(Jewish Group) This day in history: May 5th: Blame the Jews Day (1881)

[MosheFeingold]

2. Little Trivia

But my grandfather moved from what-is-now-Crimea (I think) to the border of Poland/Germany about this time "to be safe." (It kind of worked, for a bit, but that is another story.)

Back in Crimea, his family were tax collectors for the Tsar --- a common profession for Jews, due to high literacy/math rates, but especially chosen by the Tsar as such because they were outsiders and deemed less corrupt than locals.

More subtly, being a tax collector was a ticket to the rare middle class, which the Tsar viewed as a threat to his power, so the Tsar also picked the Jews specifically because they were hated and thus would not have a power base from which to cause trouble with their newfound middle class money.

And also, from the Jewish perspective, being the Tsar's agents brought the defense of the Tsar's army and internal police. Nice things when hated.

Assad did much the same with Christians in Syria, as did Saddam in Iraq -- they were the middle class, but not a threat to power. The Christians become a pet minority for both thugs. And now they are borderline extinct.

Anyway, using a hated minority in this "favored" manner is a common tack of strong men on whom the crown rests uneasily, and is part of the lesson for our people (and others) about the dangers of this arrangement.