Page 33 - The Track Of The Jew Through The Ages - Alfred Rosenberg

Alfred Rosenberg

because they depend on nothing but their haggling they cannot all
29
earn enough through trade". The Jews, as it turned out, often
advanced money to the Pasha in false coins, they supervised the
customs, "where they mostly mistreated the Christians", likewise
they have the collection of taxes in Syria, Palestine and Egypt, 30
and Sargredo gives his impression in the following strong language:
"Meanness is in Constantinople as it were a common prostitute, as
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whose procurers the Jews act".
How it went in Portugal and France will be discussed later;
as regards Spain, the Jews were already known there from the earliest
times as the most unscrupulous of slave-traders, oppressed the local
inhabitants through their immeasurable wealth and were able to strike
down laws passed for the protection of the Christians or to prevent
their enforcement. Finally the rigorous methods of forced baptism
and expulsion were resorted to. The former naturally resulted in
nothing, and we note for centuries a rise and fall in the battle of
money with citizens' rights, accompanied by religious fanaticism
32
on both sides.
"From the earliest times", reports a Jewish historian, "the
Jews conducted the financial and exchange businesses, which were
given the title of usury by the anti-Jewish chroniclers". 33 Since the
same historian admits, at the beginning of his work, that the Jews
29
Beschreibung des Serails, Ch.10, [Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-1689) was a
French traveller who visited Constantinople in 1 63 1 His acccount of his voyages
.
was published in 1 676 as Les six voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.]
30
Thevenot, Reisebeschreibung, Ch.78, p.369. [Jean de Thevenot (1633-1667)
was a French traveller who travelled extensively in the Near East. A collected
edition of his travel writings, Voyages, was published posthumously in 1689.]
31
Neueroffnete Ottomanische Pforte. [Giovanni Sagredo (tr. Paul Rycaut) Die
neu-eroffnete Ottomanische Pforte, Augsburg, 1694. Sagredo (1617-1682) was a
Venetian diplomat whose history ofthe Ottomans was originally published in 1673
as Memorie istoriche de 'monarchi ottomani.]
32
For more details, see the excellent and concise representation of Heman, Die
historische Weltstellung der Juden, Leipzig, 1882. [Carl Friedrich Heman, Die
historische Weltstellung der Juden und die moderne Judenfrage. Heman (1839-
1919) was born of a Jewish father who converted to Protestantism. He worked
both as Protestant priest and professor of philosophy and wrote about philosophy,
theology and Jewish history.]
33
Kayserling, Die Juden in Navarra, p.43.
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