" Smith portrays the case of anti Semitism through the three portals. One being religious traditions and ritual murder, next, the political uprising of Socialism, and the disconnect and division among the social classes.
By the time 1880-1900 rolled around, violence was no stranger to the Jews. There had been numerous ritual murder accusations toward the Jews throughout history and during this time period. Violence itself was a ritual and anti-Semitism was actually a by-product of the violence. Smith makes it clear that a community of people can band together for genuine goodness or in this case, genuine evil. He concludes that when people join forces things can get really ugly, really fast. He brings to light the point of middle vs. working class and how that inequity ultimately breeds violence. In fact, Smith gathers information and evidence that lead to a process of racial disputes. He notes that the relationship between Jews and Germans at this time as being affected by politics, culture, income, social status, and religion. Ultimately, anti-Semitism developed in Germany during this time period as a result of Nationalism and was rooted in two essential questions, one of those being German and the other being Jewish. The Jewish question was "What is the proper place for Jews in the German society?" and simultaneously the question being asked of the Germans was, "How should Germans live with one another?" As a result, because the Germans had not determined how to live with one another, it was nearly impossible to devise a plan to address equal rights for Jews. Clearly, the Jews were disadvantaged legally. For centuries, Jews had battled the stigma of being considered low class. Even though some Jews were extremely wealthy and intelligent, they were not given the same rights as Christians, in fact, at some point, they were considered to be excluded from German life altogether.
