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Lutherans are not anti-Semitic

To the editor:

A man who often ridicules the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), on which Judaism is based, blamed Christianity for anti-Semitism even though it is a Semitic religion with a Jewish savior. His Nov. 4 letter criticized Luther’s anti-Semitic “The Jews and Their Lies,” which is not part of Lutheranism.

A Jew (Max Dimont) defended Luther in “Jews, God and History.” He said Luther became bitter when Jews didn’t express gratitude after he defended them against their enemies. He was also affected by failing health when he condemned the Jews near the end of his life.

The letter quoted from “The War Against the Jews” by Lucy Dawidowicz. After Germany’s reunification (1990) that “objective” historian said publicly, “I hate Germans.” (Even critics of bigotry can be bigots!)

Did she hate members of the German army who rescued Jews from the Nazis? What about Adm. Karl Doenitz, who protected Jews in the German navy, and also their families.

In 1990, when she made her anti-German remark, Germans younger than 45 hadn’t even lived during the Nazi era. Those 45-48 in 1990 were children in the Third Reich and committed no atrocities. (Most Germans were not Nazis).

Hitler wasn’t Lutheran or born in Germany. His ancestry was Austrian, Bavarian and Czech. He was from a Catholic family in Austria-Hungary but wasn’t a devout Catholic.

Hitler rejected Christianity because of its Jewish origins. He wanted to replace the Bible with his own book, “Mein Kampf,” in a return to paganism.

Lutheran Sweden became a safe haven for Jews, and Lutheran Finland sent its Jewish citizens there to protect them from the Nazis.

Radical socialist Karl Marx, who was of Jewish ancestry, and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, despised the Jews. Marx and Stalin were atheists.

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