91 pages • 3 hours read
Art SpiegelmanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses the Holocaust, antisemitism, and antisemitic violence.
Early non-Jewish civilizations distrusted the minority Jewish religion, and the newly converted Christian rulers of the Roman Empire sought to validate Christianity as the successor of Judaism. They blamed Jewish people for the death of Christ. Rome and subsequent European nations portrayed Jewish people as demonic and responsible for tragedies like the Bubonic Plague, leading to mass killings called pogroms and restricted legal rights. The false and harmful stereotypes of the greedy Jew and the Jewish Illuminati emerged because moneylending was one of the few trades open to them, and they were banned from government positions except as project financiers.
The years leading up to World War II (1945-1948) as Adolf Hitler, German Chancellor, rose to power marked an increase in antisemitism. Though antisemitism has much earlier roots, Hitler was motivated by a desire to “purify” the human race, which meant one that was purely German and excluded specific groups of people, including those of Jewish heritage, Romani people, and gay people. Hitler spread his ideology by systematic propaganda, which blamed Jews in particular for many atrocities, including Germany’s downfall in World War I. Hitler set about murdering these individuals gradually, first by establishing restrictions on Jews in Germany.
Common Reads: Freshman Year Reading
View Collection
European History
View Collection
Family
View Collection
Fate
View Collection
Friendship
View Collection
Graphic Novels & Books
View Collection
Inspiring Biographies
View Collection
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
View Collection
Jewish American Literature
View Collection
Memoir
View Collection
Memorial Day Reads
View Collection
Military Reads
View Collection
Pulitzer Prize Fiction Awardees &...
View Collection
Required Reading Lists
View Collection
World War II
View Collection