journal of Public Affairs Education, an academic publication.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298387/original/file-20191023-119419-ojen1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298387/original/file-20191023-119419-ojen1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298387/original/file-20191023-119419-ojen1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298387/original/file-20191023-119419-ojen1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298387/original/file-20191023-119419-ojen1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298387/original/file-20191023-119419-ojen1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298387/original/file-20191023-119419-ojen1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298387/original/file-20191023-119419-ojen1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rabbi Joshua Bolton of the University of Pennsylvania’s Hillel center surveyed headstones at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia that were vandalized in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Shooting-Synagogue-Anti-Semitism/64f5f3aec8aa4cc394fb9a02d70f70d9/6/0">AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What it is</h2>
<p>Anti-Semitism, the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitism">prejudice against or hatred of Jews</a>, can take the form of physical attacks, the expression of <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/conspiracy-theories-the-jews/">negative stereotypes </a> or the promotion of hostility against Jewish people.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.adl.org/audit2018">most violent anti-Semitic acts</a>, which the federal government considers a growing <a href="https://www.hstoday.us/federal-pages/dhs/an-aware-society-is-best-way-to-prevent-terrorism-targeted-violence-says-new-dhs-strategy/">domestic terrorist threat</a>, tend to attract the most attention.</p>
<p>But anti-Semitic acts can also manifest as <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/2/16/8031073/what-are-microaggressions">microaggressions</a>, which the education and psychology scholar <a href="https://www.tc.columbia.edu/faculty/dw2020/">Derald Wing Sue</a> defines as “everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.”</p>
<p>These microaggressions are further compounded for <a href="http://aapf.org/kimberle-crenshaw">Jews with intersectional</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0364009419000461">identities</a> – that is, those who are also people of color, LGBTQ, immigrants or members of other minority communities.</p>
<p>Although less than <a href="https://ajpp.brandeis.edu/map">2% of U.S. adults are Jewish</a>, there continues to be evidence that <a href="https://www.ajc.org/AntisemitismSurvey2019?">anti-Semitism is on the rise</a>. Almost 90% of American Jews surveyed identified anti-Semitism as a problem, and 84% agreed that it has increased over the past five years - a perspective backed by <a href="https://www.adl.org/media/12857/download">data collected by Anti-Defamation League</a>, an international nonprofit that tracks and fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry.</p>
<p>“This hatred is real, comes from multiple sources, and is growing,” <a href="https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/unprecedented-ajc-survey-of-american-jews-reveals-deep-concern-about-rising-antisemitism-in-u-s/">David Harris</a>, who leads the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy organization, said. “It needs to be taken seriously and dealt with in a sustained, multipronged response.”</p>
<h2>The toll it takes</h2>
<p>As professors of public administration, we are particularly interested in the toll that anti-Semitism can take on the work government agencies and nonprofits do.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.jta.org/2016/09/09/united-states/6-revealing-stats-about-jewish-nonprofits-and-the-people-who-work-for-them">Jewish organizations</a> large and small are spending a growing amount of their time and money on security. <a href="https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/a-new-more-literal-meaning-for-securing-the-jewish-future/">Synagogues and community centers</a> are hiring armed guards and training volunteers and members of their congregations and organizations to become more vigilant.</p>
<p>Anti-Semitism can also interfere with the provision of government and nonprofit services. </p>
<p>In September, the sociology department at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/09/27/after-racist-emails-wake-forest-university-keeps-armed-guards-outside-some-classrooms/">canceled classes</a> for a week after a <a href="http://wakeforestreview.com/emails-sent-calling-for-the-purge-of-minorities-and-lgbt-community-to-wake-forest-faculty/">dozen members of the faculty</a> received offensive, anonymous emails with anti-Semitic sentiments.</p>
<p>Microaggressions can be disruptive, too. For example, Jews are forced to either forgo the observance of <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-high-holidays/">important Jewish holidays</a>, such as Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, or skip key events when they are only offered on those days.</p>
<p>We believe that these scheduling conflicts, even when they are unintentional, convey the implicit message to Jews we are not truly part of our workplaces and communities.</p>
<p>Even when there are no schedule conflicts, many Jewish employees have to use <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/wysk/workplace_religious_accommodation.cfm">vacation days or unpaid time off</a> to observe holidays, especially when they fall on weekdays. <a href="https://brilliantmaps.com/u-s-counties-where-schools-close-for-jewish-holidays/">Jewish students</a> in most U.S. counties risk having their absences being treated as unexcused when they go to services instead of school or travel to observe religious holidays with their extended families. </p>
