Demonizing the Jews

The acquiescence of the German Protestant churches in Nazi oppression and murder of Jews is well documented. In this book, Christopher J. Probst demonstrates that a significant number of German theologians and clergy made use of the 16th-century writings of Martin Luther about Jews and Judaism to reinforce the racial anti-Semitism and religious anti-Judaism already present among Protestants. Focusing on key figures, Probst's study makes clear that a significant number of pastors, bishops, and theologians of varying theological and political persuasions employed Luther's texts with considerable effectiveness in campaigning for the creation of a "de-Judaized" form of Christianity. Probst shows that even the church most critical of Luther's anti-Jewish writings reaffirmed the anti-Semitic stereotyping that helped justify early Nazi measures against the Jews.

Christopher J. Probst is a visiting assistant professor of modern European history at Saint Louis University. He was a Charles H. Rev son Foundation Fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.