Okay my last response was rushed because I had class, Rinella, but I just want to clarify my position so it's more understandable. The Nazi Holocaust was the end result of multiple factors, which included racial, religious and political scapegoating of the Jewish people. Europe for centuries had been subjected to vicious anti-Jewish pogroms which stemmed from Christian anti-Judaism--Jews were often blamed for murdering Jesus, desecrating the Host and drinking the blood of Christian children, for example. Having studied the Holocaust I believe this type of thinking certainly had an impact in Germany, especially among everyday Germans. That Germany was already suffering from a wartime defeat and economic crisis made people even more willing to believe these lies. The Nazis also fused these anti-Jewish charges with racial animosity, with their constant calls for the preservation of the Aryan race against the "inferior" Jewish people. In order to study this type of event, you have to look at its totality. For example, it would be wrongheaded, in my opinion, to blame the September 11th attacks solely on Islamic fundamentalism and not examine the political causes of the event (or vice versa). Leaving out these details makes it harder to put such events in proper context. I hope that makes more sense.
