Wilhelm Mahr (1819-1904) could be termed the father of 'modern' antisemitism

When he became embittered about the failure of the 1848-49 German Revolution to democratize Germany, and about his own rapidly declining political fortunes, he turned his venom against the Jews

"Marr and others employed the word antisemitism in the largely secular anti-Jewish political campaigns that became widespread in Europe around the turn of the century.

The word derived from an 18th-century analysis of languages that differentiated between those with so-called "Aryan" roots and those with so-called "Semitic" ones.

This distinction led, in turn, to the assumption--a false one--that there were corresponding racial groups.

Within this framework, Jews became "Semites," and that designation paved the way for Marr's new vocabulary.
He could have used the conventional German term Judenhass to refer to his hatred of Jews, but that way of speaking carried religious connotations that Marr wanted to de-emphasize in favour of racial ones"


Eventually, it became a way of speaking about all the forms of hostility toward Jews throughout history.

From the Jewish Virtual Library

There was nothing 'mild' about the use of the term

"For if Jews were found wanting religiously, it was possible for them to convert.
If their business practices or political views were somehow inappropriate, changed behavior could, in principle, correct their shortcomings.
But antisemites in the line that ran from Marr to Hitler believed that Jews were a menace no matter what they did"

ibid above vis The Holocaust Project