<p>A recent Twitter thread initiated by <a href="https://twitter.com/RebbeSMZ/status/1177237348582449156">Rabbi Sara Zober</a> highlights the struggles faced not just by American Jews but also by members of other religious minorities in systems that are set up to support Christian religious observance. To kick things off, she tweeted: “My middle schooler was marked "unexcused - domestic” for Rosh Hashanah, despite me letting them know two weeks early. That’s the same designation as if I kept him home from school waiting for a FedEx package.“ </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1177341078497832965"}"></div></p>
<p>We do, however, see some steps in the right direction. A new <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-06-03/new-washington-law-religious-accommodations-could-serve-model-other-states">Washington State law</a>, for example, requires colleges and universities to "reasonably accommodate” any student when observing a religious holiday coincides with their academic obligations. </p>
<p>But some of the nonviolent anti-Semitic acts we find the most troubling are perpetrated by government leaders. Recently, <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/trenton-mayor-says-council-members-quietly-apologized-for-anti-semitic-remark/">two Trenton, New Jersey city council members</a> used variations of the <a href="https://www.jta.org/2019/09/25/culture/what-does-jew-down-mean-and-why-do-people-find-it-offensive">offensive slur</a> “Jew them down.”</p>
<p>Demeaning language like that signals to Jewish constituents that they are not equal members of the community. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298568/original/file-20191024-170467-mnfqsv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298568/original/file-20191024-170467-mnfqsv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298568/original/file-20191024-170467-mnfqsv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298568/original/file-20191024-170467-mnfqsv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298568/original/file-20191024-170467-mnfqsv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298568/original/file-20191024-170467-mnfqsv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298568/original/file-20191024-170467-mnfqsv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298568/original/file-20191024-170467-mnfqsv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students from the Yeshiva School in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh during a funeral for one of the people slain during the Tree of Life mass shooting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Shooting-Synagogue/2a0c0a59dd294205b6dfefbd229cf60b/13/0">AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What you can do</h2>
<p>As we work to train government and nonprofit leaders to address issues like anti-Semitism, we also have identified four simple steps that anyone can take to counter it.</p>
<p>First, before you schedule events, you can check your calendars for the <a href="https://cdn.fedweb.org/fed-31/2/Five%2520Year%2520Jewish%2520Holiday%2520Calendar%25202018-23.pdf">Jewish holidays</a>. This is especially relevant in September and October, and in <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/8/5/18001996/when-is-passover-and-how-long-does-it-last">the springtime</a>. These practices should also encompass holidays other religious minorities celebrate, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-ramadan-means-to-muslims-4-essential-reads-116629">Ramadan for Muslims</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/15451833">Diwali for Hindus</a>. </p>
<p>Second, do not presume that the Jewish person, or anyone else belonging to a minority group, in your workplace will speak up to stave off a schedule conflict related to their holidays. Being a good ally means not placing the burden on them to constantly raise the issue.</p>
<p>Third, when an anti-Semitic incident makes headlines, reach out to your Jewish co-workers, and other people in your circles. Let them know you see them, acknowledge their pain and are thinking of them.</p>
<p>Finally, try to engage in efforts to combat anti-Semitism in your community. This could mean getting involved with your local chapter of the <a href="https://www.adl.org/">Anti-Defamation League</a> or similar groups. It can also entail participating in interfaith alliances, such as the <a href="https://www.muslimjewishadvocacy.org/">Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council </a>.</p>
<p>The feedback we have gotten in response to our academic article suggests that it’s already helping public and nonprofit leaders learn to talk about anti-Semitism in particular, and <a href="https://www.communityinclusion.org/article.php?article_id=213%C2%A0">inclusion and social equity</a> issues in general. However, we believe that everyone has a responsibility to do something about this problem.</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122116/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jodi Benenson is affiliated with the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), as well as the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) and New Leaders Council (NLC) Omaha.