Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany
Nico Voigtlaender and
Hans-Joachim Voth
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Nico Voigtländer (nico_v@alum.mit.edu)
No 17113, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc
Abstract:
How persistent are cultural traits? This paper uses data on anti-Semitism in Germany and finds continuity at the local level over more than half a millennium. When the Black Death hit Europe in 1348-50, killing between one third and one half of the population, its cause was unknown. Many contemporaries blamed the Jews. Cities all over Germany witnessed mass killings of their Jewish population. At the same time, numerous Jewish communities were spared. We use plague pogroms as an indicator for medieval anti-Semitism. Pogroms during the Black Death are a strong and robust predictor of violence against Jews in the 1920s, and of votes for the Nazi Party. In addition, cities that saw medieval anti-Semitic violence also had higher deportation rates for Jews after 1933, were more likely to see synagogues damaged or destroyed in the 'Night of Broken Glass' in 1938, and their inhabitants wrote more anti-Jewish letters to the editor of the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer.
JEL-codes: N33 N34 N53 N54 Z1 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
Note: POL
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)
Published as Nico Voigtländer & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2012. "Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 127(3), pages 1339-1392.
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Journal Article: Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany (2012)
Working Paper: Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany (2011)
Working Paper: Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany (2011)
Working Paper: Persecution perpetuated: The medieval origins of anti-semitic violence in Nazi Germany (2011)
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