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What I learned about antisemitism from a remarkable new archive about Jewish Civil War soldiers
(JTA) — Max Glass, a recent immigrant from Hungary, had an unhappy Civil War.
Tricked out of his enlistment bonus when he joined the Eighth Connecticut Infantry — recent arrivals were soft touches for scam artists — Glass was then “abused for reason [sic] that I never understand” by men in his regiment. “It may have been,” he speculated,
becaus I did not make them my companions in drinking, or as I am a Jew. If I went in the street or any wher I was called Jew. Christh Killer & such names. I also had stones, dirt thrown at me.
He complained to his commanding officer, begging to be transferred, because “no man that had feeling could stand such treatment,” but to no avail. Finally, Glass fled his regiment, hoping to receive better treatment if he enlisted in the Navy. Instead he was tried as a deserter and sentenced to hard labor.
Glass was not the only Jewish soldier to be cruelly mistreated when serving in the Union Army. But as the new Shapell Roster of Jewish Service in the Civil War demonstrates, his experience was far from typical.
I explored the Shapell Roster while working on my new book, on the experience of Jewish soldiers in the Union army. What I learned from the vast collection of documents and data was that indifference, benign curiosity and comradeship appear to have been much more common than conflict for the majority of Jewish soldiers in the Union army.
For every Max Glass there was a Louis Gratz. Born in Posen, Prussia, Gratz scraped by as a peddler before the war. Enlisting in April 1861 — just days after the war started — he took to military life. By August he had become an officer. As he proudly wrote to his family,
I have now become a respected man in a respected position, one filled by very few Jews. I have been sent by my general to enlist new recruits so I am today in Scranton, a city in Pennsylvania only twenty miles from Carbondale, where I had peddled before. Before this no one paid any attention to me here; now I move in the best and richest circles and am treated with utmost consideration by Jews and Christians.
In contrast to Max Glass, his letters whisper not a word about prejudice. As my new book on the experience of Jewish soldiers in the Union army demonstrates, Gratz’s experience was not unusual.
Max Glass ultimately escaped his sorry start in the army through the intercession of General Benjamin Butler. After reading Glass’ tale of woe, the general pardoned the hapless Hungarian. In doing so, Butler seemingly followed Abraham Lincoln’s lead when confronted by antisemitism within the Union army. The president, after all, had quickly countermanded Ulysses S. Grant’s General Orders Number 11 expelling Jews from the districts under his command, the “most notorious anti-Jewish official order in American history,”
But alas this story does not have a redemptive ending. Beyond the rank and file, Jews felt the sting of prejudice. The damage done in wartime left a legacy of antisemitism that continues to this day.
For even as General Butler was pardoning Max Glass, he was locked in a heated public exchange that reveals how wartime warped attitudes towards Jews. The imbroglio began when Butler took special note of the fact that a small group of smugglers, recently detained by the Union army, were Jewish. When challenged, the combative general refused to apologize. Instead, he countered that deceit and disloyalty were among the defining characteristics of Jews, and that avarice was a particularly Jewish avocation. According to his logic, Jews could never become loyal Americans because they preferred profit to patriotism.
An 1877 cartoon from the satirical newspaper Puck illustrates the antisemitic practices of the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga, New York. The cartoon compares the corrupt gentile clients favored by the hotel, center, with respectable (albeit stereotypical) Jewish figures, including Jesus. (Library of Congress)
Butler’s corrosive claims reflected a steady drip of acid on the home-front that began in 1861. In the first year of the war, Jews felt the sting of prejudice as the “shoddy” scandals captured the public imagination. Military contractors were publicly accused of fleecing the army by supplying substandard uniforms and gear, even as soldiers shivered in the field for want of decent clothing.
In seeking to explain the profiteering and corruption that attended the rush to war, the press summoned the specter of the venal and disloyal Jew. Cartoonists delighted in identifying Jews as the archetypal cunning contractors, who not only refused to enlist but also actively undermined the war effort. Jews were also imagined as the speculators who profited at the expense of the common good and as smugglers who traded with the enemy. Butler, in other words, was drawing on calumnies that became common currency during wartime.
The contractor, smuggler, speculator and shirker, however, were more than just figures of scorn. Jews and other “shoddy aristocrats” came to be seen as the creators and beneficiaries of the new economic and social order produced by the war. This “shoddy aristocracy” — whose morals and manners marked them as undesirable, whose profits were ill gained, and whose power derived from money alone — was imagined to lord it over a new and unjust social heap summoned into being by the chaos and disruption of war.
