Talk:The Essence of Fascism

From Karl Polanyi
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Conspicuous by its absence, however, is any reference in the essay to the Jews, either as the monotheistic community from which Christianity and the philosophy brotherhood sprang, or as the most vulnerable target-community of Nazi hatred. The Nazis were already strongly anti-Semitic and Hitler knew that the personalist/universalist view of one humanity under one God, a view the Nazis despised, was introduced to the world by the Jews. Polanyi, coming from Vienna – as well as from a family with Jewish origins – was more than aware of the radically negative attitude and increasing violent behavior of the Nazis towards Jews. Why he passed over mentioning the Jews as the primary focus of Nazi hatred (and the reasons why that was so) in such a foundational and comprehensive essay remains a mystery.

John E. Costello, (2002) John Macmurray. A biography, UK, Floris Books, 234-235.