Bidspirit auction | Jacques Maritain - The Jews

Jacques Maritain - The Jews Among the Nations - An Urgent Appeal for the Defense of Europe's Persecuted Jews on the Eve of the Outbreak of the Second World War - ”There are in Europe today those who desire destruction and death, and above all the destruction of the Jews, for that is ultimately what it is all about, is it not?... Under the guise of a foolish racial scientism...”. Les Juifs parmi les nations - The Jews Among the Nations, the celebrated lecture by the renowned French philosopher Jacques Maritain in defense of the persecuted Jewish people on the eve of the outbreak of the Second World War. Les Éditions du Cerf, France, 1938 - First edition. Rare. First publication of Jacques Maritain's celebrated and uncompromising lecture against rising antisemitism, delivered in Paris on Saturday, February 5, 1938, under the auspices of Christian-liberal organizations at the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs. The French publishing house Les Éditions du Cerf hastened to print the lecture as an independent booklet during the same year in order to disseminate its anti-fascist message and its defense of the Jews in response to the dramatic events unfolding in Europe at that time. The booklet presents a philosophical, theological, and political analysis that was exceptional for its period. First, Maritain emphasizes the urgency of the ”Jewish question” in those years. He distinguishes between countries with large Jewish minorities that were not being persecuted and countries such as Nazi Germany, where antisemitism had become an official state ideology. He denounces Nazi racism and argues that antisemitism serves as a cheap and dangerous political instrument, while exposing the absurdity of racial theory. He then turns to the theological and spiritual dimension. He maintains that antisemitism is not merely a moral or social crime, but a profound religious and spiritual sin. The most important part of the work deals with the immediate tragedy of European Jewry. Maritain addresses with great urgency and gravity the physical suffering and daily persecutions endured by Jews in various parts of Europe, particularly in Germany, Russia, Poland, and Romania (especially under the Nuremberg Laws in Germany and Austria on the eve of the Anschluss), and warns of an impending catastrophe. He even expresses astonishment that German Jews continued to feel sympathy for their country in the face of the severe waves of antisemitism they experienced daily. Maritain reveals to his audience the condition of the persecuted Jews exactly as it existed at that moment:  ”The imagination can grasp only a small part of the suffering and torment, the misery and humiliation... shameful processions of unfortunate people carrying ridiculous placards, hundreds of desecrated Jewish cemeteries, violence and humiliation of every kind, confiscation of property, denunciations and denial of justice. Suicide, naturally, flourishes. Through the work of teachers and propagandists, the consciences of ordinary people, children and the poor, are poisoned with hatred and contempt for the Jews... All Jewish citizens are already excluded from public administration; it has already been decided to forbid Jews from certain professions and businesses, to dispossess them of agricultural enterprises, to exclude them from the theatre and cinema, and to deprive large numbers of Jewish doctors, engineers, architects, and lawyers of the right to practice their professions...”. As a practical conclusion, Maritain even calls for assistance to the Jews through the opening of borders to Jewish immigrants, and demands that the Catholic Church protect the Jews in those countries from which large-scale emigration would not be possible. He emphasizes in the clearest possible terms that a threat of destruction hangs over the Jewish people on a scale unprecedented in history, and that action must be taken swiftly and without delay: ”There are in Europe today those who desire destruction and death, and above all the destruction of the Jews, for that is ultimately what it is all about, is it not?... Under the guise of a foolish racial scientism...”. Jacques Maritain (1882–1973) is regarded as one of the few courageous Christian voices in Europe during the 1930s who publicly, and in an intellectual and reasoned manner, came to the defense of the Jewish people and the Zionist movement while attacking the racial antisemitism of the extreme right. The booklet (later published in English, Italian, Hebrew, and other languages as well) is a key document in the intellectual struggle against Fascism and Nazism in pre-war France. Maritain was among the few Christian thinkers of his generation who defended democracy. He profoundly influenced the shaping of the modern conception of human rights and is even regarded as one of the principal inspirations behind the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. Rare. Only six records in the WorldCat global library catalogue.