Antisemitism in medical-natural science and philosophical writings of Paracelsus

During the "Third Reich", the famous German medical doctor Paracelsus (1493/94-1541) was often honoured as a forerunner of certain aspects of the "Nazi"-ideology. Especially some invectives against jews in his medical writings were often quoted in this context. But was he really the "racial" antisemite as the Nazis wanted to see him? In the present study the authors demonstrate in detail that Paracelsus, like many christian scholars in the early modern period, indeed was a propagator of a clear-cut antisemitism. But although he often used antisemitic stereotypes, his antisemitism was in no way "racial", and he was not one of the extremely radical antisemites of his time.