The Jewish Question/Problem

The problem is defined as the existence of Jews. The so-called “question” refers to how society should address or manage the perceived “problem” posed by Jewish people. This ideology ultimately leads to extreme and dangerous outcomes, such as the rise of Nazism, which implemented the horrific policy known as the Final Solution. The complete and infamous phrase is, “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question.”

The term "Jewish question" was first used in Great Britain around the year 1750, during discussions and debates surrounding the Jewish Naturalisation Act of 1753. This phrase began to appear in political and social discourse at that time as part of broader considerations regarding the status and rights of Jewish people within British society. The debate originated with the topic of Jewish emancipation in western and central European societies, particularly during the transformative period of the Age of Enlightenment and the years following the French Revolution. Central to this discussion were issues such as legal and economic restrictions placed on Jews, including practices like Jewish quotas and segregation. Additionally, the debate encompassed questions of Jewish assimilation into broader society and the cultural and intellectual movement known as the Jewish Enlightenment.

The expression has been used by antisemitic movements from the 1880s onwards, culminating in the horrors of the Holocaust, specifically as part of a Nazi plan known as the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question." Likewise, the phrase was also employed by both proponents and opponents of the establishment of an autonomous Jewish homeland or a sovereign Jewish state, a process that eventually led to the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. Many saw the creation of the Jewish state as a means of “ending the Jewish question” like how Theodor Herzl believed antisemitism would end if all Jews left Europe. Many antisemites also saw it as their way of ridding themselves of Jews.