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Levine Daniel and Rachel Fyall do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On top of the rising number of violent acts and vandalism incidents, American Jews are dealing with microagressions and prejudice that take a toll on their lives.Jamie Levine Daniel, Assistant Professor, Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, IUPUIJodi Benenson, Assistant Professor, School of Public Administration, University of Nebraska OmahaRachel Fyall, Assistant Professor of Public Policy & Governance, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1064512018-11-14T19:04:57Z2018-11-14T19:04:57ZHow anti-Semitic stereotypes from a century ago echo today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244970/original/file-20181112-116832-1ewa0y5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two women hug before placing flowers at the Star of David memorial in front of the Tree of Life Synagogue, two days after a mass shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jared Wickerham/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few weeks ago, my parents woke up to find a large, orange swastika daubed in paint on a wooden plank outside their house in Sydney. We have a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezuzah">mezuzah</a> attached to our front doorpost, so the “dauber” knew we were a Jewish household. At the time, my parents were angry and sad more than frightened.</p>
<p>My family’s experience cannot compare with the hate that burst forth in Pittsburgh several weeks ago, when 11 congregants at the Tree of Life Synagogue were murdered simply because they were Jewish people attending prayer. But we are living in a period of increasing hatred directed at minorities of all kinds, and anti-Semitism is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/more-prejudice-in-general-creeping-anti-semitism-stalks-europe-20180907-p502d2.html">on the rise</a> across the globe.</p>
<p>The Pittsburgh synagogue gunman, Robert Bowers, raged in online platforms that Jews <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46022930">were “invaders” trying to destabilise</a> the United States. They were, he said, “an infestation” and “evil”. Bowers’ rants cast Jews in the role of dangerous revolutionaries out to destroy Western civilisation. This has long been a staple perspective of anti-Semitism.</p>
<p>In my research, I have been studying the anti-Semitic images that were commonplace in Vienna early last century. These stereotyped images served to vilify Jewish people, culminating in the removal of most of the Jews from Vienna in 1938.</p>
<p>I believe it is important that we reflect on these upsetting images to consider how the “mainstreaming” of anti-Semitic ideas and images in popular media can have terrible consequences.</p>
<h2>Caricatures in the fin-de-siècle Viennese press</h2>
<p>At the turn of the century, the Austrian capital was home to the third-largest Jewish population in Europe after Warsaw and Budapest. Accounting for almost 9% of Vienna’s population, Jews were a highly visible minority. They were also a constant source of conversation and fear within Vienna’s political and civic arenas.</p>
<p>Anti-Semitic caricatures and literary sketches in the Viennese press ran rife from the end of the 19th century until the German annexation of Austria in March 1938. </p>
<p>The cartoons presented a variety of messages that characterised Jews in a number of negative roles: as the binary opposite to Aryan morality and virtuousness, as money-grubbing parvenus, or as attempting to take over large parts of the city. What all these stereotypes had in common was their characterisation of Jewish people as an Other who did not belong within European society.</p>
<p>One caricature from the widely read Viennese biweekly satirical magazine Kikeriki, published in 1900, comments on the presence of Jews at elite social events. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244212/original/file-20181106-74775-pr7cmm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244212/original/file-20181106-74775-pr7cmm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244212/original/file-20181106-74775-pr7cmm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244212/original/file-20181106-74775-pr7cmm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244212/original/file-20181106-74775-pr7cmm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244212/original/file-20181106-74775-pr7cmm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244212/original/file-20181106-74775-pr7cmm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244212/original/file-20181106-74775-pr7cmm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Caricature from the satirical magazine Kikeriki.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It depicts Jewish men and women ridiculed for their supposed racial characteristics (a view strongly influenced by the popularity of eugenics and Social Darwinism during this period) and, by satirising the popular dance styles at elite city balls, implies that Jews dominated Viennese elite circles. The image’s caption makes no overt references to Jews, but the visual stereotypes would have made it very clear to the readers what this image was about.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244213/original/file-20181106-74769-16i327d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244213/original/file-20181106-74769-16i327d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244213/original/file-20181106-74769-16i327d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244213/original/file-20181106-74769-16i327d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244213/original/file-20181106-74769-16i327d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244213/original/file-20181106-74769-16i327d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1104&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244213/original/file-20181106-74769-16i327d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1104&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244213/original/file-20181106-74769-16i327d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1104&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1900 cartoon in Figaro.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another cartoon from 1890 in Figaro (not to be confused with the popular French daily Le Figaro) depicts two men meeting on a crowded Viennese street. One of the men, a visitor, asks a local if he would be so kind as to point out the <em>Judengasse</em> [Jews’ Street]. The latter replies, “Perhaps you can tell me where is it not.”</p>
