Was Karl Marx Jewish? - The Jewish Standard

He had Jewish ancestry, but he was actually a lapsed Christian. And an atheist. And an anti-Semite.
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Answers.com gives the misleading answer: Yes. “He was ethnically Jewish.” But his parents, Answers.com also notes, had converted to Lutheranism-to avoid anti-Semitism.
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Abraham H. Foxman, in his new book, “Jews and Money,” states unequivocally that Marx was not Jewish ““ “although anti-Semites have ‘accused’ him of this for generations.” His father had converted, “partly for social reasons, partly due to sincere conviction.”
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Marx apparently was born Jewish — in 1818. His father had converted to Lutheranism in 1816 or 1817; his mother converted when Karl was 7, in 1825. Karl was baptized when he was 6, in 1824. The home he grew up in was non-religious.
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So the correct answer seems to be: yes and no. Are you talking about his genes or about his religion?
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To insist that someone with Jewish ancestry, who has converted, remains Jewish tends to be an anti-Semitic attitude. Richard Wagner insisted that the music critic, Eduard Hanslick, was Jewish, even though he was raised Christian – to maintain that Hanslick’s views were tainted. (He had reservations about Wagner’s music.) And Wagner, of course, was one of the world’s most vicious anti-Semites.
Felix Mendelssohn was a special case. His parents had him converted at age 7, but he continued to think of himself as both Jewish and Christian. Wagner, of course, considered him Jewish.
If a Jew who converts is considered Jewish, then, of course, Jesus always remained Jewish.
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What does it matter? In the case of Marx, considering him Jewish supports the nonsensical anti-Semitic allegation that Communism is a “Jewish plot.”

Boroson's Anecdotage

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