Napoleon Sighting #006: Jewish Freedoms

   "Since the 1940s, it has become fashionable in some quarters to  compare Napoleon with Hitler. Nothing could be more degrading to the former and more flattering to the latter. The comparison is odious." I'll let you read the rest of David Chandler's defense, which can be found in his introduction (page xliii) to The Campaigns of Napoleon, but this trend is intensely appalling to me. Indeed, I have recently read several articles that compare L'Empereur to Stalin and Hitler. Yet, no substantial comparisons can be drawn. Napoleon enacted widespread legislation that freed the Jews from hateful discrimination, unlike Hitler. Additionally, he ended the widespread political massacres of the French Revolution, unlike Stalin, who heightened massacres in order to keep his stranglehold on the Russian people. In this sighting, I will focus on and refute the comparison between the monstrous Hitler and Napoleon.

   Continually, Napoleon enacted legislation to prevent the oppression of the Jewish people. In his early career at Malta, he learned that the Jews were prevented from worshiping in their synagogues. Instantly, Napoleon put reforms in place to change this. As he was occupying Palestine, he prepared a document that would establish an independent Jewish homeland in the region. Although he was unable to put this in place as a result of his inability to capture Acre, the concept is still radically ahead of Napoleon's time.

   Once he gained control of France, these tolerate, even modern, policies were continued. In Paris, Jews were not allowed to engage in business or government and could not purchase property. In a new law, put in place on April 8th, 1802, Napoleon declared that "Jews should participate as equals, like all other religions as permitted by our laws." As such, he again granted the Jews rights previously denied to them.

   Additionally, the Wars of the Coalitions provided for an another opportunity to further Jewish freedoms. Whenever Napoleon conquered a region, he applied the French Civil Code to the new territory. This included the application of Jewish toleration. Because of this, he closed ghettos, allowing for equal housing. He ended property and business restrictions and generally ensured that the Jewish people were allowed to practice their religious beliefs with dignity and equality. In fact, the Jewish people were so indebted to Napoleon that, in 1807, the Jews of France offered a specific prayer thanking God for Napoleon and his tolerate rule.

   By contrast, Hitler's animalistic behavior towards the Jewish people defies all human understanding. Indeed, this barbarity is truly incomprehensible. As such, the two men are radically different. Truly, any comparison between Napoleon and Hitler is simply unfounded, hurtful, and maddening.