The Jewish Question

The phrase the “Jewish Question” emerged in the late 18th century in the context of the Enlightenment and the gradual process of Jewish emancipation in Europe, and referred broadly to whether and to what extent Jews should be allowed—or expected—to integrate into the societies in which they lived and whether they should be granted civil equality. The “Jewish Question” was as much about the transformation of European society moving away from feudalism toward concepts of individual equality and national unity as it was about Jews. Jewish communities had historically had communal autonomy over education, legal disputes, or marriage and divorce, e.g. owing to particular observances governed by Jewish religious law and specificities of Jewish life that differed from the habits of their largely Christian neighbors in Europe. This autonomy and perceived difference appeared difficult to reconcile with modern concepts of equality and citizenship, fueling pressure for Jews to abandon their customs and traditions and assimilate into European society. From the late 19th century, the influence of new pseudo-scientific ideas such as Social Darwinism and eugenics led to reframe the “Jewish Question” through the lens of racial antisemitism. Antisemitic sentiment was often exploited for political gain. In Germany, the ultranationalist antisemitic Nazi Party made solving the “Jewish Question” a central priority from its inception in 1919. Once in power, the Nazi Party put in place aggressive anti-Jewish policies, the severity of which escalated significantly with the outbreak of World War II. In 1941, Nazi Germany began to implement a plan for the systematic mass murder of Europe’s Jewish population; calling it the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” It resulted in the murder of c. 6 million European Jews.