Napoleon Wrote He Avoided Showing Esteem for Jews as the Most Despicable of Mankind

Claim: Napoleon wrote that Jews were "the most despicable of mankind" in a March 6, 1808 letter to Jérôme

Verdict: True.

• The post: The X post from @forbiddenmerch (August 26, 2026) asked @grok whether the graphic is a real Napoleon quote. The graphic reads: "Jews.. the most despicable of mankind," dated March 6, 1808, letter to Jérôme.
• The letter: Napoleon wrote Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, from Paris on 6 March 1808. Léon Lecestre printed it in 1897 as letter 237 in Lettres inédites de Napoléon Ier, from the Archives Nationales (AFiv 875). It was left out of the official Correspondance issued under Napoleon III. Lady Mary Loyd's 1898 English volume, New Letters of Napoleon I, is letter XCII.

• French wording: After scolding Jérôme's "audience aux Juifs" and his copy of the French Moniteur, Napoleon wrote: "J'ai entrepris l'œuvre de corriger les Juifs; mais je n'ai pas cherché à en attirer de nouveaux dans mes États. Loin de là, j'ai évité de faire rien de ce qui peut montrer de l'estime aux plus méprisables des hommes."

• English wording: Loyd's translation is the line the graphic is built from: "I have undertaken to reform the Jews, but I have not endeavoured to draw more of them into my realm. Far from that, I have avoided doing anything which could show any esteem for the most despicable of mankind." Fondation Napoléon historian Thierry Lentz cites the same French sentence from Lecestre n° 237.

“Nothing could be more ridiculous than the audience you gave the Jews. Nothing can be more mischievous than your attempt to ape the French Moniteur. I have undertaken to reform the Jews, but I have not endeavoured to draw more of them into my realm. Far from that, I have avoided doing anything which could show any esteem for the most despicable of mankind.”

• The graphic: It is a compressed excerpt, not a verbatim sentence. Napoleon did not write the standalone caption "Jews.. the most despicable of mankind." He used "les plus méprisables des hommes" / "the most despicable of mankind" as the people he said he was reforming and did not want to attract. The date, the addressee, and the referent match the letter.
• Why the audience: Napoleon's letter calls Jérôme's "audience aux Juifs" ridiculous. Six days later Jérôme wrote back from Cassel that he had gotten the 6 March letter, that the rebuke over "l'audience des Juifs" should fall on his minister Siméon, and that he had received the deputies in his cabinet with no ceremony.

In plain language:

Yes. Napoleon wrote Jérôme on 6 March 1808 that he was reforming the Jews and had avoided showing esteem for “the most despicable of mankind.” The graphic shortens that sentence.