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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antisemitism by country | 10/15 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_by_country | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T15:35:42.435843+00:00 | kb-cron |
From the early Middle Ages to the 18th century, the Jews in Germany were subject to many persecutions as well as brief times of tolerance. Though the 19th century began with a series of riots and pogroms against the Jews, emancipation followed in 1848, so that, by the early 20th century, the Jews of Germany were the most integrated in Europe. The situation changed in the early 1930s with the rise of the Nazis and their explicitly antisemitic program. Hate speech which referred to Jewish citizens as "dirty Jews" became common in antisemitic pamphlets and newspapers such as the Völkischer Beobachter and Der Stürmer. Additionally, blame was laid on German Jews for having caused Germany's defeat in World War I (see Dolchstosslegende). Anti-Jewish propaganda expanded rapidly. Nazi cartoons depicting "dirty Jews" frequently portrayed a dirty, physically unattractive and badly dressed "talmudic" Jew in traditional religious garments similar to those worn by Hasidic Jews. Articles attacking Jewish Germans, while concentrating on commercial and political activities of prominent Jewish individuals, also frequently attacked them based on religious dogmas, such as blood libel. The Nazi antisemitic program quickly expanded beyond mere speech. Starting in 1933, repressive laws were passed against Jews, culminating in the Nuremberg Laws which removed most of the rights of citizenship from Jews, using a racial definition based on descent, rather than any religious definition of who was a Jew. Sporadic violence against the Jews became widespread with the Kristallnacht riots, which targeted Jewish homes, businesses and places of worship, killing hundreds across Germany and Austria. The antisemitic agenda culminated in the genocide of the Jews of Europe, known as the Holocaust.
=== Hungary ===
In June 1944, Hungarian police deported nearly 440,000 Jews in more than 145 trains, mostly to Auschwitz. Ultimately, over 400,000 Jews in Hungary were killed during the Holocaust. Although Jews were on both sides of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, there was a perceptible antisemitic backlash against Jewish members of the former government led by Mátyás Rákosi. Today, hatred towards Judaism and Israel can be observed from many prominent Hungarian politicians. The most famous example is the MIÉP party and its chairman, István Csurka. Antisemitism in Hungary was manifested mainly in far right publications and demonstrations. MIÉP supporters continued their tradition of shouting antisemitic slogans and tearing the US flag to shreds at their annual rallies in Budapest in March 2003 and 2004, commemorating the 1848–49 revolution. Further, during the anniversary demonstrations of both right and left marking the 1956 uprising, antisemitic and anti-Israel slogans were heard from the right, such as accusing Israel of war crimes. The center-right traditionally keeps its distance from the right-wing demonstration, which was led by Csurka.
=== Norway ===
Jews were prohibited from living or entering Norway by paragraph 2 (known as the Jewish Paragraph in Norway) of the 1814 Constitution, which originally read, "The evangelical-Lutheran religion remains the public religion of the State. Those inhabitants, who confess thereto, are bound to raise their children to the same. Jesuits and monkish orders are not permitted. Jews are still prohibited from entry to the Realm." In 1851 the last sentence was struck out. Monks were permitted in 1897; Jesuits not before 1956. The "Jewish Paragraph" was reinstated March 13, 1942, by Vidkun Quisling during Germany's occupation of Norway. The change was reversed when Norway was liberated in May 1945. Quisling was after the following legal purge deemed guilty of unlawful change of the Constitution.
=== Lithuania ===
The Jewish community in Lithuania numbers between 5,000 and 6,000 members (in 2026), according to Faina Kukliansky, president of the Jewish Community of Lithuania. In November 2024, more than 5,000 people protested in Vilnius against the Social Democrats forming a coalition with the Nemunas Dawn party, whose leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis was on trial for antisemitic statements. In December 2025, Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the Dawn of Nemunas party (a junior partner in the governing coalition), was convicted by the Vilnius Regional Court of inciting hatred against Jews and grossly minimizing the Holocaust in 2023 social media posts, receiving a €5,000 fine. In January 2026, the Lithuanian government approved an action plan to combat antisemitism, xenophobia, and incitement to discord, with measures for prevention, response to hate speech and crimes, equality promotion, and support for Jewish life.
=== Poland ===
In 1264, Duke Boleslaus the Pious from Greater Poland legislated a Statute of Kalisz, a charter for Jewish residence and protection, which encouraged money-lending, hoping that Jewish settlement would contribute to the development of the Polish economy. By the 16th century, Poland had become the center of European Jewry and the most tolerant of European countries regarding faith, though occasionally it witnessed violent antisemitic incidents. At the onset of the 17th century, tolerance began to give way to increased antisemitism. Elected to the Polish throne King Sigismund III of the Swedish House of Vasa, a supporter of the Counter-Reformation, began to undermine the principles of the Warsaw Confederation and the religious tolerance in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, revoking and limiting privileges of all non-Catholic faiths. In 1628 he banned publication of Hebrew books, including the Talmud. 20th century historian Simon Dubnow detailed: