Blaming the Jews for the Black Death Plague 

During the Middle Ages Christians believed Jews were associated with the devil and were out to eliminate Christianity. Christians believed Jews were guilty of all the ills of the world, regardless of how preposterous and irrational the claims.

When the plague hit Europe in 1348 it killed 20-25 million people, about a third of Europe’s population. For a Christian population who had already accused Jews of poisoning wells, it was natural to assume they also brought the Black Death plague.

Gabriel Wilensky

Where Jews guilty for the Black Death?

The Black Death plague was a cataclysmic event in medieval Europe. It swept from the south and by the time it reached England it had consumed the lives of millions of people. Unable to comprehend what was causing the pestilence, the largely illiterate Christian population assumed it was the wrath of God. This population, which was already steeped in deep anti-Jewish rhetoric they heard from their priests, easily concluded that the Jews were to blame for the Black Death. After all, they already accused Jews of poisoning wells, of ritual murder, of desecrating the host, of spiritual blindness, of killing Jesus Christ, of attempting to defile the Christian mind, of being agents of the Devil and other groundless accusations that made the ordinary medieval Christian reflexively blame Jews for any problem, irrespective of how unfounded and preposterous it may be. The fact that Jews died in the Black Death as well as Christians did not deter ordinary Christians from thinking that Jews were to be blamed for it, despite the fact that Pope Clement VI pointed out this obvious fact.

“During the Middle Ages Christians believed Jews were associated with the devil and were out to eliminate Christianity. Christians believed Jews were guilty of all the ills of the world, regardless of how preposterous and irrational the claims.”

 As a result of this accusation, Christians everywhere in Europe went on a murderous rampage against Jews, burning them alive wherever they found them. In August 1349, the Jewish communities of Mainz and Cologne were exterminated. In February of that same year, the citizens of Strasbourg murdered 2,000 Jews. By 1351, 60 major and 150 smaller Jewish communities had been destroyed.

Want to stay informed about the topic?
Subscribe below.

6 + 2 =

Understanding the Muslim Worldview

All possible evidence seem to point to the fact that Arab nations are indeed monolithic in pretty much everything, and have been that way for 1000 years. There is…

The Essence of a Translation: Was John Cornwell’s “Hitler’s Pope” malicious, and wrong?

With the arrival of Communism in the Soviet Union, with its atheistic outlook, the Church became convinced it…

Attacking Iran: Is there an option?

It seems that a clear parallel can be drawn between the former situation with Saddam Hussein and Iraq, and the situation in the 1930s with Adolf Hitler and…

About “We Remember – A Reflection on the Shoah”: Are We Remembering?

An article on Jewish Review, titled “Conference explores Catholic teachings from Holocaust” discusses the declaration We…

Us vs. Them. Again.

For almost two thousand years Christianity taught the faithful that Christianity had superseded and replaced Judaism. It taught that God had abrogated his covenant with the…

How did the Holocaust start?

The Holocaust started gradually. Centuries of ingrained theological anti-Judaism led to racial antisemitism, which resulted in the desire to eliminate the Jews from…

Defining “Non-Aryan”: Cutting Through the Fog

For the layman, sometimes it’s hard to know what things actually mean. After all, one cannot be an expert on everything, so we must rely on others whom…

Appeasement and Nietzsche’s Eternal Return

Sometimes it seems as if Nietzsche was right, and History does indeed return to the same things over and over again in an endless pattern. The variable may…

Was Pope Pius XII a Saint?

The German-born pope, Benedict XVI, is moving full steam ahead in the process of canonization of the germanophile war-time pope, Pius XII. Having declared Pius XII…

Open Letter to Reverend Cantalamessa

Reverend Cantalamessa, you really messed up when you compared the attacks on the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict with the persecution of the Jews. I know you…