Chapter 8 (Part 2)

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Part 2
Here is more of Chapter 8 of Monnara Iunnara (먼나라 이웃나라) Volume 10, dealing with the Jews. On page 225, author Rhie Won-bok was discussing the depredations that the Jews underwent, including prohibition from owning land and engaging in commerce or industry.

p226)
To top it all, They were forced to wear a badge indicating they were Jews. The Nazi oppression we've seen in movies had been going on since long before. They were forbidden from owning land and building farms.

I had not been aware that this practice had such a long history.

What could the Jews, forbidden from commerce and industry, do for a living? Eventually there was nothing left for them to do except usurious lending and finance. (결국은 돈장사, 즉 금융업이나 고리대금업밖에 없었지.)
(Graphic shows an angry Jew behind a counter, next to a sign that says "High interest service - Mortgages, Shylock Loan Service")
This was because Christians thought loaning money to their coreligionists for interest was a sin. It was the dirtiest profession and they would not touch it. So naturally Jews became the high interest lenders (고리대금업자), and again the hatred against Jews increased. The Jews earning money with money, lent money to kings and monarchs and gained all sorts of concessions. The nobility and the ruling class's hatred and wariness of Jews reached new peaks in the end of the 19th century. Antisemitism (반유대주의) grew stronger, eventually leading to Hitler's massacre of the Jews.
p226)
This is how Jewish history came to be stained with bitter tears (lit. tears of blood). Heated steel gains strength the longer you pound it. So the Jews grew more united and stronger the bigger their trials and pains. Our people (i.e. Koreans) experienced the pain of invasion several thousand times. We developed a strong and indomitable tenacity and mental strength. And yet still our land was stolen from us for more than 35 years [clear from the cartoon that he is referring to the Japanese colonial period].
But for 2000 years the Jews wandered, facing all kinds of want and oppression. They banded together with their religion. They helped each other and tightened their community with their Jewish mentality (유대의식). They were as strong as it was difficult for other peoples to defeat them, The Jewish religion is a mental rope that binds them together as a people. That is the true nature of the Jews.
(Graphic shows a Jew)
Jew: "Your blood line is not important. If someone believes in Judaism, that person is a Jew." ("핏줄이 중요한 게 아니다. 유대교를 믿으면 그가 곧 유대인이다!")

Is this, strictly speaking, true?

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