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DIDTHENAZISTHINKTHATSEPHARDIMWEREJEWS?
BY
BERNDROTHER
Sincethemidsof19thcentury,anthropologicaland'racial'differences
betweenSephardimandAshkenazimwereclaimed.Wefindthisalsoinanti-
Semiticpublications.ForHoustonStewartChamberlaintheSephardimwere
higherrankinginhishierarchyofracesthantheAshkenazim.TotheSephardic
JewsoftheNetherlands,EnglandandtheBalkans,heconceded'racial'
superiorityandnobilitybecausetheyhadrefusedtointerminglewithCentral-
andEastern-EuropeanJews.ButChamberlaindidnotaimatsavingthehonour
ofalltheJewsbyreferringtothe'superior'Sephardim;insteadheusedthis
argumenttodefamestillmorethemajorityoftheJews.'Hisobservationdidnot
leadhimtodefinetheSephardimasnon-Jews.
Somestudiesbyrace-anthropologists,atthistimeawidelyaccepted
academicdiscipline,camebyskullmeasurementsandotherdoubtfulmethods
totheconclusionthatSephardimindeeddifferedsharplyfromAshkenazim.It
wasclaimed,thattheSephardimhadalongerskullandamorebeautiful
appearance.?Alongskullservedasoneofthemostimportantcriteriatoform
partofthe'Aryan'race.Jewishrace-anthropologistsalsotookpartinthe
idealisationoftheSephardim,eveniftheirreasonstodosodifferedsomewhat.*
HoustonStewartChamberlain,DieGrundlagendesneunzehntenJahrhunderts,München
1915,рр.323-326.
2 Anoverviewin:SamuelWeißenberg,DieSpaniolen.EineanthropometrischeSkizze,
SeparatafromBd.XXXIX,1909(3.Folge,Bd.9),derMitteilungenderAnthropologischen
Gesellschaftin:Wien,pp.225-239,here:p.226f.
PatrikvonZurMühlen,Rassenideologien.GeschichteundHintergründe,Berlin1977,р.129.
JohnM.Efron,'ScientificRacismandtheMystiqueofSephardicRacialSuperiority',in:
Yearbook.LeoBackInstitute,38,(1993),pp.15-96;"Weißenberg,Spaniolen."
[105*1
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