Jews

==== War and persecution ====
{{further|Persecution of Jews|Antisemitism|Jewish military history}}
[[File:The Emperor sends Vespasian with an army to destroy the Jews (f. 177v) Cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|The Roman Emperor [[Nero]] sends [[Vespasian]] with an army to destroy the Jews, 69 CE.]]

The Jewish people and [[Judaism]] have experienced various [[persecution]]s throughout [[Jewish history]]. During [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]] the [[Roman Empire]] (in its later phases known as the [[Byzantine Empire]]) repeatedly repressed the [[History of the Jews in the Roman Empire|Jewish population]], first by ejecting them from their homelands during the pagan [[Roman era]] and later by officially establishing them as [[Justinian I#Suppression of religions|second-class citizens]] during the Christian Roman era.<ref>Goldenberg (2007), pp. 131, 135–36.</ref><ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 164–65.</ref>

According to [[James P. Carroll|James Carroll]], "Jews accounted for 10% of the total population of the [[Roman Empire]]. By that ratio, if other factors had not intervened, there would be 200&nbsp;million Jews in the world today, instead of something like 13&nbsp;million."<ref>Carroll, James. ''[[Constantine's Sword]]'' (Houghton Mifflin, 2001) {{ISBN|0-395-77927-8}} p. 26</ref>

Later in [[Middle Ages|medieval]] Western Europe, further persecutions of Jews by Christians occurred, notably during the [[Crusades]]—when Jews all over Germany [[Rhineland massacres|were massacred]]—and in a series of expulsions from the [[Edict of Expulsion|Kingdom of England]], Germany, and France. Then there occurred the [[Alhambra Decree|largest expulsion of all]], when Spain and Portugal, after the [[Reconquista]] (the Catholic Reconquest of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]), expelled both unbaptized Sephardic Jews and the ruling Muslim [[Moors]].<ref name="Johnson207-208" /><ref name="Johnson213plus" />

In the [[Papal States]], which existed until 1870, Jews were required to live only in specified neighborhoods called [[ghetto]]s.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 243–44.</ref>
[[File:The Jews the world over love liberty poster.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[World War I]] poster showing a soldier cutting the bonds from a Jewish man, who says, "You have cut my bonds and set me free—now let me help you set others free!"]]
[[Islam and Judaism]] have a complex relationship. Traditionally Jews and Christians living in Muslim lands, known as [[dhimmis]], were allowed to practice their religions and administer their internal affairs, but they were subject to certain conditions.<ref name="Bernard1020">Lewis (1984), pp. 10, 20</ref> They had to pay the [[jizya]] (a per capita tax imposed on free adult non-Muslim males) to the Islamic state.<ref name="Bernard1020" /> Dhimmis had an inferior status under Islamic rule. They had several social and legal [[Disabilities (Jewish)|disabilities]] such as prohibitions against bearing arms or giving testimony in courts in cases involving Muslims.<ref>Lewis (1987), pp. 9, 27</ref> Many of the disabilities were highly symbolic. The one described by [[Bernard Lewis]] as "most degrading"<ref name=Lewis131 /> was the requirement of [[Yellow badge|distinctive clothing]], not found in the [[Quran]] or [[hadith]] but invented in [[Early Middle Ages|early medieval]] Baghdad; its enforcement was highly erratic.<ref name=Lewis131>Lewis (1999), p.131</ref> On the other hand, Jews rarely faced martyrdom or exile, or forced compulsion to change their religion, and they were mostly free in their choice of residence and profession.<ref>Lewis (1999), p. 131; (1984), pp. 8, 62</ref>

Notable exceptions include the massacre of Jews and forcible conversion of some Jews by the rulers of the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohad]] dynasty in [[Al-Andalus]] in the 12th century,<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 52; Stillman (1979), p. 77</ref> as well as in [[Islamic conquest of Persia|Islamic Persia]],<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 17–18, 94–95; Stillman (1979), p. 27</ref> and the forced confinement of Moroccan Jews to walled quarters known as [[mellah]]s beginning from the 15th century and especially in the early 19th century.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 28.</ref> In modern times, it has become commonplace for standard [[Anti-Zionism and antisemitism|antisemitic themes to be conflated with anti-Zionist]] publications and pronouncements of Islamic movements such as [[Hezbollah]] and [[Hamas]], in the pronouncements of various agencies of the [[Iran|Islamic Republic of Iran]], and even in the newspapers and other publications of Turkish [[Refah Partisi]]."<ref name=Lewis_MEQ>{{cite journal|url=http://www.meforum.org/396/muslim-anti-semitism|title=Muslim Anti-Semitism|first=Bernard|last=Lewis|author-link=Bernard Lewis|journal=Middle East Quarterly|publisher=Middle East Forum|date=June 1998}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}}

