“What One Should Know About the Jews” – an antisemitic publication in the form of short “definitions” about the ...

“What One Should Know About the Jews” – an antisemitic publication in the form of short “definitions” about the Jewish character. Vienna, 1928

Judenkatechismus oder: Was muß man über die Juden wissen? – “The Jewish Catechism, or: What One Should Know About the Jews?” by "Traugott". A particularly virulent antisemitic publication, written in the form of short “definitions” and arguments about the Jew’s so-called “true” character. Vienna, 1928. The title page features an illustration of Jewish figures engulfed in flames. Extremely rare.

“Antisemitism is not the disgrace of the century, but a justified defense against oppression and the unbearable imposition of Jewish identity.” (from the pamphlet)

A particularly virulent antisemitic publication, structured as a systematic indictment against the Jews, formatted in a catechism-style question-and-answer format consisting of 108 different entries - each one designed to “explain” the so-called truth about the Jews through a blend of pseudo-religion, political conspiracy, and dehumanization, intended to justify exclusion, hostility, and violence against the Jewish people. Examples include: “Where do the psychological traits of the Jews originate from?” – “The psychological traits of the Jews stem from their psychological disposition and, above all, from their religion.” “What force had the greatest influence on the Jews?” – “Religion had a decisive influence on the Jews, but it failed to suppress their racial characteristics…”. “How can one prove the Jews’ tendency toward greed, usury, bargaining, and deception?” – “The true god of the Jews is money. Usury has always been associated with Jews; usury and outbreaks of extreme hatred toward Christians were generally also the causes of the persecution of Jews. The Jews brought upon themselves the hatred not only of Christians, but also of pagans, due to their negative traits…”. “The Jews want no part in physical or manual labor; they prefer trade and financial dealings…”. Or:

“How are the Jews’ pride and arrogance expressed?” – “According to their sacred scriptures, Jews see themselves as the one and only chosen people of God, lacking manners, and viewing others as creatures of a lower order…”. Or: “How does Judaism exert control through the press?” – “Judaism controls the press by subjecting science, art, financial gain, and especially public opinion to its own aims…” aother section states: “Jews choose the legal profession because it offers them the opportunity to violate non-Jewish law, undermine the foundations of the non-Jewish constitution, confuse minds, destabilize the legal certainty of the state, and capture those confused minds in order to achieve Jewish world domination.” And so on throughout the entire pamphlet.

The pamphlet opens with a presentation of the “historical Jew, ” employing selective and distorted references to Jewish sources (Talmud, Mishnah, and Gemara) and events from early Christianity, in order to assert an alleged fundamental and ancient enmity between Judaism and Christianity. The text then shifts to a discussion of the “modern Jew, ” constructing a conspiratorial narrative that claims Judaism seeks world domination through material means such as money, the stock exchange, and the press, as well as through organizational and ideological tools such as Freemasonry, liberalism, socialism, and communism, along with a deliberate choice of certain professions. Within this framework, the text puts forth claims of a unified “Jewish plan, ” allegedly led by a hidden supreme leadership, of which Zionism is portrayed as one of its arms. A substantial chapter is devoted to describing “the Jew in war, ” in which Jews are falsely and categorically accused of draft-dodging, treason, profiteering, war profiteering, diplomatic incitement, and exerting decisive influence over the outcome of World War I and the political order that followed. The text presents Jews as responsible for destabilizing states, economic enslavement, and control through the press, culture, art, and science. Throughout the pamphlet, stereotypical assertions are interwoven about the so-called “Jewish character”: greed, materialism, arrogance, aversion to physical labor, hostility toward Christianity, and intolerance—traits that are presented as the historical justification for the pogroms committed against Jews. The conclusion contains explicit warnings to non-Jews and threatening rhetoric, cloaking the hatred in moral and religious language.

At the end of the pamphlet appears the practical conclusion drawn from the stream of incitement that runs throughout. Under the heading: “Antisemitism (opposition to Jews, persecution of Jews)”, it states: “Due to the psychological traits acknowledged by the Jews themselves: materialism (a tendency toward the sensory and tangible), inclination toward usury and bargaining, ruthlessness in commerce, aversion to physical labor, pride and arrogance - the Jewish people are an object of aversion, even of intolerability, for other nations; through the Talmud and other rabbinic writings, which are saturated with hatred toward Christianity and other peoples, and which glorify lust for power, usury, and cruelty toward non-Jews, Judah represents a constant threat and danger to Christians and indeed to all non-Jewish nations… Both rabbinic Jews and Reform Jews constitute a grave danger to every non-Jewish people.”

Rare edition not listed in the WorldCat global library catalog (a version without a publication year - estimated C.1921 is recorded only in the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem).

80 pages. Good condition.