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footnote: In Germany the persecutions of the Jews began with the crusades. "What use is it to seek out the enemies of Christianity in far-away regions, when the blasphemous Jews, who are far worse than the Saracens, are allowed in our midst to abuse Christ and the sacraments", the crusaders argued. Over the centuries it came to banishments, bloody persecutions and burnings alive. (161:2) footnote: Legal history shows what the Christians thought of non-Christians. The lawyer Doepler posed the question: "When a Christian has sexual intercourse with a Jewess or a Jew with a Christian woman, whether this is also to be considered an act of sodomy and is therefore to be punished by death? He was of the opinion that although the case was different (in nature), the act was still to be looked upon as sodomy. The Dutch scholars De Damhouder and Wielant, too, put the intimate association with Turks, Saracens and Jews on a par with that of dogs or of a dead woman, an act which was punished by the death of the Christian partner as well.
(161:3)
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