Even as the heated rhetoric of the war years receded after 1865, these ideas remained primed for action. They were returned to service in the Gilded Age.
It was no coincidence that the episode traditionally identified as initiating modern antisemitism in America — the exclusion of Joseph Seligman by Henry Hilton from the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs on May 31, 1877 — had at its center a man who had made a fortune as a contractor and banker during the Civil War. Seligman, a friend of President Grant, was viewed as an exemplar of the new capitalism that was remaking America.
Henry Hilton slandered Seligman as “shoddy—false—squeezing—unmanly,” a social climber who “has to push himself upon the polite.” Hilton drew upon themes familiar from wartime antisemitism: the Jew as speculator who trafficked in credit and debt; the Jew as obsequious ingratiator who attached himself to the powerful; the Jew as profiteer who advanced by improper means; the Jew as vulgarian who flaunted his (and her) obscene wealth and did not know his (or her) place; and the Jew as overlord whose money allowed him (or her) to displace others. In short, the “Seligman Jew” was the “shoddy aristocrat” by another name.
In an age of inequality and excess, the antisemite imagined the Jew as embodying all that was wrong with American capitalism. And during an age of mass immigration from Romania and the Russian Empire, they soon added another theme familiar from General Butler’s wartime diatribe: The Jew could not be trusted to become fully American.
Sadly, even as Louis Gratz, Max Glass and many other Jewish soldiers became American by serving in the Union army, the Civil War produced a range of pernicious ideas about Jews that have proven remarkably durable. We have escaped the everyday torments that afflicted Max Glass, but are still haunted in the present by the fantasies of Benjamin Butler and Henry Hilton.
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Zara Announces Partnership With Designer John Galliano, Who Has History of Antisemitic Comments
A Zara shop. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Zara announced on Wednesday a two-year creative partnership with John Galliano, who was fired as creative director of the French fashion house Christian Dior after being caught on camera going on a drunken antisemitic rant in 2011.
Zara said the British fashion designer, 65, “will re-author the brand’s archives through a series of seasonal collections,” which will be released seasonally during the partnership that will begin in September. “Mr. Galliano will be working directly with garments from Zara’s past seasons, deconstructing and reconfiguring them into new seasonal expressions and creations,” the Spanish company added.
Galliano spent two seasons with Givenchy before taking over in 1996 as creative director of Dior, which he helmed for 15 years. He was the creative director of the Paris-based fashion house Maison Margiela for 10 years, from 2014-2024. He has won the British Fashion Designer of the Year four times.
In February 2011, Galliano was accused of accosting a couple at the Paris restaurant La Perle in the Marais district. The couple, a Jewish woman and her Asian boyfriend, said the British designer told them: “Dirty Jewish face, you should be dead” and “f–king Asian bastard, I will kill you.” The incident led to Galliano’s arrest.
After the incident, a video surfaced that showed Galliano, in the same restaurant, making antisemitic comments at patrons while drunk in October 2010. He also expressed admiration for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. “I love Hitler and people like you would be dead today,” he said. “Your mothers, your forefathers would be f–king gassed and f–king dead … you, you’re ugly.”
Dior fired Galliano in 2011 shortly after the video of his drunken antisemitic remarks were widely circulated. Galliano also faced a one-day trial in Paris, after being charged with “public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race, or ethnicity” related to the incidents in 2011 and the year prior. He was ordered to pay a fine equivalent to $8,500 for making the antisemitic insults, and damages to each of his victims as well as to five anti-racism groups who were also complainants.
Galliano claimed he has no recollection of making the offensive remarks and blamed his actions on drug and alcohol addiction. He also denied being an antisemite or racist, and apologized for “allowing myself to be seen to be behaving in the worst possible light.”
“I fully accept that the accusations made against me have greatly shocked and upset people,” the designer said in 2011. “I only have myself to blame and I know that I must face up to my own failures and that I must work hard to gain people’s understanding and compassion.”
“I have fought my entire life against prejudice, intolerance, and discrimination, having been subjected to it myself,” he added. “In all my work my inspiration has been to unite people of every race, creed, religion, and sexuality by celebrating their cultural and ethnic diversity through fashion. Antisemitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologize for my behavior in causing any offense.”
