Neocon,
Your plea on behalf of pre-WWII European Jewry could be made for XVIIIth century France's aristocracy as well: not all French barons, dukes, bishops, viscounts, and landlords were evil exploiters who systematically abused their peasantry. But then again, as the French Revolution unfolded, both human, decent noblemen and tyrannical ones were lumped together...
Besides, it's true that up until the 1930s, most of the Central European Jewry lived in harmony with the locals but, according to Stefan Zweig's autobiography (1881-1942), there was, in the early XXth century, an overflowing amount of Jews in all of Austria's influential circles, culturally and politically speaking.
BTW, there're the same sweeping generalizations about Albanians today: according to some Albanophobic denigrators, all Albanians, somehow, are drug dealers or arms smugglers.... |
