Jealous Villans

By: Jonathan Seidel

Was the holocaust a unique phenomenon or a pattern in Jewish history? Jews had been massacred for generations. Their Jewishness was tainted and needed to be expunged. Unlike Nazism, there was a cure. Jews could atone through conversion. If they were not Jews anymore after accepting a different religion, they no longer were subjected to the racial propaganda nor eternal damnation. Even Haman’s notorious plan and the Egyptians repugnance to Jews was to religious Jewry and not an inherent dread for Jews. Nazism did not care for observance nor affiliation. Their metric was blood. They subverted religiosity for biology or better yet ontology. No matter how far one ran, genetics could not be replaced. It was a fate unchanged.

Jewish suffering has been a long debate. Yet the biggest issue of the holocaust is the theodic query instead of the national targeting. What is most missed is the ignorance to nazi philosophy. The nazi view of Jewish inferiority was an ontological reality. Jews could never measure to the aryan primacy. They were stuck in a repudiating cycle of demoting rejection. The Jews were barred outside the pearly gates. The gate is forever locked with no transformation possible. The Jew was to be the dogmatic outsider and scapegoat. 

The holocaust marked an exclusive religious framework. Nazism was singularly nationalistic. Only certain people could participate. There was no room for “infidels”. They were marked by their ancestry. If your line was corrupted your fate was sealed. Only the lucky ones were permitted entrance into the great halls. Being was central to acceptance. A generational purity rewarded the noble and punished the outcasts.

Blood was the focal basis for determining viability and veracity. The Jew could not hide. If his connections were found out he was punished. There was no way around it and no retribution. He was forever a stranger and the damned of the earth. His blood ran through the global fabric poisoning the world. Mitigating his influence through systematic genocide defied the theological premise. The holocaust wasn’t about god but about heritage. The Jewish imprint on the world stage stifled nazi superiority. Their nationalism periled in comparison to the success of Jewish history.

Ending the Jewish narrative would bring in a new champion. The Jew entered the colosseum each day and emerged victorious. Covered in scrapes and bruises he prevailed over his foe. Nazism was jealous of the excessive triumph and desired to be the new face of success. Envy impassioned the German people to turn on their brethren. Jews were dehumanised and devalued. The only way to rid Judaism was to eliminate all connection to it. 

Concentrating on blood was not accidental. Jews could always revert back to their heritage. The ancestral link would always be immanent no matter how far the Jew strayed. Judaism dies when its people die. In an age of secularism a religious return was more probable than in premodern conversion. The secular Jew was inevitably bound to relay his past. He may ignore or even loathe it but he could return or descendants revive their commitment. It was a losing battle to let them live. Assimilation was formidable but not absolute. As long as traces of Jewish scent remain, its prowess would stifle aryan revolution. 

The holocaust is unique in plot and style. Its location and context isolates its situation. The Jew was liberated from religious coercion internally and externally. Despite earlier episodes targeting the Jewish title as well, the lack of systematic structure figures its own category. The holocaust was particular for a secular society with a novel goal. Jewish pride is forever changed in the totality target.