So it’s quite common for historians to categorise hatred of Jews to two main forms: Anti-Judaism and antisemitism.

The distinction between the two can be somewhat fuzzy, however the broad distinction is that the former justifies hatred based upon religion - i.e. characterising Jews as the killers of Christ- and antisemitism is based upon a sort of pseudoscientific conception of Jews as being a specific racial group - the result of the bastardisation of the biological theory applied to social Darwinism.

For hundreds of years in European history Jews were persecuted on the basis of their religion. This was often attached to the death of Christ, and to rumours and ideas which portrayed Jews as monsters. For example, a common accusation was of the Blood Libel, the false idea that Jews would murder Christian children as part of the Passover ritual. Further, Jews were frequently scapegoated for disasters, such as the Black Death in the 14th century.

During this period, attempts were often made to try and convert Jews to Christianity, and the hatred was often based upon religion. However, towards the end of the Medieval period some began to create a more permanent characterisation of the supposed inherent evilness of Jews. Martin Luther became a vocal antagonist against the Jews, publishing a text called ‘On the Jews and their lies’ in 1543. In 1517 he wrote a letter which said:

“I have come to the conclusion that the Jews will always curse and blaspheme God and his King Christ, as all the prophets have predicted. He who neither reads nor understands this, as yet knows no theology, in my opinion...If they are trying to stop the Jews blaspheming, they are working to prove the Bible and God liars.”

Concurrently, in some contexts Jews began to face hatred based upon an association with exploitation and finance. This is largely due to the fact that in some areas of central and eastern Europe, Jews often served as tax collectors for local lords and authorities, thereby being viewed negatively by the local peasantry.

However, over time the idea of ‘Jewishness’ as an immutable trait, and the racialised nature of what came to be antisemitism developed.

With the emergence of nationalism, people began to view the world as being split into distinctly separate races and national groups. Within this context, and the backdrop of historical persecution, Jews along with other groups which did not conform to the national majority within particular areas cane to be seen as , ‘aliens’ and racial outsiders.

The agenda of many nationalist groups which then developed was a reaction to this diversity. In the words of historian Donald Bloxam: “Ethnic dominance within a bounded territory was the basic, non-negotiable goal of all emerging nationalists”.

With the transition from a religious to a racial hatred of the Jews, the perceived nature of the ‘Jewish Question’ went from one in which an individual could avoid persecution by assimilating into the dominant local religion, to one in which the very existence of the individual was viewed as undesirable.

Further, Jews were often unfairly associated with Bolshevism and revolutionary left-wing politics. Following the seizure of power by Lenin’s Bolsheviks in Russia during 1917, the fear of the spread of Communism influenced the rise of anti-Jewish sentiment as a bi-product of anti-communism, particularly within some conservative circles.

Therein, coupled with the historical context of hatred,conspiracy theories, political antagonism, and racial ideology drove the rise of antisemitic beliefs which reached their apex under the Nazis. Jews were then seen as fundamentally non-German, and incapable of being German. In that situation the Nazis felt that the Jews had to be removed from Germany, and it was in reaction to that goal that the mass murder of the Holocaust came about.

The growth of antisemitism in a European context was broad, and based upon a large backdrop of historical persecution. However, it was not consistent across all areas. The Dreyfus Affair alone shows that antisemitism was not a uniquely German phenomenon, but rather one that stretched across the entire continent. There was though variation, and the degree to which Jews were accepted as part of the civic, or national, body was dependent upon the specific states involved. Further, the distinction between religious and racial hatred was determined by location. Within Nazi Germany, hatred was based more upon racial ideology, while in some areas such as Catholic Hungary, it was more heavily influenced by religion.

Many of the current stereotypes and tropes which are attributed to Jews today are developed from these contexts. From associations with taxation, and racialised conception of Jews as ‘racial aliens’ informing such tropes as the association with ‘globalism’, finance, Marxism, and economic exploitation. All were, and remain to this day, entirely hateful, prejudiced, and unfounded accusations.

So in short, Jews have been singled out for attack for centuries, for various reasons, based upon religion, nationalism, politics, and conspiracy theories.