Antisemitism: 19th century - From emancipation to racial hatred

If anti-Semitism began as an amalgam of malicious rumors and religious rivalry, it became politicized in the 19th century. The emergence of theories on the hierarchy of races in conjunction with the construction of nationalisms cumulated with centuries-old Christian hostility. If anti-Semitism never seems to disappear, it's because it recycles now-traditional popular fantasies and beliefs. Anti-Jewish hostility reappears in times of crisis to provide a scapegoat, a handy acrobatic device for explaining the failure of a policy.