Anti Semitism By Jacob Von Konigshofen - 1196 Words

Since the beginning of Jewish history, there has always been an underlying feeling of anti-Semitism. The most well-known acts of anti-Semitism was the atrocities of the 20th century obliteration of the Jewish population within Nazi Germany. While this is the most commercialized, it certainly was not the first and only acts of anti-Semitism. From the sack of Jerusalem to the Crusades and later Hitler’s Final Solution, anti-Semitism has been a far reaching and invasive opinion of the masses. The â€Å"Cremation of Strasbourg Jews,† written by Jacob von Konigshofen was an example of anti-Semitism during the medieval Europe. In the document, Konigshofen outlines the catastrophes in Strasbourg when the Jews admitted to committing the heinous act of poisoning the water wells which they attributed to causing the Black Death. To understand the document at hand, one must understand the circumstances that motivated the cremation of the Jewish people in Strasbourg. In the early f ourteenth century, Europe faced a ravaging and crippling economic, social, and political setback with the advent of the Black Death. Originating in Asia, the disease spread throughout the Eurasian continent through trade and communication facilitated by the Mongols’ tremendous expansion across the continent. In 1347, the bubonic plague reached southern Italy, France, and Spain. It travelled northward and eastbound to northern France, the lowlands and Germany by 1348. Lastly, by the end of 1349, the plague tore