Martin
Luther: The Jews and Their Lies
(1543)
At the beginning of his career,
Luther was apparently sympathetic to Jewish resistance to the Catholic Church. He wrote, early in his career:
The Jews are blood-relations of our Lord; if it were proper to boast of flesh and blood, the Jews belong more to Christ
than we. I beg, therefore, my dear Papist, if you become tired of abusing me as a heretic, that you begin to revile me as
a Jew.
But Luther expected them to convert
to his purified Christianity. When they did not, he turned violently against Jews.
It is impossible for modern people
to read the horrible passages below and not to think of the burning of synagogues in November 1938 on Kristallnacht. Nor would one wish to excuse Luther for this text.
A number of points must, however,
be made. The most important concerns the language used. Luther used violent and vulgar language throughout his career....We
do not expect religious figures to use this sort of language in the modern world, but it was not uncommon in the early 16th
century. Second, although Luther's comments seem to be proto-Nazi, they are better seen as part of tradition of Medieval Christian anti-Semitism. While there is little doubt that Christian anti-Semitism laid the social and cultural basis for modern anti-Semitism, modern anti-Semitism does differ in being based on pseudo-scientific notions of race. The Nazis imprisoned and killed Jews who had converted to
Christianity: Luther would have welcomed them.
None of this justifies what follows,
but it may help to comprehend what is happening. In 1994, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
rejected Luther's anti-Semitic writings.
Martin
Luther: The Jews and Their Lies
(extracts)
I had made up my mind to write no more
either about the Jews or against them. But since I learned that these miserable and accursed people do not cease to lure to
themselves even us, that is, the Christians, I have published this little book, so that I might be found among those who opposed
such poisonous activities of the Jews who warned the Christians to be on their guard against them. I would not have believed
that a Christian could be duped by the Jews into taking their exile and wretchedness upon himself. However, the devil is the
god of the world, and wherever God's word is absent he has an easy task, not only with the weak but also with the strong.
May God help us. Amen.
***
He did not call
them Abraham's children, but a "brood of vipers" [Matt. 3:7]. Oh, that was too insulting for the noble blood and race of Israel,
and they declared, "He has a demon' [Matt 11:18]. Our Lord also calls them a "brood of vipers"; furthermore in John 8 [:39,44]
he states: "If you were Abraham's children ye would do what Abraham did.... You are of your father the devil. It was intolerable
to them to hear that they were not Abraham's but the devil's children, nor can they bear to hear this today.
***
Therefore the blind Jews are truly
stupid fools...
***
Now just behold these miserable, blind,
and senseless people.
***
...their blindness and arrogance are
as solid as an iron mountain.
***
Learn from this, dear Christian, what
you are doing if you permit the blind Jews to mislead you. Then the saying will truly apply, "When a blind man leads a blind
man, both will fall into the pit" [cf. Luke 6:39]. You cannot learn anything from them except how to misunderstand the divine
commandments...
***
Therefore be on your guard against
the Jews, knowing that wherever they have their synagogues, nothing is found but a den of devils in which sheer selfglory,
conceit, lies, blasphemy, and defaming of God and men are practiced most maliciously and veheming his eyes on them.
***
Moreover, they are nothing but thieves
and robbers who daily eat no morsel and wear no thread of clothing which they have not stolen and pilfered from us by means
of their accursed usury. Thus they live from day to day, together with wife and child, by theft and robbery, as archthieves
and robbers, in the most impenitent security.
***
However, they have not acquired a perfect
mastery of the art of lying; they lie so clumsily and ineptly that anyone who is just a little observant can easily detect
it. But for us Christians they stand as a terrifying example of God's wrath.
***
If I had to refute all the other articles
of the Jewish faith, I should be obliged to write against them as much and for as long a time as they have used for inventing
their lies that is, longer than two thousand years.
***
...Christ and his word can hardly be
recognized because of the great vermin of human ordinances. However, let this suffice for the time being on their lies against
doctrine or faith.
***
Did I not tell you earlier that a Jew
is such a noble, precious jewel that God and all the angels dance when he farts?
***
Alas, it cannot be anything but the
terrible wrath of God which permits anyone to sink into such abysmal, devilish, hellish, insane baseness, envy, and arrogance.
If I were to avenge myself on the devil himself I should be unable to wish him such evil and misfortune as God's wrath inflicts
on the Jews, compelling them to lie and to blaspheme so monstrously, in violation of their own conscience. Anyway, they have
their reward for constantly giving God the lie.
***
No, one should toss out these lazy
rogues by the seat of their pants.
***
...but then eject them forever from
this country. For, as we have heard, God's anger with them is so intense that gentle mercy will only tend to make them worse
and worse, while sharp mercy will reform them but little. Therefore, in any case, away with them!
***
Over and above that we let them get
rich on our sweat and blood, while we remain poor and they such the marrow from our bones.
***
I brief, dear princes and lords, those
of you who have Jews under your rule if my counsel does not please your, find better advice, so that you and we
all can be rid of the unbearable, devilish burden of the Jews, lest we become guilty sharers before God in the lies, blasphemy,
the defamation, and the curses which the mad Jews indulge in so freely and wantonly against the person of our Lord Jesus Christ,
this dear mother, all Christians, all authority, and ourselves. Do not grant them protection, safeconduct, or communion
with us.... .With this faithful counsel and warning I wish to cleanse and exonerate my
conscience.
***
Let the government deal with them in
this respect, as I have suggested. But whether the government acts or not, let everyone at least be guided by his own conscience
and form for himself a definition or image of a Jew.
