Antisemitic boycotts

Antisemitic boycotts, also known as anti-Jewish boycotts are organized boycotts directed against Jewish people to exclude them economical, political or cultural life. Antisemitic boycotts are often regarded as a manifestation of popular antisemitism.

The Age of Enlightenment brought with it notions of legal equality in Europe that led to Jewish citizens being granted equal rights, first in France, following the French Revolution and then over the course of the Nineteenth Century, across Western Europe. This process was opposed by some extremist Christian religious groups and movements, which could be seen as antisemitic, as they regarded the Jewish people as morally inferior, or felt threatened by their supposed . There were a variety of movements calling for boycotts of Jews and discrimination based round universities (often in the form of Jewish educational quotas and Numerus clausus) was particularly prevalent. In almost every country in Europe, boycotts ultimately led to the revocation of civil rights, murder and systematic extermination.

In Hungary, agitation for boycotts began in 1875 with an antisemitic speech from Győző Istóczy in the Hungarian House of Representatives. From the 1880s there were calls in some of the Catholic press for Jews to be boycotted. The government passed laws limiting Jewish economic activity from 1938 onwards.

In Russia, after a series of anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, towards that end in 1880 they were forbidden from purchasing land or taking mortgages (see the May Laws). Quotas limited Jewish access to educational institutions and from 1892 they were banned from participation in local elections and could constitute no more than 10% of company shareholders.

In 19th century Austria, Karl Lueger, an antisemitic mayor of Vienna who inspired Hitler, campaigned for a boycott of Jewish businesses as a last resort for his party. Jews were only allowed to live in Vienna from 1840. An organization called the Antisemitenbund campaigned against Jewish civil rights since 1919. Austrian campaigns tended to heighten around Christmas and became effective from 1932.

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