This text looks at the history of European ant-semitism and how this was exploited by the Nazis - leading to a systematic programme of persecution and ultimately the final solution. It discusses the myriad and complex causes of the holocaust, posing questions such as: was it driven by ancient racial prejudice or by the political and economic trauma Germany suffered after the First World War? Were the German people peculiarly susceptible to facism? How important was the Allies' reluctance to intervene on behalf of the Jews?