The Crucifixion of Jesus and the Holocaust

The Crucifixion of Jesus and the Holocaust

For many centuries, Christian churches depicted Jews as undesirables and as those to be collectively blamed for the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. Such was the animosity created by centuries of taught hatred that Jews were always seen as inferior beings not to be trusted. Across the Christian world, the strength of such belief led to persecution, torture and expulsion.

In 1492, the year when the crowns of Castile and Aragon became one with Fernando of Aragon and Isabel of Castile, both Jews and Muslims were persecuted, killed, forced to convert to Christianity or forced to leave continental Spain. There are several recorded events throughout history and the Crucifixion of Jesus is very much one of the core beliefs that justified persecution.

What happened in Germany, Austria, Poland and Russia, among other countries, in the 1930s and 1940s came to be because of what happened more than 2,000 years ago. It can be said that has come to be known as the Holocaust is very much a direct consequence of centuries of hatred directly linked to the execution of Jesus of Nazareth.

In cultural terms, across Latin America, and I reckon that in many other regions of the world, people who are thought to be led by avarice or who are mean are usually told ‘Don’t be a Jew’ and is very much one of the stereotypes usually associated with the fact of being Jewish.