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Antisemitism
What is Antisemitism?
Antisemitism is latent or overt hostility, or hatred directed towards or discrimination against Jewish people. In 1879, German journalist Wilhelm Marr originated the term antisemitism, denoting the hatred of Jewish people, and also hatred of various liberal, cosmopolitan, and international political trends of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries often associated with Jewish people. While the term may have been coined in the late 19th century, it has existed for thousands of years. It is a term specific to the ethnic, religious, cultural, and race-based hatred experienced by Jewish people over centuries in world history. The Holocaust, the state-sponsored persecution and murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945, is history’s most extreme example of antisemitism (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).
The following video provides a brief description of antisemitism.
Further Reading:
Toronto for All - Confronting Anti-Semitism
A Dark History, a Persistent Fear - eDialogue (CPSO)
Canada, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust - Canadian Museum for Human Rights
The Stain of Antisemitism in Canada - Canadian Museum for Human Rights
No Silence on Race - Is an initiative to reflect the racial diversity that exists within Jewish communities and histories in Canada.
Periphery - Is a mixed media experience that speaks to ethnic diversity in Canadian Jewish communities (a film and curriculum).
Stop Tolerhating - Resources for Jewish Londoners
Expand Your Understanding Through Western EDI’s Comprehensive Module:
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). Antisemitism. Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitism
City of Toronto. (2022). Confronting Antisemitism. City of Toronto. Retrieved from https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/get-involved/community/toronto-for-all/confronting-antisemitism/
Ontario Jewish Archives. (n.d.). Antisemitism. Ontario Jewish Archives. Retrieved from https://www.ontariojewisharchives.org/Explore/Themed-Topics/Anti-Semitism
Maron, J. (2019, September 16). The stain of antisemitism in Canada. Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Retrieved from https://humanrights.ca/story/stain-antisemitism-canada
Maron, J. (2021, November 5). Canada, antisemitism and the Holocaust. Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Retrieved from https://humanrights.ca/story/canada-antisemitism-and-holocaust