Just learnt there's a connection between #vampires and #jews.
- Dracula in Bram Stokers book is described with typical 19th century caricatures of Jews: hooked nose, hairy body, prominent facial features, "Oriental" appearance, etc.
- Eastern European who comes to London, rootless, threatening and parasitic - the same type of image often used of Jewish immigrants in the contemporary British press.
- Associated with money and greed: extremely rich, secret treasures, and in one scene he literally "bleeds" gold and banknotes from his clothes when he is attacked.
- The story uses blood symbolism that is close to the "blood libel" myth (the accusation that Jews use Christian blood in rituals), while Dracula drinks blood and is associated with ritual transgressions against Christianity.
- Draculas helper, Immanuel Hildesheim, is a “Hebrew” with stereotypical features (nose, greed) who helps him in return for payment, which reinforces the connection between Jews and evil/conspiracy.
- Several scholars believe that Dracula also builds on the literary figure “the eternal Jew” / “Wandering Jew” as a symbol of the condemned, rootless stranger.
- Studies of the vampire motif show that in the late 19th century there was a fusion between the image of the “Jew” and the vampire: both are portrayed as parasites that suck the life force and “contaminate” the blood of the host population.
- Nazi propaganda then took over the metaphor outright: Jews were described as “vampires” and “bloodsuckers”, and films like Nosferatu were read into that narrative.
