Antisemitism in Spain

Jews have been living in what is today Spain since the Roman times, known in Hebrew as the Sepharad. Antisemitism has existed in Spain for as long as Jews have been there.

Middle Ages
The 7th century saw the Catholic Visigothic Kingdom ordering Jews to convert or leave, followed by the 12th-century Almohad Caliphate forcing Jews to convert or be killed, which drove the notable Jewish philosopher Maimonides into exile. Under Henry III of Castile and León (1390–1406), Jews had to pick baptism or death in reconquered Iberia.

Modern period

From 1478 to 1834, the Catholic Spanish Empire unleashed a systematic campaign of persecution of Jews, historically known as the Spanish Inquisition, 







  due to its belief that Jews who converted to Catholicism (conversos) were mostly faking as Christians, including those forcibly converted following the Alhambra Decree, or the Edict of Expulsion. 

As many as 300,000 Jews under Catholic Spanish rule were killed over the false charge of "crypto-Judaism", a charge slapped on Jews who were forcibly converted. Some historians saw the Spanish Inquisition as racially motivated, serving as a turning point in the transition of anti-Judaism into antisemitism.


Between 1939 and 1975, antisemitic conspiracy theories formed the main theme of Francoist propaganda, especially the charge of "Judeo-Bolshevism" once promoted by Nazi Germany to justify the Holocaust. Isabel M. Peralta, a far-right Spanish figure, said in a 2021 rally that "Zionist and certain strata of that race [Jews] are the people that control the world," referring to the more common false claim.

21st century

For the past decade, movements within Spain have emerged to rewrite the history of the Spanish Inquisition. Members of the movements released a series of books, films, TV programs and mobile exhibitions to beautify the Inquisition-associated Spanish history. 

In 2024, Spanish Jews make up 0.093% of Spain's population of 48,370,000. In April, the Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience found that at least 36 attacks had happened to Spanish Jews between 7 October 2023 and 19 April 2024, about six attacks per month. In July, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights found that 78% of Spanish Jews saw antisemitism as a big problem in Spain.

Related pages
Lisbon massacre
Spanish Inquisition

References

Category:History of Spain
Category:Antisemitism in Europe