Vasily Grossman. “Life and Fate : A Novel”, 1985, (originally published in 1959), Internet Archive, Chapter 32, pp. 484-487.
Antisemitism can take many forms—from a mocking contemptuous ill-will to murderous pogroms. Antisemitism can be met with in the market and in the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences, in the soul of an old man and in the games children play in the yard. Antisemitism has been as strong in the age of atomic reactors and computers as in the age of oil-lamps, sailing boats, and spinning wheels. Antisemitism is always a means rather than an end; it is a measure of the contradictions yet to be resolved. It is a mirror for the failings of individuals, social structures, and State systems. Tell me what you accuse Jews of—I’ll tell you what you’re guilty of.
Even Oleinichuk, the peasant fighter for freedom who was imprisoned in Schlusselburg, somehow expressed his hatred for serfdom as a hatred for Poles and Yids. Even a genius like Dostoyevsky saw a Jewish usurer where he should have seen the pitiless eyes of a Russian serf-owner, industrialist, or contractor. And in accusing Jews of racism, a desire for world domination and a cosmopolitan indifference towards the German fatherland, National Socialism was merely describing its own features.
Antisemitism is also an expression of a lack of talent, an inability to win a contest on equal terms—in science or in commerce, in craftsmanship or in painting. States look to the imaginary intrigues of World Jewry for explanations of their own failure. At the same time Antisemitism is an expression of the lack of consciousness of the masses, of their inability to understand the true reasons for their sufferings. Ignorant people blame the Jews when they should blame the social structure of the State itself. Antisemitism is also, of course, a measure of the religious prejudices smoldering in the lower levels of a society.
An aversion for the physical appearance of a Jew, for his way of speaking and eating, is certainly not a genuine cause for Antisemitism. The same man who speaks with disgust of a Jew’s curly hair or of the way he waves his arms about, will gaze admiringly at the black curly hair of children in paintings by Murillo, will be quite undisturbed by the gesticulating and guttural speech of Armenians, and will look without aversion at the thick lips of a Negro.
Antisemitism has a place to itself in the history of the persecution of national minorities. Antisemitism is a unique phenomenon—just as the history of the Jews is unique. Just as a man’s shadow can give an idea of his stature, so Antisemitism can give an idea of the history and destiny of the Jews. One trait that distinguishes the Jews from other national minorities is that their history is been bound up with a large number of religious and political issues of world importance. Another distinguishing trait is the extraordinary degree to which they are dispersed throughout both Eastern and Western hemispheres; there are Jews in nearly every country of the world.
It was during the dawn of capitalism that Jewish tradesmen and usurers made their first appearance. During the Industrial revolution many Jews made names for themselves in the realms of industry and mechanics. During the atomic age many talented Jews have been nuclear physicists. And during the epoch of revolutionary struggle, many of the most important revolutionary leaders were Jews. Rather than relegating themselves to the periphery, Jews have always chosen to play a role and the center of society’s industrial and ideological development. This constitutes a third distinguishing trait of Jewish minorities.
Part of the Jewish minority becomes assimilated into the indigenous population, but the general mass retain their peculiar religion, language, and way of life. Antisemitism always accuses the assimilated Jews of secret nationalist and religious aspirations; at the same time, it holds the general mass of non-assimilated Jews—the manual laborers and artisans—responsible for the actions of their fellows who become revolutionary leaders, captains of industry, atomic physicists, and important administrators. This is a fourth distinguishing trait.
Each of these traits taken singly may be characteristic of some other minority, but it is only the Jews who are characterized by all of them. Antisemitism, as one might expect, reflects these traits. It too has always been bound up with the most important questions of world politics, economics, ideology, and religion. This is its most sinister characteristic: the flames of its bonfires has lit the most terrible periods of history. When the Renaissance broke in upon the Catholic Middle Ages, the forces of darkness lit the bonfires of the Inquisition. These flames, however, not only expressed the power of evil, they also lit up the spectacle of its destruction. In the twentieth century, an ill-fated nationalist regime lit the bonfires of Auschwitz, the gas ovens of Lyublinsk and Treblinka. Those flames not only lit up Fascism’s brief triumph, but also foretold its doom. Historical epochs, unsuccessful and reactionary governments and individuals hoping to better their lot all turn to Antisemitism as a last resort, in an attempt to escape an inevitable doom. In the course of two millennia, have there ever been occasions where forces of freedom and humanitarianism have made use of Antisemitism as a tool in their struggles? Possibly, but I do not know of them.
There are also different levels of Antisemitism. Firstly, there is a relatively harmless everyday Antisemitism. This merely bears witness to the existence of failures and envious fools. Secondly there is social Antisemitism. This can only arise in democratic countries. Its manifestations are in those sections of the press that represent different reactionary groups, in the activities of these groups—for example boycotts of Jewish labor and Jewish goods—and in their ideology and religion. Thirdly, in totalitarian countries, where society as such no longer exists, there can arise State Antisemitism. This is a sign that the State is looking for the support of fools, reactionaries and failures, that it is seeking to capitalize on the ignorance of the superstitious and the anger of the hungry.
The first stage of State Antisemitism is discrimination: the State limits the areas in which Jews can live, the choice of professions open to them, their right to occupy important positions, their access to higher education, and so on. The second stage is wholesale destruction. At a time when the forces of reaction enter into a fatal struggle against the forces of freedom, then Antisemitism becomes an ideology of Party and State—as happened with Fascism.
