03/ The Black Death Pogroms (1348–1351)

Do you know why Jewish people were particularly concerned when Robert Kennedy Jr. suggested that Jews of European descent were largely immune to COVID-19?¹ Because the last time a pandemic was blamed on the Jews, it resulted in tens of thousands of Jewish people being killed in pogroms—some being burned alive!²

Between 1348 and 1351, Europe was devastated by the Black Death, a pandemic that killed an estimated one-third to one-half of the population. Cities collapsed under the weight of the plague. Families vanished overnight. Clergy, physicians, and rulers were powerless to stop it.

The 14th-century Carmelite friar Jean de Venette recorded this account in his chronicle: “The plague hit hard and fast. People lay ill little more than two or three days and died suddenly…. He who was well one day was dead the next and being carried to his grave.”³

Must Blame Someone

When tragedy strikes, we look for a scapegoat. However, in a world with no understanding of germs or contagion, people were at a loss. In short order, a convenient culprit for the plague's deadly drive across Europe was found in, who else, the Jews!

As the plague spread across Christian Europe, rumors circulated that Jews had poisoned wells, conspired with foreign powers, or deliberately caused the disease. These accusations had no basis in fact, just like rumors today that Jews control the world’s economy and media. Yet they spread rapidly, fueled by sermons in churches, superstition, and long-standing antisemitic ideas that already portrayed Jewish people as ‘other’—dangerous, corrupt, and hostile to a Christian society.

By this time, “Christianity” for many was more about identity than relationship with Jesus. In the coming century (as we will learn later), King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sought to unite Spain under one religion and unleashed the deadly Inquisition, seeking to force people to convert to Catholicism. This had nothing to do with love of God, but politics. 

What followed the false accusations about the Black Plague was one of the most widespread and lethal waves of anti-Jewish violence in European history.

• Jewish communities were attacked across the Holy Roman Empire, France, Switzerland, and Spain. 

  
  

• In cities such as Strasbourg, Basel, Mainz, Cologne, Erfurt, and Worms, Jews were arrested, tortured into false confessions,⁴ burned alive, drowned, or expelled en masse. 

  
  

• Entire communities that had existed for centuries were destroyed in a matter of days.

Preemptive Killing 

In Strasbourg in 1349—before the plague had even reached the city—approximately two thousand Jews were burned alive in a public massacre. In Basel, Jews were rounded up and burned on an island in the Rhine. In Erfurt, more than a thousand Jews were killed, many choosing death rather than mob violence or forced conversion. Jewish homes were looted, debts erased, and property seized—revealing how fear, greed, and religious hatred reinforced one another.

In other words, the population seized upon the opportunity for economic benefit. If you owed a Jew money, how convenient was his demise and that of his family?!

It should be noted that Jewish people died at the same rate as non-Jewish people from the plague. Authors Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin note:

“A Christian physician, Konrad of Regensburg, in his Buch der Natur, was one of the few Christians to recognize the irrationality of blaming the Jews: ‘But I know that there were more Jews in Vienna than in any other German city familiar to me, and so many of them died of the plague that they were obliged to enlarge their cemetery. To have brought this on themselves would have been folly on their part.’ But the doctor’s reasoning had no impact.”⁵ 

Church Leaders Tried 

What makes the Black Death pogroms especially revealing is that Church authorities often knew the accusations were false. Pope Clement VI issued papal bulls stating explicitly that Jews were not responsible for the plague and condemning violence against them. Some bishops and local rulers attempted to intervene and offer protection. But these efforts frequently failed.

Fear overwhelmed reason. Popular religious zeal overpowered moral restraint. Longstanding theological scapegoating provided a ready-made explanation for catastrophe: if Jews were enemies of Christ, then surely they must be enemies of Christian society. A crisis that should have produced humility instead produced blame. The vast majority had never read Paul’s words urging Gentile believers to embrace God’s heart for the Jews (Romans 9:1-5, 11:11).

