Discussing the sources of anti-Semitism, The Inquirer, a London publication, writes:
It is sometimes assumed that anti-Semitism, as a social phenomenon, is of comparatively recent growth. In its most violent expression, as in Nazi Germany, the explanation of it is sought in political and economic factors supported by a theory of racial difference. This is on the whole true of modern Semitism, which dates from the emancipation of the Jews of various countries in the last century, and which in course of time found expression in, e.g., the Kishineff massacres in Russia and the Dreyfuss case in France. But modern anti-Semitism is only one phase of a much more ancient and deep-rooted antagonism of which the Jew has been the object.
The late Lucien Wolf wrote a brilliant and masterly essay on anti-Semitism, which is now republished in the posthumous volume of Essays in Jewish History by him. But he confined anti-Semitism to its manifestations since 1848, and seemed to imply that it was vain to seek an explanation in the conditions of an earlier time.
Yet this is surely a mistaken view. If there had not been previous ground of objection to Jews, there would be no reason why they should be the objects of attack when they emerged from the ghettos and began to take some part in the public affairs of their several country. No doubt, they brought with them out of the ghetto peculiarities of mind, character and behavior which marked them off from, and were variously distasteful to, those in whose midst they appeared.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
