THE HISTORY OF SPANISH PERSECUTION, FORCED CONVERSIONS, TORTURE AND MASSACRES OF JEWS THROUGH THE CENTURIES

The recent barrage of Spanish online hate messages against Israel in the wake of Israel's Maccabi-Tel Aviv win of the Euroleague Basketball Championship calls for a look into Spanish-Jewish relations through history.  Spain has one of the most sadistic and bloody record of persecution of Jews in history.  

 

True to character, now Spain has joined other European Union countries in demonizing Israel, and calling for its partition to create an Arab terror state on Jewish land.  They did not want Jews in Spain, but they resent the survivors when they create a modern and democratic society in their ancient Biblical land.  Spain has been notorious for its funding of anti-Israel activities.

 

The history of Spanish Jewry dates back at least two thousand years to when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and brought Jews with them back to Europe.  The Jews of Spain and Portugal are also known as Sephardim.

 

Early History (250 BCE - 711 CE)

 

While the area of modern-day Spain was still controlled by the Holy Roman Empire, the Catholic Church issued 80 canonic decisions, many of which were intended to ostracize the Jews from the general Spanish community.  Canon 49, for example, prohibited Jews from blessing their crops, and Canon 50 refused communion to any cleric or layperson that ate with a Jew.

 

During the early 5^th century, the Visigoths captured the Iberian Peninsula from Roman rule. While initially anti-Christian, the Visigoths later converted to Christianity and adopted many of the previous laws that existed during Roman rule.

 

Under the rein of Toledo III, children of mixed marriages were forcibly baptized and Jews were barred from holding public office. The situation got progressively worse and, in 613 CE, the Jews were ordered to convert to Christianity or face expulsion. Though many Jews chose to leave rather than convert, a large number of them still practiced Judaism in secret, a tradition that survived for centuries.

 

Muslim Rule (8^th - 11^th Century)

 

In the 8^th century, the Berber Muslims (Moors) swiftly conquered nearly all of the Iberian Peninsula.  Jews lived peacefully in Al-Andulus for 400 years. The Golden Age for Jewry in Muslim Spain declined after the Almovarids gained power in 1055 and continued to deteriorate after the Almohads came to power in 1147. Jews continued to work as moneylenders, jewelers, cobblers, tailors and tanners, however, they had to wear distinguishing clothing, such as a yellow turban.

 

The Golden Age of Muslim rule was not so golden as propaganda says.  Jews were still massacred.

 

The decline of Muslim authority was matched with a rise in anti-Semitic activity.  In 1066, a Muslim mob stormed the royal palace in Granada, crucified Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacred most of the Jewish population of the city.

 

Accounts of the Granada Massacre state that more than 1,500 Jewish families, numbering 4,000 persons, were murdered in just one day. The conditions of Jews living on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) steadily began to worsen again. As a result, many people started fleeing the Iberian Peninsula to neighboring nations. 

 

Early Christian Rule (11^th - 14^th Century)

 

Soon after coming to power, Alfonso VI offered the Jews full equality with Christians and even the rights offered to the nobility to estrange the wealthy and industrious Jews from the Moors.  Jews prospered under Alfonso and by 1098, nearly 15,000 Jews were living in Toledo, a city of 50,000.

 

To show their gratitude to the king for the rights granted them, the Jews willingly placed themselves at his and the country’s service. At one point, Alfonso’s army contained 40,000 Jews, who were distinguished from the other combatants by their black-and-yellow turbans.

 

After the Christian loss at the Battle of Ucles (1108), an anti-Semitic riot broke out in Toledo; many Jews were slain, and their houses and synagogues burned. Alfonso intended to punish the murderers and incendiaries, but died before he could carry out his intention (1109). After his death the inhabitants of Carrion slaughtered the local Jews, others were imprisoned and their houses pillaged.

 

In the beginning of his reign, Alfonso VII (1111) curtailed the rights and liberties that his father granted the Jews.

 

Despite the reclaimed status of the Jews in Spain, their condition soon began to worsen once again as the Crusaders unleashed another round of anti-Semitic riots in Toledo (1212), robbing and butchering Jews across the nation.

 

During the 13^th century, Spanish Jews of both sexes, like the Jews of France, were required to distinguish themselves from Christians by wearing a yellow badge on their clothing; this order was issued to keep them from associating with Christians, although the reason given was that it was ordered for their own safety.

 

THE CHURCH'S WAS AT THE ROOT OF IT.

