[CobaltBlue]

European anti-Semitism had/has numerous roots. Religious hatred of Jews as "Christ-killers" is one of them and cannot be denied or swept under the rug. It is an historical fact that many churches condemned all Jews for the death of Christ, especially in the Middle Ages.

Then there was racist hatred of Jews as being an "inferior race," as opposed to Aryans, supposedly the "master race," and other European races were also considered to be inferior to the Aryans. In this imaginary scheme, blacks were even more inferior, sub-human, and most Asians little better, except for the Japanese, who were "almost white."

Then there was class hatred of Jews for supposedly controlling all the money, and ideological hatred of Jews for supposedly being behind the Communist movement.

It seems to me that all these hatreds devolve backwards to religious anti-Semitism, but it may not matter. There were many alleged "reasons" for hating Jews, long before the Nazis came into power. Hitler's hatred of Jews was more virulent, more insane, but he could not have gotten the rest of Europe to cooperate in the Holocaust unless they, too, hated Jews.

Thus, in nations where anti-Semitism was not as pronounced as in Germany, such as Italy and the Netherlands, the population was willing to hide Jews and help them escape. In nations where anti-Semitism was even more pronounced than in Germany, such as Ukraine and Yugoslavia, the population willingly cooperated and even innovated.

[nickcarraway]

Then there was class hatred of Jews for supposedly controlling all the money, and ideological hatred of Jews for supposedly being behind the Communist movement.

Communism was anti-Jewish from the start. Remember Karl Marx talking about ``Money being the jealous god of Israel.'' Hitler's anti-Judaism was stoked by left-wing sources.

Many of those intellectuals of the 19th century regarded Christianity as a ``Jewish religion'' imposed on Europe. Some of the militia group movements today have picked up on that idea, and are anti-Christian.

[nickcarraway]

The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust by Martin Gilbert

Drawing from twenty-five years of original research, Sir Martin Gilbert re-creates the remarkable stories of non-Jews who risked their lives to help Jews during the Holocaust

According to Jewish tradition, "Whoever saves one life, it is as if he saved the entire world." Non-Jews who helped save Jewish lives during World War II are designated Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust archive in Jerusalem. In The Righteous, distinguished historian Sir Martin Gilbert, through extensive interviews, explores the courage of those who-throughout Germany and in every occupied country from Norway to Greece, from the Atlantic to the Baltic-took incredible risks to help Jews whose fate would have been sealed without them. Indeed, many lost their lives for their efforts.

Those who hid Jews included priests, nurses, teachers, neighbors and friends, employees and colleagues, soldiers and diplomats, and, above all, ordinary citizens. From Greek Orthodox Princess Alice of Greece, who hid Jews in her home in Athens, to the Ukrainian Uniate Archbishop of Lvov, who hid hundreds of Jews in his churches and monasteries, to Muslims in Bosnia and Albania, many risked, and lost, everything to help their fellow man.