He told Vanity Fair in June 2013 that his antisemitic comments were “the worst thing I have said in my life.”
“But I didn’t mean it,” Galliano said. “I have been trying to find out why that anger was directed at this race. I now realize I was so f–king angry and so discontent with myself that I just said the most spiteful thing I could.”
He also apologized in his 2024 documentary, “High & Low — John Galliano.” He admitted in the film, “It was a disgusting thing, foul thing that I did. It was just horrific … I couldn’t recognize that person. I felt horrified. Ashamed. Embarrassed.”
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CAIR Sends Separate Letters to US Lawmakers Praising Democrats, Challenging Republicans on ‘Anti-Muslim Bigotry’
CAIR officials give press conference on the Israel-Hamas war. Photo: Kyle Mazza / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent Muslim advocacy organization that has been scrutinized by US authorities over alleged ties to terrorist groups, has sent two separate letters to Democratic and Republican congressional offices, calling on lawmakers to confront what it described as rising anti-Muslim rhetoric and to reaffirm commitments to religious freedom.
In its March 13 letter to Democratic offices, CAIR praised statements by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and others who have spoken out against anti-Muslim hate, urging lawmakers to go further by pursuing formal censure actions against Republican members accused of making inflammatory comments.
In a separate letter to Republicans, the organization struck a more critical tone, calling on the party to reaffirm its support for religious liberty and to distance itself from rhetoric it says targets Muslim Americans.
“At moments like this, the voices of elected leaders defending constitutional values matter greatly. We encourage Democratic offices to remain vigilant in confronting anti-Muslim bigotry using the full range of congressional tools, including the pursuit of censure resolutions against Rep. Fine and Rep. Ogles,” the letter to Democrats read, referring to Republican Reps. Randy Fine (FL) and Andy Ogles (TN).
CAIR pointed to remarks attributed to several Republican lawmakers, including Fine, Ogles, and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (AL), arguing that such statements contribute to a climate of hostility toward Muslims. Earlier this month, Ogles wrote on X that “Muslims don’t belong in America. Pluralism is a lie.” Meanwhile, Fine posted, “We need more Islamophobia, not less. Fear of Islam is rational.:
The organization also criticized the formation of the “Sharia-Free America” Caucus, claiming its policy proposals could infringe on the religious freedoms of Muslim Americans. The caucus, comprised of more than 50 Republican House members, declares that Sharia, or Islamic law, is a “direct threat to our Constitution and Western values and seeks to replace our legal system and erode our basic freedoms.”
At the same time, CAIR framed its appeal to Republicans within the party’s historical identity, invoking the “big tent” vision associated with Ronald Reagan. The group noted that Muslim American voters have, at times, supported Republican candidates, but argued that relationship has eroded in the years following the Iraq War.
The group warned that the “potential relationship between the Republican Party and American Muslim voters is rapidly deteriorating as anti-Muslim rhetoric from elected officials goes unchallenged by Republican leadership.”
CAIR’s criticism of political rhetoric comes amid renewed attention to the organization’s own history. Founded in 1994, CAIR has long denied allegations of links to extremist groups, but it has faced scrutiny over past associations. The group was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal prosecution related to the Holy Land Foundation trial, a case involving the largest terrorism financing conviction in US history. While that designation did not result in criminal charges against CAIR, it has been cited by critics as a point of concern.
In addition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced in 2008 that it would suspend formal cooperation with CAIR pending further clarity about such concerns. CAIR has consistently rejected allegations of wrongdoing, stating that it condemns terrorism and supports constitutional principles.
Critics have also pointed to past statements by some CAIR officials and the organization’s positions on US foreign policy, particularly regarding Israel and the Middle East, as evidence of ideological bias.
Supporters, however, argue that CAIR plays a significant role in defending civil liberties for Muslim Americans and documenting discrimination. Several high-ranking members of CAIR openly celebrated and defended Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, a terrorist attack that left over 1,200 dead and more than 250 hostages.
In January, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott formally designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations under state law, citing in part what officials described as longstanding ideological and operational ties with Islamist movements hostile to the US and its allies.
Abbott’s proclamation described CAIR as a “successor organization” to the Muslim Brotherhood and noted the FBI called it a “front group” for “Hamas and its support network.” The document also outlined the history of the organizations and their historical associations with figures and networks tied to Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist group.
