In some respect I understand the people denying the Holocaust. The whole ordeal just seems too outlandish to be true. Why would one people commence hating their neighbours in such a manner? And why did they pick the Jews? What made the average German man lift himself to a higher rank than the Jewish man and how could ordinary Germans co-operate with Hitler's genocide in such a mind-numbing manner? Quite honestly it all baffles me. The crimes are so inhumane that is hard to understand how ordinary people could take part in the shootings, gassings and deliberate starvation of innocent human beings. Is it possible that Hitler and his perpetrators are exclusively the ones to blame? Meaning that they built on the anti-Semitic foundation existing in Germany and led people to the point where they could in the name of their fatherland accept and commit genocide. Just thinking about it sends shivers down my spine. It seems however almost too simple to declare that Jews were the targets of the Holocaust solely because Hitler hated Jews and blamed them for all the problems in the world. While all this is somewhat true of course, I would like, for the sake of mankind, to find a reason that runs deeper. .
Anti-Semitism has in fact a long history in Europe and the United States. Just as there were many racists in the United States who opposed civil rights for Afro-Americans, there were all too many anti-Semites in Europe. The most significant variation between traditional anti-Semitism and the philosophy of the Nazis was that the whole basis for the anti-Semitism was different. Previous anti-Semitism had been based upon religious convictions such as the axiom that Jews were responsible for killing Jesus Christ with schooled men such as Martin Luther leading the cause. It was then believed however that one could be "cured- and via baptism a Jew could enter society as an equal to others. .
Most of the anti-Semitism was rooted in religious beliefs about the Jews that arose more than 1500 years before Hitler's time.