 

During this time, the clergy’s endeavors directed against the Jews became increasingly pronounced as well. A papal bull issued by Pope Innocent IV in April 1250 further worsened the situation of the Jews in Spain by prohibiting Jews from building new synagogues without special permission, outlawing proselytizing by pain of death, and forbidding most forms of contact between Jews and Christians. According to the decree, Jews were also forbidden to appear in public on Good Friday. The Jews of Spain were also forced to live as a separate political body in the Juderias (Jewish ghettos).

 

During the reign of Pedro I (1350-1369), the quality of Jewish life in Spain began to improve and the King became a well-known friend to the Jews.   Soon, however a civil war erupted and a rival army, led by Pedro I’s half brother Henry II, attacked the Jews.

 

During the war, part of the Juderia of Toledo was plundered and about 12,000 Jews were murdered without distinction of age or sex. The mob did not, however, succeed in overrunning the Juderia proper, where the Jews, reinforced by a number of Toledan noblemen, defended themselves bravely.

 

Conditions Worsen (1369 - 1492)

 

When Henry de Trastamara ascended the throne as Henry II (1369), the Jews of Spain witnessed the dawn of a new era of suffering and persecution. Prolonged warfare devastated the land, and the people became accustomed to lawlessness. The Jews were reduced to extreme poverty and later expelled.

 

Massacre of 1391

Anti-Semitic violence also increased during this period, and Jews were often beaten or even killed in the streets.

 

A revolt broke out in Seville after the death of King John I in 1390, leading to a period of disorder which greatly affected the Jewish community of Spain in the coming years. 

 

On Ash Wednesday 1391, Ferrand Martinez, the Archdeacon of Ecija, urged Christians to kill or baptize the Jews of Spain. On June 6, the mob attacked the Juderia in Seville from all sides and murdered 4,000 Jews; the rest submitted to baptism as the only means of escaping death.

 

The riots then spread across the countryside destroying many synagogues and murdering thousands of Jews in the streets. During the months-long riots, the Cordova Juderia was burned down and over 5,000 Jews ruthlessly murdered regardless of age or sex. Again, more Jews converted as the only way to escape death.

 

Soon after, a series of laws were passed to reduce the Jews to poverty and further humiliate them. These laws were strictly enforced, and calculated to compel the Jews to embrace Christianity.

 

Though these laws were targeted against the Jews, with them suffered the entire kingdom of Spain. Commerce and industry were at a standstill, the soil was left uncultivated, and the finances disturbed. In Aragon entire communities—as those of Barcelona, Lerida, and Valencia—were destroyed, and many had lost more than half of their members and were reduced to poverty.

 

After the persecutions of 1391, many Jews converted, and still thousands more continued to practice Judaism in secret (these people were known as Marranos).

 

To restore commerce and industry, Queen Maria, consort of Alfonso V and temporary regent, endeavored to draw Jews to the country by offering them rights and privileges while making emigration difficult by imposing higher taxes.

 

Inquisition & Expulsion

 

As soon as the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella ascended their thrones (1479 and 1474, respectively), steps were taken to segregate the Jews both from the “conversos” and from their fellow countrymen.

 

Anti-Semitism in Spain peaked during the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella as they instituted the Spanish Inquisition, a Church sponsored investigation of anyone suspected of being a crypto-Jew (Marrano).

 

On November 1, 1478, Pope Sixtus IV published the bull Exigit Sinceras Devotionis Affectus, through which the Inquisition was established in the Kingdom of Castile. During this period, thousands of Marranos (Jews who had converted to Christianity but still practiced Judaism in secret) were interrogated and executed.

 

The first auto de fe (reading of a decree against someone found to be a heretic, followed by a prayer session and public procession) was celebrated in Seville on February 6, 1481 — six people were burned alive.

 

 

Inquisition - Church tortured and murdered Jews

 

THE INQUISITION -  Jewish conversos would be arrested and accused of not being true Christians. They wouldn't even know who was accusing them; evidence would be presented against them in secret.

 

Then they would be tortured until they confessed to being heretics.   Then, once they confessed, they would be killed.

 

The usual form was burning at the stake, though if they were willing to kiss the cross, they would be spared the horrible pain of burning and would be strangled instead.  The key point is that it really didn't matter if they repented - they died either way.

 

The Inquisition was extremely active between 1480 and 1530, during which time about 2,000 Jews were executed.

 

Many Spanish Jews immigrated to Portugal (from where they were expelled in 1497) and to Morocco. Much later the Sephardim, descendants of Spanish Jews, established flourishing communities in many cities of Europe, North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire.

 

Expulsion of 1492

 

Finally, Ferdinand and Isabella issued the Alhambra Decree in 1492, which officialy called for all Jews, regardless of age, to leave the kingdom by the last day of July (one day before Tisha B’Av).

