![]() Title page of Martin Luther's On the Jews and Their Lies | |
Author | Martin Luther |
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Language | German |
Subjects | Religious antisemitism, antisemitic canard |
Genre | Religion |
Published | 1543 |
Publication place | Holy Roman Empire |
Original text | On the Jews and Their Lies at Google Books |
Translation | On the Jews and Their Lies at Wikisource |
On the Jews and Their Lies (German: Von den Jüden und iren Lügen; in modern spelling Von den Juden und ihren Lügen) is a 65,000-word anti-Judaic and antisemitic treatise written in 1543 by the German Reformation leader Martin Luther (1483–1546).[1]
Luther's attitude toward Jews took different forms during his lifetime. In his earlier period, until about 1537, he wanted to convert Jews to Lutheranism (Protestant Christianity). In his later period when he wrote On the Jews and Their Lies, he denounced them and urged their persecution.[2]
In this treatise, he argues that Jewish synagogues and schools be set on fire, prayer books be destroyed, rabbis forbidden to preach, Jewish homes burned, and property and money confiscated. Luther demanded that no mercy or kindness be given to Jews,[3] that they be afforded no legal protection,[4] and "these poisonous envenomed worms" should be drafted into forced labor or expelled forever.[5] He also advocates murder of all Jews, writing "[W]e are at fault in not slaying them".[6]
The book may have had an impact on creating later antisemitic German thought.[7] With the rise of the Nazi Party in Weimar Germany, the book became widely popular among Nazi supporters. During World War II, copies of the book were commonly seen at Nazi rallies, and the prevailing scholarly consensus is that it may have had a significant impact on justifying the Holocaust.[8] Since then, the book has been denounced by many Lutheran churches.[9]
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