Assignment 2: Religion

Throughout Germany’s history religion has been prevalent in a lot of major events.  Germany had many diverse religions and not they do not all have to practice the same religion.  The religions have changed with the change of time.  This is the similar to the United States because people went to the Americas because they wanted religious freedom.  As time went on religions changed and other religions were started as the country changed and adapted to the citizens.  Religion is important because knowing the religion can show the background and traditions of the people living there.  Also, religion can sometimes show why things changed and what happens when religion is very close to the politics of the country.  For instance the religion of the ruler is usually the prominent but when ruler’s change the prominent religion usually changes.

  However, one religion that has not been held highly is Judaism.  Although Judaism was present in the late Middle Ages, the Jews did not hold many rights.  They were not able to hold most jobs.  Two of the few ways that they could earn money was through money lending and financial transactions.  Because of this Jews were not though of highly and were protested against (p.34).  These people were discriminated against because of their religion.  One example of violence was in 1519 when the Jews were forced out of Regensburg, the Jewish quarter was torn down, and their synagogue was torn down (p.41).  This shows that anti-Judaism was not only present during World War II but was present long before in the late Middle Ages.

Inside of the Regensburg Synagogue before it was demolished in 1519.

The Neupfarrkirche which was where the Regensburg Synagogue once stood.

Although the prominent religion has changed throughout time, the Christian religions have not been held with as much hatred and terrible standards as Judaism. One example of hatred against the Catholic Church was when the Lutherans accused the Catholics of fraud and extortion after they tore down the Jewish synagogue and built their own Church on the site(p.41).  The Christians were always able to hold jobs and earn a living.  Although there have been times in history when a religion was held with disregard, it has never been to the extent of the disregard felt towards Judaism. This disregard may be an example of why the hatred escalated to the extreme of the Holocaust.