Anti-Semitism Essay - Martin Luther as Spiritual Icon for Adolf Hitler

Martin Luther as Spiritual Icon for Adolf Hitler The serviceman has been plagued with the specter of anti-Semitism for many centuries. This hatred manifested itself in the frenzy of national socialism and the deaths of six million Jews, the Holocaust as it has come to be known. If psyche were to reveal an eight step plan for the removal of Jews from European society, iodine would readily associate such(prenominal) a plan with Adolf Hitler. One would not, however, find also of Martin Luther, though he himself wrote an essay in 1543 entitled Concerning the Jews and their Lies outlining such a plan. This is not to suggest that Luther was akin to Hitler in action or deed. This does suggest that Luther, the spark of the Protestant Reformation and father of German nationalism, and his teachings had a profound impact on the anti-Semitic thinkers that were to follow (Prager 106). It is possible that Hitler and Luther divided a common ideological base. Luthers attitude toward the Je ws is puzzling. During the course of his theological literary works Luther made a drastic transition from sympathy to hateful paranoia. precise early in his Protestant career Luther wrote an essay entitled That delivery boy Christ Was Born A Jew. In it he calls for tolerance, compassion, and peaceful conversion. ...they Catholics guard dealt with the Jews as if they were dogs and not human beings (Luther That 33). Luther believed that a purified Christianity, his Christianity, would attract Jews (Patterson 16). Jews could only unfeignedly be converted through a demonstration of the scriptural prat of Christianity. A Jew was a person of worth to Luther. Luther asked how Jews could improve his society (Luther That 34). Luther called into forefront those who advocated vi... ...was not constrained by Luthers sense of merciful severity. Thus, it is unfair to say that Martin Luther was a direct cause of the Holocaust. Rather, Luthers anti-Semitic ideas and proposals provided a i mpregnable soil from which the seeds of new even more horrific visions could germinate and scram into full bloom. Works Cited Luther, Martin. Concerning the Jews and their Lies. 1543. Rpt. in Disputation and Dialogue. F.E. Luther ed. New York Ktav publishing House, 1975. ---. That delivery boy Christ Was Born a Jew. 1523. Rpt in Disputation and Dialogue. F.E. Luther ed. New York Ktav Publishing House, 1975. Mosse, George L. Toward the Final Solution. New York Howard Fertig, 1978. Patterson, Charles. Anti-Semitism. New York Walker and Company, 1982. Prager, Dennis and Joseph Telushkin. Why the Jews? New York Simon and Schuster, 1983.