Fear of Germany during World War One was repurposed into anti-Semitism against German Jews

Evidence

What was startling, however, was not so much the steady growth of discrimination as the rise of a new anti-Semitic nationalism. On the whole the wartime spirit of fraternity had repressed and inhibited anti-Semitic ideas. Nevertheless, the seeds of a new movement against Jews were to be found in the 100 per cent Americanism of the war years. The more wealthy and prominent Jews in the United States were of German background. Certain 100 per centers, therefore, applied to the Jews the suspicion of all things German. Among some of the bitter, overwrought men who believed that the Wilson administration was dealing laxly, perhaps treasonably, with traitors within and enemies without, dark rumors circulated concerning German-Jewish influence in high places. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 1683

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to reader’s central question about how an external enemy category (German) transfers onto a new, weaker target (Jews) — evidence the ‘enemy’ is constructed and reassignable, not fixed. — connects to: Wartime conformity demands persisted into peace and drove postwar xenophobia — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 1323; Anti-Semitic nationalism emerged from wartime 100 per cent Americanism. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 1683; The Red Scare made Jews concrete symbols of foreign radicalism. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 1688 (+1 more)