5th Edition

A History of the Holocaust From Ideology to Annihilation

By Rita Steinhardt Botwinick Copyright 2009

    Told with scrupulous attention to detail and accuracy, this text provides important background information on Jewish life in Europe, the functions of the hierarchy within the Nazi government, and the psychological foundations of prejudice. Unlike other texts on the subject, A History of the Holocaust gives students an idea of just who the victims of the Holocaust were. In fact, the author tells this story from a unique point-of-view, having experienced Nazi Germany as a child.

    1. The Nature and Roots of Antisemitism Some Dynamics of Prejudice. Personality and Prejudice. The Costs. Origins of Antisemitism. Christianity and the Jews. The New Faith Established. The Medieval Church and the Jews. Early Ghettos. The Reformation. The 18th Century. The French Revolution and Reaction. The Impact of Industrialization. Twentieth Century. The New Antisemitism. Anti-Jewish Racism 2. The World That Was Annihilated The Victims. Polish Jewry. Shtetl Life. Cultural Achievements. The Rebirth of Poland 3. The Nazis' Rise to Power The Totalitarian Prerequisite. The Treaty of Versailles. The Weimar Republic. The Nazis Enter History. The Party Platform. The SA. The Failed Beer Hall Putsch. The Aryan Superiority Myth. Legitimizing Hitler. The End of the Republic 4. Hitler and Three who Served Him Hitler's Ideological Antecedents. The Irrationality of the Holocaust. Pseudo-Intellectual Roots. Psychological Hypotheses. Hitler: A Man of Paradoxes. Three Executioners of the Fuehrer's Will. Hermann Goering. Joseph Goebbels. Heinrich Himmler 5. Germany under the Nazis Destruction of the Republic. The Last. The Reichstag Fire. Political Centralization. The Party and the Government. Governing the Reich. Party Organization. The Blood Purge. Workers. Economic Policy. Farmers. Business. Public Education. Training the Nazi of the Future. The Catholic Church. Hitler and the Protestant Churches. