The Holocaust--Which One?

I've been reading A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman. This is a history of the 14th century. There are several things that are not taught in high school and even college history that bears thinking about. One thing that I did not realize until I visited Prague, is that the Holocaust that we are taught happened around World War II is merely one of the most recent. The 14th Century brought a Holocaust against the Jewish population that all but wiped it out. The thought at that time was that the Jews were poisoning the wells in order to kill the world. It didn't seem to matter that the Jews also were dying from the plague. The Jew was attacked because they rejected Christ as Saviour, resulting that the Jewish peoples were separated as much as possible from the rest of the "Christian" world. What began with the crusades has continued even to today. These Jews were given the role of moneylender, denied membership in craft guilds, and were also not allowed to serve as doctors to Christians, to intermarry, to sell clothing to Christians, or to deliver or receive goods. Of course, the Christians wanted to know if they were dealing with a Jew, so the Church demanded the Jew wear a (usually yellow) circular patch.(Sound familiar?) In Prague, the Jew was contained inside a specific area, called the ghetto. The ghetto was originally an area in Venice where the iron foundries were and were where the Venetian Jew was contained. All over Europe the Jewish peoples were treated poorly and when it was supposed that they caused the Black Plague they were slaughtered by the hundreds.

It is estimated that about one third of the known population perished as a result, directly or indirectly, of the Plague.

It is supposed that we study history because we are to learn from our past mistakes, but what I have seen as I read this book is that history repeats and repeats and repeats. What have we learned, other than how to "improve" on the past mistakes? Another thing that really bothers me about reading this history chronicle is that the Christian Church has played a disturbing role. A student of history could easily be turned against anything related to the Church. It appears that the Church has gotten far from what Christ originally intended. Oh yes, you may argue that things have changed, but as I read, I found the same dynamics nowadays as back then. The characters have changed, but Protestant and Catholic churches alike are still using the tactics from the early centuries. Politics are hidden, but still very much alive within the higher church echelons and many denominations concern themselves with following rules which they have determined as important to acquire entry to heaven.

Christ preached a simple gospel, love God and love others. Why do we have to make it so difficult?