The New International Encyclopædia/Anti-Semitism

AN'TI-SEM'ITISM (anti + Semites, i.e., Jews). A movement based on race hatred of the Jew, due to social and economic causes, in Germany, Austria and France, and partly also to political causes in Russia. The movement has crystallized in some countries into an anti-Semitic political party. A political party organized in Berlin in 1870 sought to place Jews under political disabilities. The leaders of the party were Stöcker, court preacher of Prussia and a so-called Christian Socialist; Professor Treitsehke, of the University of Berlin, an historian and deputy in the Reichstag; and Dr. Dühring, author of treatises on history and philosophy. Throughout 1879 and 1880 these men, through the press, in speeches, and in various ways, deplored the presence in Germany of an active, wealthy, and powerful people, incapable of assimilation, who are opposed to Christian civilization in all its phases. The matter was brought to a vote in the Reichstag in 1880; but that body declared itself in favor of economic and religious liberty by a decisive vote. The Anti-Semitic Party became a strong one in the Reichstag, however, in the early nineties. In France the Anti-Semitic propaganda was begun by Edward Drumont, editor of La Libre Parole, about 1882, and was carried on until the movement reached a climax in the affaire Dreyfus. See Dreyfus.

Since its organization in Germany the Anti-Semitic Party has been organized in Russia, Austria, Greece, and Holland. As the Jews in Russia are to a great extent kept out of the ordinary trades, many of them have resorted to the business of money lending, and by means of mortgages placed to secure loans they have obtained control of small landed properties. This fact, coupled with religious prejudice, caused the Anti-Semitic movement in Russia, about twenty years ago, to assume a most violent form. Laws preventing them from entering professions and from living in places other than towns and hamlets were vigorously enforced. In some cities, where a majority of the people were Jews, they were expelled without warning. The fierce persecution to which the Jews have been subjected in Russia and Rumania has caused an emigration on a vast scale to the United States.