Itzig (ethnophaulism)

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The expression Itzig is an outdated dialect joke name that can designate a smart man or a superior, but above all was / is used as a derogatory collective for Jews .

Origin and meaning

The expression is derived from the Jewish first and family name Yitzchak ( Isaak ), which in Yiddish was often shortened to Itzik . The word initially referred not only to Jews, but to people as a whole who were the target of ridicule. In expressions such as foolish Itzig , crooked Itzig or scheeler Itzig , the mocking meaning for people who are considered stupid, lazy or physically restricted is shown in general. In the Hessian dialect and satirical literature, the well-known family name was already often used as a personal name and synonym for Jews, but was already considered contemptuous and contemptuous, especially in Swabian .

The Itzig type was part of the repertoire of anti-Semitism in literature and journalism and can be identified in numerous jokes , caricatures , mocking verses, songs and books. In Gustav Freytag's novel Soll und haben , for example, the merchant “Veitel Itzig” embodies the stereotype of the immoral, unscrupulous Jew who is greedy for his profit. According to various theories of literary studies, the name "Veitel Itzig" is either a compound from the names of the two "coin Jews" of Frederick II, Veitel Heine Ephraim and Daniel Itzig , or a derivative of Itzig Feitel Stern , a pseudonym under the beginning of the 19th century Century anti-Semitic diatribes (probably written by Heinrich Holzschuher ) were published.

In anti-Semitic propaganda in the 19th century, the term was used as an abuse and was increasingly used in inflammatory pamphlets and on posters. During the Nazi era , Itzig was one of the stigmatizing additions to names. After the Nazi seizure of power, the stereotype was initially used on a massive scale for propaganda purposes, but after the outbreak of the Second World War and the expansion of the deportation of Jews it took a back seat and was increasingly replaced by terms such as Judah or All-Judah , which represented the " Jewish world enemy " who was with all means must be fought.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Peter Althaus: Small lexicon of German words of Yiddish origin . CH Beck, 2010, p. 93
  2. ↑ Hans Peter Althaus: Mauscheln: A word as a weapon . Walter de Gruyter, 2002, p. 257ff
  3. ↑ a b Konrad Kwiet: Itzig . In: Wolfgang Benz : Handbook of Antisemitism: Anti-Semitism in Past and Present . Volume 3, Walter de Gruyter, 2010, pp. 139–141
  4. ^ Larry L. Ping: Debt and Credit . In: Richard S. Levy (Ed.): Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution . Volume 1, ABC – CLIO, 2005, p. 165
  5. ^ Larry L. Ping: Gustav Freytag and the Prussian Gospel: Novels, Liberalism, and History . Verlag Peter Lang, 2006, p. 115
  6. ↑ Martin Gubser: Literarischer Antisemitismus: Investigations on Gustav Freytag and other bourgeois writers of the 19th century . Wallstein Verlag, 1998, p. 237
  7. ↑ Uffa Jensen: educated doppelgangers: bourgeois Jews and Protestants in the 19th century . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005, p. 271
  8. ↑ Monika Schwarz-Friesel , Jehuda Reinharz : The language of hostility towards Jews in the 21st century . Walter de Gruyter, 2012, p. 175