Jews were persecuted long before the Holocaust. Oppressed since ancient times for their religious beliefs, antisemitic theories developed in the late 19th century that targeted them as a race. 

Christians accused Jews of crucifying and rejecting Jesus. Violent Crusades, blood libels, forced conversions and expulsions marked the medieval era and beyond. Jews were barred from numerous professions, forced to wear special badges, often yellow, or required to live in ghettos. Anti-Judaism continued into the modern era, when antisemitism, including in America, added a racial dimension to Jew-hatred.