The And Collective Anti Semitic Violence - 1679 Words

Collective acts of violence during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century became more prominent and apparent since the Civilizing Process meant that violence was no longer an inherent part of everyday life. Ideology, namely, ‘a historically rooted, descriptive and normative mental map of both the way the world works and the way the world should work’ , played a prominent role in influencing collective violence. This essay will focus primarily on pogroms and collective anti-Semitic violence in order to gain a more in depth understanding of collective violence. Anti-Semitism works particularly well to understand collective violence since it occurred throughout Europe, without being specific to one particular country or†¦show more content†¦One of the main reasons for anti-Semitic collective violence was the fear of the outsider. Jews as the minority group were often seen as a threat to nationality, and attacking them became a symbolic way of stre ngthening patriotism during times of political upheaval. In Eastern Europe, the onset of the Russian Revolution meant that anything that was deemed un-Russian was perceived as a threat. When examining the 1905 pogrom in Odessa it becomes clear that the political developments during 1905 created a polarization of political opinions . The course of actions leading to the pogrom, with riots and demonstrations either for or against the Tsarist regime created tension, eventually leading to the pogrom. Jewish resentment began with the belief that they were not contributing to the Russo-Japanese war, and was strengthened by blaming Jews for being responsible for the cities’ disorders. It is clear that political unrest felt before the Russian Revolution worked as a trigger for attacking a group that was ideologically deemed an outsider and a threat. The Lwà ³w pogrom of 1918 similarly had elements of political polarity that acted as an immediate cause of the pogrom . With the end of the First World War, the communist revolution and the battle for independence between the Ukrainians and the Poles, all cultural and ethnic outsiders immediately became perceived as enemies . Jewish neutrality