It's incredibly easy to demonize the outgroup. More so if the outgroup is easily identifiable visually. The Russian Empire pushed the myth of Jewish control wit

It's incredibly easy to demonize the outgroup. More so if the outgroup is easily identifiable visually. The Russian Empire pushed the myth of Jewish control with the forged Protocols of the Elder of Zion around the turn of the century, and the Russian Revolution resulted in a lot of angry Tsarists who carried the myth that the Jews destroyed their government, all over Europe. Undoubtedly didn't help that Trotsky was Jewish. Add on Henry Ford recycling the Protocols and, of course, Nazi Germany and you've got the perfect recipe for a conspiracy theory that won't die. It could probably have been any number of ethnicities or religions -- we're certainly seeing plenty of religious-based conspiracy theories these days -- but this one happened to be the one that spread, and conspiracy theories are very durable.