When Nationalism Began to Hate

Download or read book When Nationalism Began to Hate written by Brian A. Porter and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pp. 37-42, 161-167, 176-182, and 227-326 deal with Jews. Argues that Polish nationalism did not inevitably lead to antisemitism. Romantic nationalism ca. 1830-63 was inclusive, displaying openness toward Jews. After the uprising of 1863, when antisemitism was temporarily silenced, positivism was influential among the Polish intelligentsia. This movement has been considered philosemitic, tending toward liberalism and allowing for Jews to be assimilated, i.e. "civilized" by the development of history. In the 1880s Jan Jelenski was the first Pole to refer to himself as an antisemite, but he was isolated among the intelligentsia. His ideas then became influential as antisemitism increased in all spheres and forms. The National Democrats lost hope in history, seeing the world as an arena of the struggle for survival. They considered the Jews unassimilable and dangerous parasites who had to be conquered or exterminated.