Now in its second edition, this book takes a fresh, probing look at one of the greatest human tragedies in modern history.
Beginning with a detailed overview of the history of the Jews and their two-millennia-old struggle with the anti-Judaic and anti-Semitic prejudice and discrimination that set the stage for the Holocaust, David M. Crowe discusses the evolution of Nazi racial policies, beginning with the development of Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic ideas, their importance to the Nazi movement in the 1920s and 1930s, and their expanding role in the evolution of German policies leading to the Final Solution in 1941 – the mass murder of Jews throughout Nazi-occupied Europe. The German program involved the creation of death camps like Auschwitz and Treblinka and mass murder sites throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. While the Jews were the principal victims, other groups who were deemed racial or biological threats to Hitler’s goal of creating an Aryan-pure Europe were also targeted, including the Roma and the handicapped. This book discusses Nazi policies in each country in German-occupied Europe as well as the role of Europe’s neutrals in the larger German scheme-of-things. It also takes an in-depth look at liberation, Displaced Persons, the founding of Israel, and efforts throughout the western world to bring Nazi war criminals and their collaborators to justice. This second edition includes a new chapter on the importance of memory and the Holocaust, the evolution of interpretative Holocaust scholarship and media, recent controversies about national responsibility, and the work of Holocaust museums, archives, and libraries in Israel, Germany, Poland, and the United States to promote Holocaust education and memory. It concludes with the rise of Neo-Nazism, white nationalism, and other movements in Germany and the United States, and their relationship to questions about Holocaust memory and its lessons.
Comprehensive and offering a detailed historical perspective, this is the perfect resource for those looking to gain a deep understanding of this tragedy.
Introduction
1. Jewish History: Ancient Beginnings and the Evolution of Christian Anti-Judaic Prejudice Through the Reformation
2. Jews, the Enlightenment, Emancipation, and the Rise of Racial Anti-Semitism Through the Early Twentieth Century
3. The World of Adolf Hitler, 1889–1933: War, Politics, and Anti-Semitism
4. The Nazis in Power, 1933–1939: Eugenics, Race, and Biology; Jews, the Handicapped, and the Roma
5. Nazi Germany at War, 1939–1941: "Euthanasia" and the Handicapped; Ghettos and Jews
6. The Invasion of the Soviet Union and the Path to the "Final Solution"
7. The "Final Solution," 1941–1944: Death Camps and Experiments with Mass Murder
8. The Final Solution in Western Europe and the Nazi-Allied States
9. The Holocaust and the Role of Europe’s Neutrals: Then and Now
10. Liberation, DPs, and the Search for Justice: War Crimes Investigations and Trials in Europe, the United States, and Israel
11. Historiography, Memorialization, and Lessons 'Unlearned'
Biography
David M. Crowe is a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University and Professor Emeritus of History and Law at Elon University, USA. He is the author of Stalin’s Soviet Justice: "Show" Trials, War Crimes Trials, and Nuremberg, War Crimes, Genocide and Justice: A Global History, A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, Crimes of State: Past and Present, and Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story Behind "The List."
