Martin Luther, Von den Juden und ihren Lügen

Notice

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Description

During the last years of his life, Luther treated the Jews with enmity and hatred. His almost euphoric optimism of the rather successful 1520s had turned into deep-seated frustration. It had become increasingly difficult to advance the Reformation. Next to the pope, to the Ottomans whom he termed without difference as "Turks" and to radically reformed currents, Luther blamed above all the Jews for these difficulties. This sentiment is expressed most seriously in his work "Von den Juden und ihren Lügen" (On the Jews and their Lies), published by Luther in 1543. Luther uses a most aggressive tone. His hope to convert Jews to Christianity had vanished. He was rather convinced that the Jews misinterpreted the Bible with intent so that they could mislead Christians. In addition, they were in league with the devil for which reason they needed to be fought without mercy. They should be forbidden to exercise trade and money lending, their houses and synagogues ought to be burnt down. Since they were a danger for society, they should ultimately be expelled. Even though Luther's anti-Judaism cannot be equalled with the racist antisemitism of the twentieth century, it served as its model and justification. NS-propaganda used Luther's theses to legitimise the pogroms in a historical-theological light. NS-politicians considered the reformer as their forerunner. Datum: 2016