From anti-Judaism to antisemitism
Jewish communities have experienced changing forms of exclusion and persecution across different societies. Earlier anti-Judaism often framed Jewish identity as a religious or theological problem. In the modern era, racial theories recast Jews as an allegedly fixed biological group, even when individuals or families did not practice Judaism.
These categories overlap in some historical settings, but they should not be treated as identical. Understanding the language and institutions of each period helps explain how prejudice became embedded in law, public culture and political movements.
Educational perspective
This page describes historical wrongdoing without assigning collective guilt to present-day religious communities. Responsibility belongs to individuals, institutions and movements that promoted or carried out persecution.