Martin Luther’s Template for Hatred of Jewish People

He wrote the playbook on anti-Jewish bigotry, and it’s been used

German priest Martin Luther lived from 1483 to 1546. He is best known for his break with the Roman Catholic Church. His journey began with his release in 1517 of Ninety-five Theses, in which he condemned the corruption in some Church practices. After three years of intellectual battles between Luther and the Church hierarchy, Pope Leo X demanded that Luther renounce all of his writings. Luther refused, and Leo X excommunicated Luther in 1521.

Some consider Luther to be a brave hero who fought to reform Christianity. There’s a lot of truth in that—Luther never wavered from his convictions that people were saved by the grace of God, not by the sacraments of the Church. Luther’s stand and his theological reforms changed the course of European society.

However, Luther had another less-discussed influence on European society. That influence came from his long anti-Jewish diatribe, published in 1543 as Von den Jüden und iren Lügen translated to English as The Jews and Their Lies. That book became a template for hatred of Jewish people for centuries to come, used most notably by the Nazis.*

Luther’s writings in the last few years of his life were increasingly dark and combative. Perhaps the years of enforced isolation hiding from persecutors took a toll on him. His darkest and nastiest writing was certainly his book calling for the persecution of…