“The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” Abbott said in a statement while announcing the designations last month. “These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”
In December, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also signed an executive order designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist groups.
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Trump Hails Japanese Leader, Says Tokyo ‘Really Stepping Up to the Plate’ on Iran
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 19, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US President Donald Trump greeted Japan‘s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warmly at the White House on Thursday and said he believed Japan was “really stepping up to the plate” on Iran, unlike the NATO alliance.
Trump has lashed out at allies for their lukewarm support for the US-Israeli military campaign and said the US doesn’t need any help. However, he is still pushing for more ships to clear mines and escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, largely closed by Iran in the conflict.
Ahead of the meeting, Japan joined leading nations in Europe in a joint statement, saying they would take steps to stabilize energy markets and were ready to join “appropriate efforts” to ensure safe passage through the Strait.
Trump hailed Takaichi’s election victory last month as “record setting” as he welcomed her at the Oval Office. He said they would “be talking about trade and many other things,” including Iran.
“We’ve had tremendous support and relationship with Japan on everything, and I believe that based on statements that were given to us yesterday, the day before yesterday, having to do with Japan, they are really stepping up to the plate … unlike NATO,” Trump said.
He said he expected Japan to step up given the support the US gave the country and the tens of thousands of troops it has stationed there.
“We don’t need much; we don’t need anything,” Trump said. “We don’t need anything from Japan or from anyone else. But I think it’s appropriate that people step up.”
Takaichi told Trump she had “brought specific proposals to calm down the global energy market” and said Iran must never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Takaichi condemned Iran‘s attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and said she believed only Trump could achieve peace. She also said the global economy was about to take a hit due to the turmoil in the Middle East.
At the same time, Takaichi said Tokyo had been reaching out to Iran.
Unlike Washington, Tokyo has diplomatic relations with Tehran, creating a potential avenue for diplomacy in any moves to end the war, although past attempts by Japan to mediate with Tehran in 2019 were unsuccessful.
JAPAN RELIES ON CRUDE OIL FROM GULF
Takaichi’s long-scheduled White House visit has been aimed at burnishing the decades-old security and economic partnership between Washington and its closest East Asian ally, but there have been concerns among Japanese officials that Trump will press her to do more than she is able to on Iran.
Takaichi has sought to move Japan away from a pacifist constitution imposed by Washington after World War Two, but with the Iran war unpopular at home, she has so far not offered to assist in clearing the Strait of Hormuz.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier he would expect that Japan, which gets a large share of its crude oil supplies from the Gulf, would want to ensure its supplies are safe.
He told Fox Business Network Japan‘s navy has some of the best minesweepers and mine-detection capabilities and that he believed Japan would release more of its large petroleum reserve to supply the strained oil market.
Takaichi told the Japanese parliament on Monday Japan had received no official request from the United States on Iran but was checking the scope of possible action within the limits of its constitution.
Trump said a lot of his discussions with Takaichi would be about energy. Takaichi said they would discuss economic security in areas like energy and minerals.
Japanese officials said Takaichi hoped to remind Trump of the dangers posed by a regionally assertive China – especially to Taiwan – ahead of his planned visit there, which has now been pushed back from an earlier plan him to visit in two weeks.
On Wednesday US intelligence agencies created potential awkwardness for Takaichi when they said that remarks she made last year in support of Taiwan marked a “significant shift” for a Japanese leader.
Takaichi has maintained that her stance, which sent Tokyo’s relations with Beijing into a nosedive, was consistent with Japan‘s long-standing policy and Japan‘s government spokesperson said the US assessment was not accurate.
In the Oval Office, Takaichi said Japan was open to dialogue with China.
Japan expects Trump to ask Tokyo to produce or co-develop missiles that could help replace stocks of US munitions depleted by the Iran war and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Tokyo is still considering how to respond, Japanese government sources said.
Takaichi will also tell Trump that Japan intends to join the “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative that is meant to detect, track and potentially counter incoming threats from orbit, two Japanese government sources said.
She is expected to announce a fresh Japanese investment in Trump-approved projects in the US, from a $550 billion commitment made by the government to win relief from tariffs the US president imposed last year.
Japan could pledge some $60 billion as part of the second tranche of its investments spanning critical minerals and energy, said a person familiar with the plans, after already committing to three projects valued at $36 billion.