***
However, we must avoid confirming them
in their wanton lying, slandering, cursing, and defaming. Nor dare we make ourselves partners in their devilish ranting and
raving by shielding and protecting them, by giving them food, drink, and shelter, or by other neighborly
***
Therefore we Christians, in turn, are
obliged not to tolerate their wanton and conscious blasphemy.
***
Accordingly, it must and dare not be
considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that
is, from the devil and from eternal death.
***
What shall we Christians do with this
rejected and condemned people, the Jews? Since they live among us, we dare not tolerate their conduct, now that we are aware
of their lying and reviling and blaspheming. If we do, we become sharers in their lies, cursing and blasphemy. Thus we cannot
extinguish the unquenchable fire of divine wrath, of which the prophets speak, nor can we convert the Jews. With prayer and
the fear of God we must practice a sharp mercy to see whether we might save at least a few from the glowing flames. We dare
not avenge ourselves. Vengeance a thousand times worse than we could wish them already has them by the throat. I shall give
you my sincere advice:
First to set fire to their synagogues
or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of
them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not
condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians. For whatever we
tolerated in the past unknowingly and I myself was unaware of it will be pardoned by God. But if we, now that
we are informed, were to protect and shield such a house for the Jews, existing right before our very nose, in which they
lie about, blaspheme, curse, vilify, and defame Christ and us (as was heard above), it would be the same as if we were doing
all this and even worse ourselves, as we very well know.
Second, I advise that their houses
also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under
a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. This will bring home to them that they are not masters in our country, as they boast,
but that they are living in exile and in captivity, as they incessantly wail and lament about us before God.
Third, I advise that all their prayer
books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. (remainder
omitted)
Fourth, I advise that their rabbis
be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. For they have justly forfeited the right to such an office
by holding the poor Jews captive with the saying of Moses (Deuteronomy 17 [:10 ff.]) in which he commands them to obey their
teachers on penalty of death, although Moses clearly adds: "what they teach you in accord with the law of the Lord." Those
villains ignore that. They wantonly employ the poor people's obedience contrary to the law of the Lord and infuse them with
this poison, cursing, and blasphemy. In the same way the pope also held us captive with the declaration in Matthew 16 {:18],
"You are Peter," etc, inducing us to believe all the lies and deceptions that issued from his devilish mind. He did not teach
in accord with the word of God, and therefore he forfeited the right to teach.
Fifth, I advise that safeconduct
on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside, since they are not lords,
officials, tradesmen, or the like. Let they stay at home. (...remainder omitted).
Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited
to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping. The reason for
such a measure is that, as said above, they have no other means of earning a livelihood than usury, and by it they have stolen
and robbed from us all they possess. Such money should now be used in no other way than the following: Whenever a Jew is sincerely
converted, he should be handed one hundred, two hundred, or three hundred florins, as personal circumstances may suggest.
With this he could set himself up in some occupation for the support of his poor wife and children, and the maintenance of
the old or feeble. For such evil gains are cursed if they are not put to use with God's blessing in a good and worthy cause.
Seventh, I commend putting a flail,
an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their
bread in the sweat of their brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam (Gen 3[:19]}. For it is not fitting that they should
let us accursed Goyim toil in the sweat of our faces while they, the holy people, idle away their time behind the stove, feasting
and farting, and on top of all, boasting blasphemously of their lordship over the Christians by means of our sweat. No, one
should toss out these lazy rogues by the seat of their pants.
***
But what will happen even if we do
burn down the Jews' synagogues and forbid them publicly to praise God, to pray, to teach, to utter God's name? They will still
keep doing it in secret. If we know that they are doing this in secret, it is the same as if they were doing it publicly.
for our knowledge of their secret doings and our toleration of them implies that they are not secret after all and thus our
conscience is encumbered with it before God.
***
Accordingly, it must and dare not be
considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that
is, from the devil and from eternal death. My advice, as I said earlier, is:
First, that their synagogues be burned
down, and that all who are able toss in sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire.
That would demonstrate to God our serious resolve and be evidence to all the world that it was in ignorance that we tolerated
such houses, in which the Jews have reviled God, our dear Creator and Father, and his Son most shamefully up till now but
that we have now given them their due reward.
***
I wish and I ask that our rulers who
have Jewish subjects exercise a sharp mercy toward these wretched people, as suggested above, to see whether this might not
help (though it is doubtful). They must act like a good physician who, when gangrene has set in, proceeds without mercy to
cut, saw, and burn flesh, veins, bone, and marrow. Such a procedure must also be followed in this instance. Burn down their
synagogues, forbid all that I enumerated earlier, force them to work, and deal harshly with them, as Moses did in the wilderness,
slaying three thousand lest the whole people perish. They surely do not know what they are doing; moreover, as people possessed,
they do not wish to know it, hear it, or learn it. There it would be wrong to be merciful and confirm them in their conduct.
If this does not help we must drive them out like mad dogs, so that we do not become partakers of their abominable blasphemy
and all their other vices and thus merit God's wrath and be damned with them. I have done my duty. Now let everyone see to
his. I am exonerated."
***
My essay, I hope, will furnish a Christian
(who in any case has no desire to become a Jew) with enough material not only to defend himself against the blind, venomous
Jews, but also to become the foe of the Jews' malice, lying, and cursing, and to understand not only that their belief is
false but that they are surely possessed by all devils. May Christ, our dear Lord, convert them mercifully and preserve us
steadfastly and immovably in the knowledge of him, which is eternal life. Amen.
From Luther's Works, Volume 47: The
Christian in Society IV, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971). pp 268-293.
