It took me until I was twenty to come across anti-semitism - and I remember it well. I was at university and talking with some people in a pub. Someone came in and went to the bar - a perfectly normal looking scruffy student - and one of my companions said 'bloody Jew'. At first I didn't know what or who he was talking about. It just never occurred to me that after all that had happened in the mid 20th century anyone could possibly say such a thing. It seemed incredible to me.
The reason was, perhaps, a rather sheltered Catholic upbringing and schooling. Whatever its past sins, anti-semitism was not a modern Catholic fault as I never heard anyone speak about Jews or Jewishness other than as a descriptive. Someone might be a mass murderer and Jewish but the two were never conflated. There were plenty of other prejudices and opinions that I now find hard to remember without shame, but this was not one of them.
Below is an interesting article on anti-Judaism - a rather different thing.
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/123971/a-world-without-jews?all=1#
No comments
Post a Comment