Although European anti-Semitism is generally thought of as an ordeal contained to the 1930s and 40s and Nazi Germany, anti-Semitism was prominent in Europe far before the Third Reich, especially during the Enlightenment and the 19th century. The Enlightenment originally allowed for a decrease in anti-Semitism due to the shift of emphasis on religion to human reason. But, as time passed, the new practice of rationalism and reason gave ways to other ways of persecuting Jews. A great example of anti-Semitism during this time is the Dreyfus Affair, in which Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in…
