Antisemitism

Following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, Jewish communities in the Russian Empire faced a wave of antisemitism and pogroms. Many fled persecution. Whitechapel’s affordable accommodation and existing Jewish community made it an important destination.

The Nazi Party, or NSDAP, offered a hostile alternative to the Republic. Its 25-point programme, announced on 24 February 1920, combined extreme nationalism, antisemitism, economic promises and demands for a strong authoritarian state. Hitler declared the programme unchangeable, although the party stressed different points when appealing to different audiences.

In Norwich, a monk developed a story that Jews had murdered a Christian boy, William, in 1144. This was an imagined accusation, not evidence of a Jewish crime, but stories of this kind spread hostility. Such hostility and discrimination against Jewish people is called antisemitism.