 

It is estimated that more than 235,000 Jews lived in Spain before the inquisition. Of these, approximately 165,000 immigrated to neighboring countries (mostly to Italy, England, Holland, Morroco, Egypt, France, and the Americas), 50,000 converted to Christianity, and 20,000 died en route to a new location.

 

Many Spanish Jews settled in Portugal, which allowed the practice of Judaism. In 1497, however, Portugal also expelled its Jews. King Manuel of Portugal agreed to marry the daughter of Spain’s monarchs. One of the conditions for the marriage was the expulsion of Portugal’s Jewish community. In actuality, only eight Jews were exiled from Portugal and the rest converted, under duress, to Christianity.

 

Modern Community (1869 - Present)

 

After hundreds of years abroad, Jews were finally permitted to return to Spain after the abolition of the Inquisition in 1834 and the creation of a new constitutional monarchy that allowed for the practice of faiths other than Catholicism in 1868, though the edict of expulsion was not repealed until 1968. (From 1868 until 1968, Jews were allowed to live in Spain as individuals, but not to practice Judaism as a community.)

 

(As things improved) the government of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923-1930) granted the right of Spanish citizenship to Sephardim who applied before December 31, 1931.

 

The Holocaust. 

 

According to newly found documents, the ruler of Spain, General Francisco Franco, handed over a list of Jews living in Spain and their location to the Nazis, in order to facilitate their deportation and destruction.  

 

After the Nazis’ defeat in 1945, the Spanish government tried to destroy all evidence of its cooperation with the Germans. But the document recently found in an archive in the city of Zaragoza, in northeastern Spain, sheds light on what Franco sought to hide.

 

Sources

 

The history of Jews in Spain

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/spain1.html

 

The history of the Sephardim (descendants from Spanish and Portuguese Jews)

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Sephardim.html

 

Document reveals how Spain's ruler during the Holocaust, General Franco gave list of Jews to the Nazis - So this undermines claim that Franco helped Jews

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/20/franco-gave-list-spanish-jews-Nazis

 

The Spanish Inquisition

http://www.aish.com/jl/h/cc/48951681.html

 

 

Further reading

 

Spain is the most anti-Semitic country in Europe
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/2020/spain-anti-semitic

 

Spain funding Non-governmental organizations that undermine Israel and promote hate

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/spanish_government_funding_for_ngos_assessing_transparency_accountability_and_impact_on_israel

 

The current Islamization of Spain

 http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2012/february/under-siege-spain-resists-islamic-invasion-/

Islam in Spain: 800% population increase in mere 13 years
http://muslimstatistics.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/islam-in-spain-800-population-increase-in-mere-13-years/

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ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ

The following article was written under the name Sebastian Vilar (or Vivar) Rodriguez and published in a Spanish newspaper a few years ago.  The name is a pseudonym, and there is no record of who the real writer was. 

Barcelona Jewish Quarter

I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth, Europe died in Auschwitz . . . 

We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. 

In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.  The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.

 

And under the pretense of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty, due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride.

 

They have blown up our trains and turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime.

 

Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.

 

And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition.

 

We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs.

 

What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe .

 

Approximately 1,200,000,000; that is ONE BILLION TWO HUNDRED MILLION or 20% of the world’s population are Muslims.

 

The Jews are NOT promoting brain washing children in military training camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of Jews and other non Muslims. The Jews don’t hijack planes, nor kill athletes at the Olympics, or blow themselves up in German restaurants. There is NOT one single Jew who has destroyed a church. There is NOT a single Jew who protests by killing people.

 

The Jews don’t traffic slaves, nor have leaders calling for Jihad and death to all the Infidels.

 

Perhaps the world’s Muslims should consider investing more in standard education and less in blaming the Jews for all their problems.

 

Muslims must ask ‘what can they do for humankind’ before they demand that humankind respects them.

 

Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbors, even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel's part, the following two sentences really say it all:

 

‘If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel .” Benjamin Netanyahu

 

General Eisenhower Warned Us: It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.

 

He did this because he said in words to this effect: ‘Get it all on record now, get the films, get the witnesses, because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.’

Recently, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it ‘offends’ the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.

 

It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the, 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests who were ‘murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated’ while the German people looked the other way.

 

Now, more than ever, with Iran , among others, claiming the Holocaust to be ‘a myth,’ it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.

Link to All European Life Died in Auschwitz
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/04/all-european-life-died-in-auschwitz.html

Source
http://supportisrael.us/news/?p=746

More about the above column
http://plancksconstant.org/blog1/2011/02/who_wrote_all_european_life_died_in_auschwitz.html

Photo above of Barcelona Jewish Quarter from Wikipedia
 

 

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