While there are fair minded people who hold that opinion, there are just a lot of anti-semites out there, and they look for "respectable" reason to excuse their anti-semitism.
In the US, if someone is antisemitic, I might find that out over time, especially if they knew I was raised Christian. However, I don't know if Europeans would divulge that info but I pretty certain that my friends are not anti semitic. Although they are concerned about the Palestinians, I think there major concern is that this feud between Israel and Palestine is dangerous and could spill over and threaten Europe in some way. I think that motivates them to spend more time trying to understand the Palestinian point of view.
Do you still have family or friends back in Slovakia? What do they say? What are the Jews in Slovakia experiencing? Any anti-semitism?
There are not that many Jews in Slovakia now. There was time before WWII when their was a sizeable Jewish community, many living in Bratislava and western Slovakia, but they were spread out all over. Bratislava (or Pressburg,
Pressburg is a German name.......was Czechoslavakia apart of Germany before WW I.
So there are only 100s to maybe 1000 Jews living in Slovakia. So it's kind of a coincidence that my moms best friends was actually a Jewish Holocaust survivor (and her husband). She used to also be my private tutor of German language (of all things).
Can you still speak it?
As far as violence, since there are so few Jews remaining, there is hardly any, but there were some reports of vandalism against cemetaries, synagogues etc. There are not that many visible Jewish symbols out there. The communist destroyed the Jewish portion of Bratislava - which used to be beautiful, with a lot of architectural treasures. They built this stupid bridge over Danube and road approaching it, and some say that they did it just to erase the Jewish history. Well, the communists did not have much appreciation of history and architecture. They let a lot of treasures just deteriorate, or they even demolished them, replaced them with idiotic concrete buildings.
Well, the Soviets were not noted for their aesthetic sensibilities. When I was a kid, I was into architecture and would like to look at buildings recently built in other countries. I was amazed to see the Soviets had built a building ten years before that looked like one of ours from the 20s or 30s. And it wasn't even that good a reproduction.
Anyway, back to anti-semitism. It is wide-spread, especially among the lower classes, and left wingers.
The left is anti semitic........that's seems strange?
But it is still considered fringe ideology, and it is not given any respect by the elected politicians or media. It hasn't penetrated the "mainstream", but I think as soon as the Western European elites give it the green light, the way it is given green light in France, Germany, there will be opportunists in Slovakia who will try to exploit it.
What makes you think its been given the green light in Germany? They have had trouble with the skinheads but mainly in the East where there is a lot of unemployment. However, the typical skinhead victim is the Turks, not the Jews.
There are numerous conspiracies with Jews being the bad guys in them. Everyone who is successful, and becomes wealthy, there are conspiracy theories about him being a Jew.
Well, that's been a common refrain since time immemorial. Haven't you heard some of R. Surckla's comments? Jews have all the money bla, bla bla. I don't think that will stop any time soon. The irony of this complaint is that in this country, its the W.A.S.Ps who have the most money but no one ever voices that complaint about them.
Well, surprisingly, or not surprisingly, the people who are anti-semitic are also anti-American, because they see America as dominated by Jews.
I never get that one.........did you hear about the Congressman from Maryland who said the American Jews could stop the Iraqi war if they wanted to? Its amazing that you can hear that kind of sentiment from a Congressman.
ted
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