Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 that killed millions helped fuel rise of Nazi Party, study finds
A NEW study says that the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 helped fuel right-wing extreme voters, and the rise of the Nazi Party.
The study found that right-wing extremists won more votes in cities that were harder-hit by the pandemic and had a larger number of deaths.
Published earlier this month, from New York Federal Economist Kristian Blickle found that even more than a decade after the pandemic, the number of deaths from the flu was linked with a higher rate of votes for right-wing extremists, like the Nazi Party in Germany.
During the 1918 pandemic, it's estimated that from the flu.
Blickle wrote, "...influenza deaths of 1918 are correlated with an increase in the share of votes won by right-wing extremists, such as the National Socialist Workers Party (aka. the Nazi Party), in the crucial elections of 1932 and 1933."
Cities that saw higher deaths as a result of the pandemic spent less money per capita on residents during the 1920s, the study found.
Lower spending combined with the flu deaths were found to "affect voting for more extremist parties," like the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or the Nazi Party, the study found.
"However, we also show that influenza deaths themselves had a strong effect on the share of votes won by extremists, specifically the extremist national socialist party," the study added.
Blickle said Influenza death rates were linked with a "a 4% increase in the share of vote won by the Nazi Party."
While deaths were associated with higher votes in right-wing extremists, the study said there was a negative link with votes "won by left-leaning extremists."
Although the 1918 pandemic deaths were linked with an increase in votes for right-wing extremists and the Nazi Party, the effects were not the same for other extremist parties, like communists, the paper added.
The study did note there could be other factors that could have influenced the votes, like World War I, which lasted from 1914 to 1918.
Blikle also wrote that younger people were disproportionately killed by the virus, so "the change in demographics may have affected regional attitudes going forward."
In areas where Jews were stronger blamed for medieval plagues – like the Black Death – there was a stronger portion of votes won by right-wing extremists, the study said.
Following WWI, Adolf Hitler – the leader of the Nazi Party – blamed Jews for the country's defeat and the social and economic impacts thereafter, as stated by .
"Moreover, the disease may have fostered a hatred of 'others', as it was perceived to come from abroad," Blickle added.
A study published from Tel Aviv University said that similarly, the global pandemic has sparked a rise in anti-Semitic behavior, the Associated Press reported.
"Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant rise in accusations that Jews, as individuals and as a collective, are behind the spread of the virus or are directly profiting from it,” said Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress.
MOST READ IN NEWS
"The language and imagery used clearly identifies a revival of the medieval ‘blood libels’ when Jews were accused of spreading disease, poisoning wells or controlling economies."
Last month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio after he blasted a group of thousands of people who gathered for a Rabbi's funeral amid the coronavirus outbreak.
De Blasio had warned of a and threatened that he'd ordered NYPD to arrest people found gathering in groups after the incident.