These are not medieval laws. These were laws in the heart of Italy that lasted until 1870. Napoleon had rescinded these laws but these particular laws were reinstated after Napoleon's defeat.
The parallels between the Papal Government laws and Nazi laws re inescapable:
| Aspect | Medieval Christian Laws | Nuremberg Laws (1935) & Nazi Extensions |
|---|---|---|
| Identification & Segregation |
Required badges (e.g., yellow wheels or hats) or clothing to mark Jews publicly (1215 Lateran Council; enforced in Papal States). | Mandated yellow Star of David badges (1941 onward); confined Jews to ghettos (1939–1941), mirroring 1555 Roman Ghetto. |
| Intermarriage & Relations |
Banned marriages/relations between Jews and Christians to prevent "contamination" (e.g., 339 CE Constantius laws; repeated in canon law). | Prohibited marriages/extramarital relations between Jews and "German blood" citizens; invalidated existing ones. |
| Citizenship & Rights |
Denied full citizenship, public office, or property ownership; treated as perpetual outsiders (e.g., Magna Carta 1215 limited Jewish debts; expulsions stripped rights). | Revoked citizenship for Jews; excluded from professions, voting, and public life (over 400 decrees by 1939). |
| Economic Restrictions | Barred from guilds, land ownership, or certain trades; heavy "tolerance taxes" (e.g., under Maria Theresa in Hungary). | Banned from businesses, property ownership (1938 decrees); forced asset registration and Aryanization. |
| Humiliations & Violence |
Forced conversions, ritual murder libels, pogroms (e.g., Black Death blame); Luther's calls for destruction. | Propaganda revived libels; led to Kristallnacht, deportations, and genocide. |
History textbooks typically describe the Nuremberg laws as if they were unique innovations by Nazi Germany, but in fact many of them mirrored how Christians treated the Jews for centuries. They didn't seem outrageous at the time because they mirrored how Jews had been treated in Europe by Christians in living memory.
The Nazis would have claimed that their restrictions were different. After all, Christian antisemitism was based on irrational religious bigotry while the Nazi version was based on the latest race science and social Darwinism.
The reasoning was different - racist bigotry compared to religious bigotry - but the effects were the same.
And if you think about it, today's "anti-Zionist" flavor of antisemitism echoes both of these. Not nearly as blatant - after all, today's anti-Zionists also think of themselves as modern and progressive - but the parallels are pretty clear when you examine them.
Israelis don’t need badges - they are identified by their Hebrew names and shunned and protested against. Zionists are not allowed to join progressive spaces or groups. Israelis are increasingly banned from visiting other countries under bogus pretenses. BDS groups boycott any Jewish-owned Israeli businesses. Zionists are publicly demonized. Any attempt by Jews in universities for dialogue are shunned. Vandalism against Jewish and Zionist sites are increasingly common.
Antisemitism is often more a structure than an ideology.
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"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022) |
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