Facing History and Yourself

History Matters

“History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do. It could scarcely be otherwise, since it is to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our aspirations.”

-James Baldwin

“Although we today are not responsible for the injustices of the past; we are responsible for the way we remember the past and what we do with that past.”

-Elie Wiesel

What can we learn about tolerance from the history of a very particular hatred?

Hatreds Are Always Current Events; They Reflect the Fears and Anxieties of the Times.

For centuries, religion and later ethnicity justified the hatred of Jews. In the 1700s, when scientific thinking began to take hold in many societies, the myth that Jews belonged to a distinct and dangerous “race” suddenly gained favor. That myth gave individuals and governments a new rationale for discrimination and persecution. Now Jews were seen not as a religious or ethnic group but as a separate and dangerous “race”—a distinct group of human beings with inherited physical traits and moral qualities that set them apart from other “races.” By the late 1900s, racism was no longer in vogue. Now antisemites increasingly rationalized their prejudices by warning of the dangers of “Jewish nationalism.”

Discrimination Places “Them” Beyond “Our” Universe of Obligation.

Every nation has a universe of obligation—the individuals and groups for whose welfare the government is responsible, whose rights are respected, and in whose name justice is sought. Those that have been placed outside that universe of obligation cannot count on the government to speak or act on their behalf. In the 1800s, some Jews formed groups to protect themselves in an increasingly hostile world. In 1860, for example, a few French Jews created the Universal Israelite Alliance to aid their fellow Jews through education, publicity, and diplomacy. Their early successes led to the founding of similar organizations in Britain, Austria, Germany, and the United States. Those very successes, however, also inspired new myths of Jewish conspiracies and false charges of Jewish disloyalty.