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First the idea that Jews were all wealthy industrialists is a nonsense. Most Jews were relatively poor and especially in eastern Europe. Occupations such as glazier, tailor, painter or postman were just as common amongst Jews as they were in the rest of the population.
Second, there had been widespread persecution of Jews in eastern Europe since around 1860 and even before. This prompted around three million to flee/emigrate between 1860 and 1910. Most went to the USA but a lot also went to Western Europe.
Third, a great many of these Jewish immigrants integrated and quite a lot either became non-religious or converted. In Nazi Germany, the racial laws were based on descent. So, even if your grandparents had converted or become non-religious, you were still Jewish in the eyes of the state.
True. Actually, Jews in Germany were very much a part of the culture and society. They saw themselves as patriotic Germans, used German first names, and were very likely to mingle with Christians - socially and in business.
Intermarriage was not uncommon in Germany, as it was in Eastern Europe. German Jews didn't live in Jewish areas, as they did in Russia and Poland.
Jews had nothing to do with what the Nazis did. Hitler and the rest of them were sick and twisted people.
I think part of the problem was so many Jewish people supported Communism and to many Germans that was a reason not to trust them.
The German Communist Party was mainly comprised of, you know, Germans.
And this would not explain the anti-Semitism in Europe dating back to the Middle Ages.
The very term "Anti-Semitism" was coined in the XIX century Germany way before the Communists were even a real party. Until that time the Anti-Semites were called simply Jew Haters (Judeophobes) which they found distasteful so they came up with a new name for themselves, that didn't sound so direct and vulgar.
If you want one reason for the European Anti-Semitism, look at the centuries of Church propaganda. When you take deeply religious people and generation upon generation upon generation have priests tell them that Jews are evil, this idea will be imprinted in the very fabric of their culture. And Martin Luther was even worse than the Catholic church in his Anti-Semitism.
It's no wonder that the countries in which there was never any degree of Anti-Semitism - at least not before they were exposed to Western information sources - are all non-Christian and non-Muslim countries like Japan, China, or India.
If you want one reason for the European Anti-Semitism, look at the centuries of Church propaganda. When you take deeply religious people and generation upon generation upon generation have priests tell them that Jews are evil, this idea will be imprinted in the very fabric of their culture. And Martin Luther was even worse than the Catholic church in his Anti-Semitism.
I read a book by David Nirenberg called Anti-Judaism. He traces it back to the pre-Muslim ancient Egyptians. Their version of the "Moses" story is that they kicked the Jews out rather than the other way around.
The thesis of the book is that any evil that society was attacking was personified to Jews, even if most people never met an actual Jew. Quite a fascinating book though a slow read.
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