Aristocratic antisemitism targeted Jews as symbols of the state, not as economic rivals

Evidence

Neither economic ties nor social intimacy carried any weight in a situation where aristocracy openly opposed the egalitarian nation-state. Socially, the attack on the state identified the Jews with the government; despite the fact that the middle classes, economically and socially, reaped the real gains in the reforms, politically they were hardly blamed and suffered the old contemptuous aloofness. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 132

Categorization

• XREF: The mechanism — a disaffected group attacking the state through its association with Jews — is a direct precursor to Arendt’s later argument that antisemitism serves as a vehicle for anti-state sentiment, and resonates with the Islamophobia field’s analysis of how Muslims function symbolically as state proxies. — connects to: Jews faced opposing attacks as both capitalist symbols and liberal values incarnate. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1542; Jewish wealth simultaneously attracted antisemitism and enabled socialist identification in heirs