The violence was not merely spontaneous mob chaos. It was organized, ritualized, and justified. Jews were subjected to sham trials. Confessions were extracted under torture. Executions were carried out publicly, often framed within a religious worldview that interpreted the killings as acts of moral cleansing. Sermons, accusations of divine punishment, and appeals to Christian righteousness cast the destruction of Jewish life as a way to restore God’s favor, remove spiritual contamination, and purify Christian society in the face of catastrophe. Sadly, this is the same type of speech that we are seeing normalized today—and it is growing.

Deep-seated Anti-Judiasm Made it Possible 

This should trouble Christians deeply.

The Black Death pogroms did not arise from pagan superstition or secular ideology. They emerged within Christian societies shaped by theological anti-Judaism. When disaster struck, those ideas provided moral permission for violence. A terrified majority turned against a defenseless minority, convinced—wrongly—that God was on their side.

The consequences were catastrophic. Entire regions were emptied of Jewish life. Survivors fled eastward, reshaping Jewish history for centuries. The trauma etched itself deeply into Jewish memory as proof that life under Christian rule was conditional and fragile. New Testament theology presents the Christian faith as something to be proclaimed through witness and persuasion, not wielded as a political weapon against vulnerable minorities, as it was under the pagan Caesars. 

Antisemitism Feeds on Crisis 

This history also exposes a pattern that remains painfully relevant. Antisemitism thrives during moments of crisis. When societies face disease, war, or economic instability, conspiracy theories offer simple explanations for complex problems. Jews are cast as hidden manipulators, secret poisoners, or malevolent powers operating behind the scenes.

The Black Death pogroms remind us that violence does not begin with violence. It begins with ideas—rumors left unchallenged, collective guilt normalized, and religious language twisted into justification. When those ideas take hold among a fearful majority, catastrophe follows. 

These events are not remembered to assign guilt across centuries. They are remembered because patterns repeat. Fear still seeks scapegoats. Conspiracy thinking still flourishes in times of uncertainty. And antisemitic tropes—claims of secret power, collective blame, or hidden evil—continue to surface whenever societies are under strain. 

History urges us to recognize those patterns early. During the Black Death, failure to do so cost tens of thousands of Jewish lives. The lesson is not merely historical. It is moral—and urgently present. God promised an end-time revival amongst the Jewish people (Rom. 11:26), and Gentile believers will play a powerful role in provoking them to jealousy, drawing them to the Messiah. But for those who choose another path—hatred and persecution—they may find themselves cut off from the olive tree in which they have been grafted in. Paul was clear: 

For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off (Rom 11:21–22).

I share Paul’s words as a loving warning, not condemnation. It’s very easy to give in to mob rhetoric. It takes courage to take a stand for Yeshua’s physical brothers and sisters.

Afterthoughts to Remember 

1. Papal Condemnation: Pope Clement VI issued bulls in 1348–1349 stating Jews were not responsible for the plague and condemning violence against them (e.g., Quamvis Perfidiam).

   

2. Scale of Violence: Historians estimate tens of thousands of Jews were killed during the Black Death pogroms across Central and Western Europe.

   

3. Well-Poisoning Myth: Modern historians unanimously reject well-poisoning accusations as baseless conspiracy theories fueled by fear and antisemitism.

[1] https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rfk-jr-denies-being-antisemite-expresses-regret-covid-19-comments

[2] “The Jews Are Burnt,” Documents in Western Civilization: The Black Death, accessed January 6, 2026, https://home.uncg.edu/~jwjones/westernciv/readings/plaguedocs.html#:~:text=THE JEWS ARE BURNT,their houses and cremated themselves. [3] Richard A. Newhall, ed., Jean Birdsall, trans., The Chronicle of Jean de Venette (New York: Columbia University Press, 1953), pp. 48-51.

[4] Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin Why the Jews?: The Reason for Antisemitism (An Examination of Antisemitism) (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 95, Kindle.

[5] Prager and Telushkin, 94-95.