As the financial crisis deepens, more examples of antisemitic conspiracy theories to explain it are emerging.

Incredibly complex situations are particularly vulnerable to the conspiracists. We have, as Paul Krugman observes in his latest column, “a globalized financial system in which a crisis that began with a bubble in Florida condos and California McMansions has caused monetary catastrophe in Iceland.” Understanding how all these elements link together is very tough. Far easier for the lazy and the angry among us to opt for the “it’s the Jews” explanation.

What’s interesting is how the conspiracists recycle the same pattern. One story doing the rounds claims that Jewish executives at Lehman Brothers sent $400 billion to Israel before the investment bank collapsed. Now, where have I heard a similar story?

As the conspiracy theories accumulate, so do concerns about the political fallout from the crisis. Wolfgang Schauble, Germany’s interior minister, has warned that the far right could do what it has always done, and jump into the breach. Said Schauble: “We learned from the worldwide economic crisis of the 1920s and 30s that an economic crisis can result in an incredible threat for all of society. The consequences of that depression was Adolf Hitler and, indirectly, World War II and Auschwitz.”