On this day: The beginning of the Klu Klux Klan

Perhaps the most significant event involving the KKK and anti-Jewish behaviour was the Leo Frank case of 1913. Frank was a Jewish factory manager from Georgia who was falsely convicted of raping and murdering a teenage female employee. The case, with which the media had a field day, spurred antisemitism strengthened the KKK in the state.

Two years later, with his guilt in question, Frank’s sentence was commuted to life in jail. In response, a mob linked to the KKK abducted him from jail and lynched him.

Today, the KKK’s anti-Jewish activity tends to be in terms of links with neo-Nazi organisations such as Stormfront. In 2009, American white supremacist David Duke - a former leader of the KKK - was arrested in Prague on suspicion of denying the Holocaust.

Now classified as “a racist, antisemitic movement with a commitment to extreme violence” by the Anti-Defamation League, there are still some 40 KKK-linked factions operating today, with perhaps thousands of members across the US.

What the JC said: Somewhere in America’s South tonight — and every night — a fiery cross will be burning and white-robed men will be making antisemitic, anti-Negro and anti-Catholic utterances. And throughout the South, today and increasingly so every day, the Jews, wherever they may find themselves, will feel more and more uneasy and less and less secure…The Klan itself is but a small factor in this. It is the combined result of all the activities of all the segregationist groups in the South, and especially of the White Citizens’ Councils, despite the fact that Jews are members of some of them…However, few join the Council out of conviction, but rather out of fear.

See more from the JC archives here