Hananya Naftali
Nov 7, 2026
Roots of Nazi Antisemitism
The Short Answer
Hitler's hatred of Jews was not caused by anything Jews did. It grew from the racial antisemitism of pre war Vienna, from the lie that Jews caused Germany's defeat in World War I, and from conspiracy theories about secret Jewish power. He set out these ideas in Mein Kampf and turned them into the Holocaust.
The Ideas Behind the Hatred
As a young man in Vienna, Hitler absorbed a new kind of antisemitism that treated Jews as a separate and dangerous race rather than a religious group. Converting or assimilating could not change that in Nazi eyes.
After Germany lost World War I, nationalists spread the myth that Jews had stabbed the nation in the back. Hitler also embraced forgeries like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which claimed Jews secretly ran the world. Read more: Antisemitic Myths Debunked
From Words to Genocide
Once in power in 1933, the Nazis stripped Jews of their rights, then of their property, and finally of their lives. About six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, including one and a half million children.
Key Facts
Nazi antisemitism treated Jews as a race, not a religion.
Hitler blamed Jews for Germany's defeat in World War I.
He spread the lie of a Jewish plot to control the world.
About six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.