Antisemitism as total genocidal ideology only emerged with scientific racism

Evidence

A strong case can be made, therefore, that the first widespread and sustained animosity against the Jews as Jews occurred during the medieval period. If persecution was at most sporadic and rarely murderous before then, the question is: why the radical change in attitudes and responses? It has been argued by Moore that “In the early middle ages as in the later, persecution began as a weapon in the competition for political influence, and was turned by the victors into an instrument for consolidating their power over society at large.” The twelfth century renaissance led to “the tremendous extension of the power and influence of the literate” and, alongside the “emergence of a bureaucratic regime,” enabled the formation of a persecuting society as well as the positive achievements of this age within Western Europe. Moore points out that it was not only Jews who were persecuted in the early middle ages but also those constructed as heretics, lepers, and sodomites who “for all imaginative purposes… were interchangeable… [and] presented the same threat: through them the Devil was at work to subvert the Christian order and bring the world to chaos” (Moore, 1987:65,140,146,153). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 499 (#complicates, via linked claim)

The point is that this movement, in contrast to the German Stoeckcr agitation, was initiated and led by a man who was sincere beyond doubt, and therefore did not stop at the use of antisemitism as a propaganda weapon, but developed quickly that Pan-German ideology which was to influence Nazism more deeply than any other German brand of antisemitism. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 162 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Nineteenth-century scientific racism reframed antisemitism as a rational natural response. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 483; Scientific racism assigned Jews and Muslims immutable deficiencies and demographic threat — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in…, 506; Sincere antisemitism radicalizes into full ideology while tactical antisemitism remains mere propaganda — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 162 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Sustained antisemitism emerged only in the medieval persecuting society #complicates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 499
• Sincere antisemitism radicalizes into full ideology while tactical antisemitism remains mere propaganda #complicates (0.72) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 162