# Concerning the Jews > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Concerning_the_Jews > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Concerning_the_Jews.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerning_the_Jews > Source revision: 1315428833 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1899 book by Mark Twain Concerning the Jews First page of 1934 reprint Author Mark Twain Language English Genre Non-fiction Publisher Harper's Monthly Publication date 1899 Publication place United States Media type Print Pages 9 "**Concerning the Jews**" is an 1899 short [essay](/source/Essay) by [Mark Twain](/source/Mark_Twain). Twain had lived in Austria during 1896, and opined that the [Habsburg empire](/source/Habsburg_monarchy) used Jews as [scapegoats](/source/Scapegoating) to maintain unity in their immensely diverse empire. ## Background In 1898 he published the article "Stirring Times in Austria". Twain's account generated several letters, and one poignant response in particular from an [American Jewish](/source/American_Jews) lawyer who asked Twain: "Tell me, therefore, from your vantage-point of cold view, what in your mind is the cause. Can American Jews do anything to correct it either in America or abroad? Will it ever come to an end? Will a Jew be permitted to live honestly, decently, and peaceably like the rest of mankind? What has become of the [golden rule](/source/Golden_Rule)?"[1] In response, Twain penned "Concerning the Jews," which *[Harper's](/source/Harper's_Monthly)* also published in 1899. ## Contents The essay included the statement that Jews did not do their part in terms of fighting in America's armed forces: "He is a frequent and faithful and capable officer in the [civil service](/source/Civil_service), but he is charged with an unpatriotic disinclination to stand by the flag as a soldier – like the [Christian Quaker](/source/Quakers)." However, when [War Department](/source/United_States_Department_of_War) figures revealed that Jewish Americans were actually represented in the nation's military in a larger percentage than their share of the population, Twain issued a retraction and an apology,[2] entitled *Postscript – The Jew as Soldier*.[3] The essay also included a positive account of the Jewish people, with regard to their survival: He has made a marvellous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The [Egyptian](/source/Ancient_Egypt), the [Babylonian](/source/Babylonia), and the [Persian](/source/Persian_Empire) rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the [Greek](/source/Ancient_Greece) and the [Roman](/source/Ancient_Rome) followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?[4] ## Reception Israeli scholar [Bennet Kravitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bennet_Kravitz&action=edit&redlink=1) states that one could just as easily hate Jews for the reasons Twain gives for admiring them. In fact, Twain's essay was cited by Nazi sympathizers in the 1930s. Kravitz concludes, "The flawed logic of 'Concerning the Jews' and all [philo-Semitism](/source/Philo-Semitism) leads to the anti-Semitic beliefs that the latter seeks to deflate".[5] ## See also - [Tolkien and race](/source/Tolkien_and_race#Opposition_to_peacetime_Nazi_racial_theory) - *[The Scattered Nation](/source/The_Scattered_Nation)* (c. 1870), a speech by [Zebulon Vance](/source/Zebulon_Vance) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [page 2 of the facsimile of the 1934 reprint](http://www.s4ulanguages.com/mark-twain.html) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-JTA_2-0)** Tom Tugend, ["Little known museum tells story of Jews in the American military," Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), March 17, 2008.](https://web.archive.org/web/20140714170548/http://www.nmajmh.org/docs/Little_known_museum_tells_story_of_Jews_in_the_American_military.pdf), from [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-PS_3-0)** Twain, Mark (2004). [*The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg*](https://books.google.com/books?id=8J-qLyqQMfwC&q=%22the+jew+as+soldier%22+mark+twain&pg=PA262). 1st World Publishing. p. 262. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781595403254](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781595403254). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Modern History Sourcebook: Mark Twain: "Concerning The Jews"](https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1898twain-jews.asp), *Harper's Magazine*, September 1899. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Kravitz, Bennett (2002). ["Philo-Semitism as Anti-Semitism in Mark Twain's "Concerning the Jews""](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41970387). *Studies in Popular Culture*. **25** (2): 1–12. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0888-5753](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0888-5753). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [41970387](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41970387). ## External links English [Wikisource](/source/Wikisource) has original text related to this article: **[Concerning the Jews](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/en:Concerning_the_Jews)** - ["Concerning the Jews"](https://archive.org/details/harpersmagazine99junalde/page/526/mode/2up), *[Harper's New Monthly Magazine](/source/Harper's_Magazine)*, September 1899, pp. 527–535. At [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive). - ["Concerning the Jews"](http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015056082632;view=1up;seq=551), *[Harper's New Monthly Magazine](/source/Harper's_Magazine)*, September 1899, pp. 527–535. At [HathiTrust](/source/HathiTrust). - ["Concerning the Jews"](https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1898twain-jews.asp) at [Internet History Sourcebooks Project](/source/Internet_History_Sourcebooks_Project) v t e Mark Twain Bibliography Novels The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Prince and the Pauper Adventures of Huckleberry Finn A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court The American Claimant Tom Sawyer Abroad Pudd'nhead Wilson Tom Sawyer, Detective Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc A Double Barrelled Detective Story A Horse's Tale The Mysterious Stranger Hellfire Hotchkiss Short stories "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" "Cannibalism in the Cars" "A Literary Nightmare" "A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage" "The Great Revolution in Pitcairn" 1601 "The Stolen White Elephant" "Luck" "The Million Pound Bank Note" "A Double Barrelled Detective Story" "Those Extraordinary Twins" "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg" "A Dog's Tale" "Extracts from Adam's Diary" "The War Prayer" "Eve's Diary" "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" "My Platonic Sweetheart" "Advice for Good Little Girls" Collections Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance Sketches New and Old Mark Twain's Library of Humor Merry Tales The £1,000,000 Bank Note and Other New Stories The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories Plays Is He Dead? Essays "The Awful German Language" "On the Decay of the Art of Lying" "Advice to Youth" How to Tell a Story and Other Essays "Concerning the Jews" "To the Person Sitting in Darkness" "Edmund Burke on Croker and Tammany" "What Is Man?" "The United States of Lyncherdom" "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" Letters from the Earth Nonfiction Territorial Enterprise letters Letters from Hawaii The Innocents Abroad Roughing It Old Times on the Mississippi A Tramp Abroad Life on the Mississippi Following the Equator Is Shakespeare Dead? Autobiography of Mark Twain (Chapters from My Autobiography) King Leopold's Soliloquy The Private History of a Campaign That Failed Christian Science Speeches "Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism" "Votes for Women" Places and events Family cabin Birthplace State Historic Site State Park Boyhood home and museum Mark Twain Cave Mark Twain in Nevada Territorial Enterprise Sagebrush School Quarry Farm Mark Twain House Stormfield Twain–Ament indemnities controversy Popular culture Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Mark Twain Readers Award Mark Twain Tonight! The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985) Mark Twain (2001 documentary) Twain and Shaw Do Lunch (2011 play) Mark Twain: The Musical Family Olivia Langdon Clemens (wife) Susy Clemens (daughter) Clara Clemens (daughter) Jean Clemens (daughter) John M. Clemens (father) Jane Lampton Clemens (mother) Orion Clemens (brother) Related Jap Herron Center For Mark Twain Studies Mark Twain (book) Mark Twain National Forest Mark Twain Tree National Tom Sawyer Days --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Concerning the Jews](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerning_the_Jews) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerning_the_Jews?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.