What has interested me is the way that anti-semitism has played a part in the lives of prominent individuals. Two examples that have read a fair bit about are the Dreyfuss Affair, and the attacks on Karl Marx for being Jewish (the tactics used by right-wing anti-communists).
The way that the Dreyfus Affair unfolded split French society at a time when it was supposedly a secular modern state. What should have been a straight forward spy story became the focal point of the very corruption and prejudices of those in power. It also highlighted the power of the political right-wing that had grown over the 100 years since the revolution.
And amazingly, it still splits France today, though all the evidence shows that Dreyfuss was not only innocenmt, but the case would never have blown up the way it did if he hadn't been Jewish (even the fact that he was an Alsatian was not deemed as "dangerous"):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dreyfus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair