I am currently doing a short course on the Holocaust. The first few lectures dive into the history of antisemitism in Europe. Detailing the differences between Judaisim and Pagan faiths in being a monotheistic religion, and also having strict guidelines and laws that followers must abide by. It then discusses the Middle Ages when Jews were viewed as the accusers and crucifyers of Christ, of being personified in Judas Iscariot and later as being these mysterious, almost Satanic people who are believed to be working at besting Christian social groups by teaching their children to read and write at a very young age, and working economically to exploit the lower classes to assist the upper classes, inorder to gain powerful positions. It then moves on to the more secular times of the Enlightenment when antisemitism moves from being religiously/economically based to including scientific racism, that pushed Jewish people as being racially inferior and were viewed as trying to upset the natural order of racial hierarchy. It concludes the historical timeline with the stereotypes and prejudice seeping into folklore, literature, the arts and the many theories regarding Jewish people secretly organising to take over the world. Eventually it gets into Hitlers views on the Jewish people and his writing of Mein Kampf while being imprisoned for the failed Putsch coup d'etat.

I figured that the Jewish experience in European History up until that point (and after, obviously),would be fairly unique, given their identity encapsulating religion/culture/ethnicity/nationality - all in one. I was wondering if anyone could point me towards some interesting material that goes into the stereotypes and prejudice against Jewish people throughout European history, up until the beginning of WWII.