As Europe became more secular, many places lifted most legal restrictions on Jews. This exclusion contributed to stereotypes of Jews as outsiders. At that time, leaders in much of Christian Europe isolated Jews from most aspects of economic, social, and political life. Suspicion and discrimination rooted in religious prejudices continued in early modern Europe (1400–1800). In the Middle Ages (500–1400), prejudices against Jews were primarily based in early Christian belief and thought, particularly the myth that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. In Europe, it dates back to ancient times. Antisemitism is an old and widespread prejudice that has taken many forms throughout history. However, the Nazis did not invent antisemitism. The instability of Germany under the Weimar Republic (1918–1933), the fear of communism, and the economic shocks of the Great Depression also made many Germans more open to Nazi ideas, including antisemitism.

Anger over the loss of the war and the economic and political crises that followed contributed to increasing antisemitism in German society. Some Germans were receptive to these Nazi claims. In particular, they blamed them for Germany’s defeat in World War I (1914–1918). The Nazis falsely accused Jews of causing Germany’s social, economic, political, and cultural problems. In fact, antisemitism was a basic tenet of their ideology and at the foundation of their worldview. This means that they were prejudiced against and hated Jews. The Nazis targeted Jews because the Nazis were radically antisemitic. The Nazi German regime implemented this genocide between 19. This radicalization culminated in a plan that Nazi leaders referred to as the “ Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” The “Final Solution” was the organized and systematic mass murder of European Jews. The Nazi persecution of Jews became increasingly radical between 19. Among other antisemitic measures, the Nazi German regime enacted discriminatory laws and organized violence targeting Germany’s Jews. However, they quickly began using the government to target and exclude Jews from German society. When they came to power in Germany, the Nazis did not immediately start to carry out mass murder. The Holocaust is also sometimes referred to as “the Shoah,” the Hebrew word for “catastrophe.” It ended in May 1945, when the Allied Powers defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. The Holocaust era began in January 1933 when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany. 1 The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum defines the years of the Holocaust as 1933–1945. The Holocaust (1933–1945) was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators.

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