In 1936, when the story opens, much of Europe was in the grips of an economic depression. Millions of people were out of work. In Germany, conditions were particularly harsh. The country had been on the losing side of World War I, and it was broke from waging war. To make matters worse, the treaty that ended the war demanded that Germany pay some of the Allies (the countries that had fought against Germany, including Britain, France, the United States, and Russia) large sums of money to compensate for the suffering the war had caused. In addition, the treaty forbade Germany from establishing another army. All of these elements came together to make the German people feel bitter and hopeless. Humiliated, hungry, angry at the world and uncertain of the future, they looked for a leader—and someone to blame for their troubles. As a result, when Adolf Hitler began talking about his plan to restore Germany’s pride and prosperity, people were ready to listen. And when he suggested that the Jews were responsible for many of Europe’s problems, his audience was happy to have a target for their anger and frustration. Why did Hitler blame the Jews for Germany’s problems? He was tapping into a vein of anti-Semitism (meaning “hatred of…