he people had gone astray- tempted by the Devil. The Christians could not even think about the first option, so they chose to believe the last: The Jews were religiously wayward in a world where religion and the moral order were of social importance, and deviation from it was a serious sin. Christians saw themselves and their religion as better than Judaism. Therefore, Jews in a religious sense should disappear from the earth. They ought to become Christians. But Jews would not, which meant that Christians and Jews shared a common heritage. The most important part of this heritage was the Jewish Bible. Jews and Christians had conflicting interpretations of the Bible. This produced additional pressure for Christians to discredit and belittle the Jews. If Jews were right then Christians were wrong.
             A third source of the Christian hostility toward Jews and of their discredit of them was the belief that the Jews were "Christ-killers." Christians believed that not only the Jews of Jesus' time were responsible for the death of Jesus but also Jews for all time.
             These three beliefs held against the Jews became the basis for a long history of antisemitism in Europe and especially Germany.
             The Medieval Christian world thought of Jews as being in complete opposition to Christianity. These misconstrued ideas had taken root in the minds of Christians (The Holy Church)and antisemitism gradually evolved to the point where the Jews were synonymous with the Devil. During the thirteenth century there were numerous depictions of the crucifixion scene where the Jews, in medieval dress, with crooked noses, were branded as the murders of God. During this time the Jew was transformed into a stereotype, his figure dehumanized and demonized.
             At the same time of the demonization of the Jews by the church, there were false stories against the Jews that were spread to the common people. The charge of...