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Well, it surprised the German Jews. They thought their acceptance of "Enlightenment" ideals instead of their own religion and the decline of Christianity among the European elite would mean full acceptance of Jews. They ddn't figure on the rise of racism, which is a secular phenomenon,and the rise of men like Hitler whose hatred of them was based on crackpot science and a resentment of Jews that had nothing to do with their religion. The irony is that Jews were strong German nationalists who supported the new German empire created by Bismarck.

There was good reason that the Jews were strong supporters of the German Empire... the Kaiser's Germany was comparatively one of the more egalitarian regimes in Europe in their treatment of their indigenous Jewish minority. I'm not saying it was Meshuval Wine and Roses for the German Jews; just that the Kaiser's regime was *comparatively* friendly towards the Jews. (I'll defer to Goetz_von_Berlichingen for any specifics he'd care to offer).

By comparison, Hitler's anti-Semitic program was, as RobbyS points out, racialist -- not religionist -- in it's "operational theory"; and Racialism is (predominantly) a secular phenomenom. (As far as personal "Devotions" go, you'll find more Alcoholism and Pederasty amongst the Nazi elites than you will Rosaries).

A number of embittered German in the Post-Versailles period were looking for a scapegoat, and the Jews happened to be the target of choice for a certain demonically-charismatic demagogue. It could've equally well been any other Racial Minority, say the Gypsies for example (actually, it was them, also).

If "religion" were the motivating force, one would have expected the Nazi anti-semitic Laws to offer various exemptions for confessing "Christian" or "Messianic" Jews. I don't recall there being any.

There was no official, legal discrimination against Jews in Austria-Hungary OR the German Empire prior to the rise of Nazism. There was residual social prejudice, but it varied by region and social class.

Antipathy towards Jews had multiple causes. As in Russia and elsewhere in Europe, there was a very strong involvement of Jews in German Communism. These people were rightly understood as being agents of a foreign power, whose goal was the destruction of law, order, and Christianity in Germany.

On the other side of the political spectrum, German Jews with access to foreign capital (through their "kinship newtorks") started buying up everything in sight once the German economy fell apart.

In addition, many of the artists and entertainers who led, exemplified and aggravated the decadence that is a byword for the Weimar republic were Jewish.

When the Allies imposed their unjust peace on Germany and Austria-Hungary, one of the principles on which it was based was "national self-determination." In other words: racism. The existing governments which Wilson and his friends destroyed (with the help of Jewish Communists) had been based on personal loyalty and legal tradition. In the previous Christian monarchical/parliamentarian system, there was a place in the national community for anyone whose loyalty was to the fatherland. Jews, therefore, were as assimilable as Slavs.

The Treaty of Versailles heralded the triumph of racism and the end of any national community based on personal loyalty. In light of this. Jewish involvement in many different forms of treasonous and destructive behaviour came to be seen not as acts by individuals but rather as an expression of inherent genetic evil.

The "scapegoating" of the Jews was not manufactured out of thin air, but was the result of a consistent application of Versailles-sponsored racial doctrine. Bear in mind that from 1914 onwards it had been a standard feature of Western propaganda to claim that the Germans were inherently evil. Germans simply adopted the same attitude towards the Jews that the Allies, often under the influence of Jewish-American emigrants, had adopted towards Germany.