Throughout history, many rulers, empires and nations have oppressed their Jewish populations or sought to eliminate them entirely. Methods employed ranged from [[Deportation|expulsion]] to outright [[genocide]]; within nations, often the threat of these extreme methods was sufficient to silence dissent. The [[history of antisemitism]] includes the [[First Crusade]] which resulted in the massacre of Jews;<ref name="Johnson207-208">Johnson (1987), pp. 207–08.</ref> the [[Spanish Inquisition]] (led by [[Tomás de Torquemada]]) and the [[Portuguese Inquisition]], with their persecution and ''[[Auto-da-fé|autos-da-fé]]'' against the [[New Christians]] and [[Marrano]] Jews;<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 226–29.</ref> the [[Bohdan Chmielnicki]] Cossack massacres in [[Ukraine]];<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 259–60.</ref> the [[Pogrom]]s backed by the Russian [[List of Russian rulers|Tsars]];<ref name="Johnson 1987, pp. 364–365">Johnson (1987), pp. 364–65.</ref> as well as expulsions from Spain, Portugal, England, France, Germany, and other countries in which the Jews had settled.<ref name="Johnson213plus">Johnson (1987), pp. 213, 229–31.</ref> According to a 2008 study published in the ''[[American Journal of Human Genetics]]'', 19.8&nbsp;percent of the modern [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] population has Sephardic Jewish ancestry,<ref name="Adams2008">{{cite journal|last=Adams|first=Susan M.|year=2008|title=The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=83|issue=6|pages=725–36|issn=0002-9297|doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.007|pmid=19061982|pmc=2668061}}</ref> indicating that the number of [[converso]]s may have been much higher than originally thought.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/world/europe/04iht-gene.4.18411385.html|title=DNA study shows 20 percent of Iberian population has Jewish ancestry|newspaper=The New York Times|date=4 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=Susan M. |last2=Bosch |first2=Elena |last3=Balaresque |first3=Patricia L. |last4=Ballereau |first4=Stéphane J. |last5=Lee |first5=Andrew C. |last6=Arroyo |first6=Eduardo |last7=López-Parra |first7=Ana M. |last8=Aler |first8=Mercedes |last9=Grifo |first9=Marina S. Gisbert |last10=Brion |first10=Maria |last11=Carracedo |first11=Angel |last12=Lavinha |first12=João |last13=Martínez-Jarreta |first13=Begoña |last14=Quintana-Murci |first14=Lluis |last15=Picornell |first15=Antònia |last16=Ramon |first16=Misericordia |last17=Skorecki |first17=Karl |last18=Behar |first18=Doron M. |last19=Calafell |first19=Francesc |last20=Jobling |first20=Mark A. |title=The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=December 2008 |volume=83 |issue=6 |pages=725–736 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.007 |pmid=19061982 |pmc=2668061 }}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv N 1576 Bild-006, Minsk, Juden.jpg|thumb|Jews in [[Minsk]], 1941. Before World War II, some 40&nbsp;percent of the population was Jewish. By the time the Red Army retook the city on 3 July 1944, there were only a few Jewish survivors.]]
The persecution reached a peak in [[Nazi Germany]]'s [[Final Solution]], which led to [[the Holocaust]] and the slaughter of approximately 6&nbsp;million Jews.<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 512.</ref> Of the world's 16&nbsp;million Jews in 1939, almost 40% were murdered in the Holocaust.<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 February 2015 |title=The continuing decline of Europe's Jewish population |url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/09/europes-jewish-population/ |archive-date=1 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401012738/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/09/europes-jewish-population/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Holocaust—the state-led systematic [[persecution]] and [[genocide]] of European Jews (and certain communities of North African Jews in [[History of North Africa#European colonization|European controlled North Africa]]) and other [[minority group]]s of Europe during [[World War II]] by Germany and its [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborators]]—remains the most notable modern-day persecution of Jews.<ref>Donald L Niewyk, ''The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust'', [[Columbia University Press]], 2000, p. 45: "The Holocaust is commonly defined as the murder of more than 5,000,000 Jews by the Germans in World War II." However, the Holocaust usually includes all of the different victims who were systematically murdered.</ref> The persecution and [[genocide]] were accomplished in stages. [[Nuremberg Laws|Legislation to remove the Jews from civil society]] was enacted years before the outbreak of [[World War II]].<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 484–88.</ref> [[Nazi concentration camps|Concentration camps]] were established in which inmates were used as [[Slavery|slave labour]] until they died of exhaustion or disease.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 490–92.</ref> Where the [[Nazi Germany|Third Reich]] conquered new territory in [[Eastern Europe]], specialized units called [[Einsatzgruppen]] murdered Jews and political opponents in mass shootings.<ref name="BBC-Grave">{{cite news|title=Ukrainian mass Jewish grave found|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6724481.stm|newspaper=BBC News Online|date=5 June 2007|access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref> Jews and [[Romani people|Roma]] were crammed into [[Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe|ghettos]] before being transported hundreds of kilometres by freight train to [[extermination camp]]s where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were murdered in gas chambers.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 493–98.</ref> Virtually every arm of Germany's bureaucracy was involved in the logistics of the mass murder, turning the country into what one Holocaust scholar has called "a genocidal nation."<ref name=Berenbaum103>Berenbaum, Michael. ''The World Must Know," United States Holocaust Museum'', 2006, p. 103.</ref>