Any study of the Holocaust must take into account the individuality of Antisemitism. Antisemitism has existed for countless centuries around the world. The pervasiveness of this hatred cannot be based upon different social and economical positions, as some might conjecture. The true root of all Jew-hatred is Judaism. There are several aspects of the Jewish religion and culture that others have found threatening:

1. Jewish belief in a single God threatens the legitimacy of deities of other religions. Christians, for example, are uncomfortable with Jewish refusal to accept Jesus as the messiah.
2. Jewish law is all-encompassing. Jews live by their own codes, which often challenge secular law. For instance: Jewish businesses were often open on Sundays (the Christian sabbath), and closed Saturdays (the Jewish sabbath, or shabbat).
3. Jewish identity often supersedes national identity, causing accusations of disloyalty. Jews often lived in tight-knit communities that would largely disregard the outside world.
4. Judaism maintains that Jews were chosen by God to work towards perfecting the world. This goal challenges other religions' belief in their own holiness.
5. Jewish commitment to Judaism often results in a higher quality of living then their non-Jewish neighbors (education, family stability, communal aid, less drunkenness, domestic abuse, etc.). These differences in quality of life provoke envy and hostility.
6. The break of Christianity from Judaism was not an amicable one. This anger was recorded in the New Testament, and these words have been absorbed for millennia. For centuries, the Jews were blamed with the death of Jesus. In actuality it was the Romans who killed Jesus, but to place the blame on the culture in power at the time would be suicidal for the early Christians.
7. Islam separated from Judaism less directly than did Christianity, and even though Mohammed based Islam on many tenets of Judaism, he incurred some harsh feelings when the Jews would not accept him as their prophet (he made erroneous bible references in the Koran, and denied many laws of the Torah). This denial led Mohammed to make accusations against Jews in the Koran (stating, for instance, that the Jews removed references to his prophesies from the Torah, and that the Jews worshipped Ezra, a prophet).

These circumstances are some of the many which have proliferated Antisemitsm throughout history. Popular culture often fails to realize that the Holocaust was not, by any means, a lone incident (though it was certainly unique in its scale and horrific efficiency). Our brief Timeline of Antisemitism Before the Holocaust outlines a few of the events that show historical Antisemitism. Even the words of esteemed philosophers and leaders, and the accounts of witnesses throughout history, show the extent of Antisemitism. We have compiled examples of Antisemitism throughout history at our Antisemitic Documents and Quotations Page.

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