<p>The scene behind these two gentlemen is filled with characters drawn with common Jewish bodily stereotypes: large hooked noses, dark curly hair and thick lips. </p>
<p>Although at this time most Jews living in Vienna spoke German and were adherents to secular German culture, the figure of the <em>Ostjude</em> (Eastern Jew) was a typical feature of these cartoons. Anti-Semitic cartoonists, newspaper editors and politicians harnessed a fear connected to an increased Jewish migration from Austria’s eastern crownlands and the pogroms of the Russian Empire. </p>
<p>Despite the fact that Yiddish-speaking, Orthodox, traditionally attired Jews never accounted for the majority of Vienna’s Jewish population, cartoons often depicted them as descending en masse into an unsuspecting “German” city.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244217/original/file-20181106-74760-hene9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244217/original/file-20181106-74760-hene9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244217/original/file-20181106-74760-hene9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244217/original/file-20181106-74760-hene9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244217/original/file-20181106-74760-hene9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244217/original/file-20181106-74760-hene9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244217/original/file-20181106-74760-hene9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244217/original/file-20181106-74760-hene9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cartoons often depicted Jewish people descending ‘en masse’ on a city.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other cartoons bemoaning Vienna’s “Jewification” gave way to those speculating on the revenge that would be meted out to the Jews; not necessarily violence and murder, but other forms such as banishment from the city and its social and political arenas. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244216/original/file-20181106-74772-1hl9jcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244216/original/file-20181106-74772-1hl9jcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244216/original/file-20181106-74772-1hl9jcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244216/original/file-20181106-74772-1hl9jcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244216/original/file-20181106-74772-1hl9jcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244216/original/file-20181106-74772-1hl9jcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1205&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244216/original/file-20181106-74772-1hl9jcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1205&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244216/original/file-20181106-74772-1hl9jcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1205&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A revenge fantasy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Jewification’ and revenge today</h2>
<p>The effects of this tradition of anti-Semitic representation are clear. It took very little for average men and women to turn on their Jewish neighbours and colleagues after the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Anschluss">German Anschluss</a> in March 1938.</p>
<p>Many Viennese Jews were lucky to escape. Some, just under 2,000, found a haven in Australia. They have since, like many other refugees and migrants, contributed to the economic, cultural and political development of Australian culture in the post-WWII period.</p>
<p>Yet the themes of “Jewification” and revenge expressed in these cartoons are, sadly, still relevant today.</p>
<p>In his online rants, for instance, Bowers had <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46022930">condemned the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society</a> (HIAS) – a Jewish refugee advocacy and support group founded in New York in 1881 – for “bringing in invaders”.</p>
<p>The Hungarian-born Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros, meanwhile, has been the target of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/24/george-soros-antisemitism-bomb-attacks">anti-Semitic demonisation</a>. And in Charlottesville last year, hundreds of mostly young white men marched with torches chanting the Nazi slogan “Blood and Soil” and “Jews will not replace us”. </p>
<p>How we speak about and depict others in the media and social discourse perpetuates long-held stereotypes and ultimately emboldens hate-filled individuals. It is for this reason that we should look to the past – and learn from it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106451/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan C. Kaplan's research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.</span></em></p>With anti-semitism on the rise around the world, it is timely to consider how images and media discourses can embolden hate crimes.Jonathan C. Kaplan, Doctoral candidate, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.