“The Fake Threat of Jewish Communism” by Christopher
Browning provides good, relevant information about the false connection between
Judaism and Communism. It was interesting to read this article after starting Mein Kampf, because it put Adolf Hitler’s
association of Jews with socialism into context. I had never heard of the
connection between Judaism and Communism until taking this class, so I was very
interested in the history of Judeo-Bolshevism, including how it arose, its
impact on the world and World War II, and its effects today, so I enjoyed
reading the article. Since it was written just this year, the article mentions
two fairly recent events, the white supremacists in Charlottesville and the
2018 law in Poland forbidding attributing Nazi crimes to Poles. The white
supremacists were explicitly anti-Semitic, and the Polish law, which suggests a
possible denial of the events of the Holocaust.
I was interested by the impact of Judeo-Bolshevism on Eastern Europe, since Eastern Europe was so heavily affected by Communism, but it was still disappointing to read about how recent those effects have been, including post-Soviet Union Eastern Europeans viewing themselves as the victims of Communism and Jews as benefiting from it. Learning about Romania directly killing 300,000 Jews was an unpleasant surprise to see briefly mentioned in the article, as well. I am curious about A Specter Haunting Europe: The Myth of Judeo-Bolshevism by Paul Hanebrink, the book that the article responds to. I was simultaneously intrigued by and terrified by the proposal that modern day “Islamic terror” in Europe, as Muslim immigrants move to the West and are viewed as disloyal and dangerous, could be the new Judeo-Bolshevism. I hope Browning is incorrect in his suggestion, but after reading “ The Fake Threat of Jewish Communism, ” I can certainly see similarities, and I am concerned as to whether it will come to actualization.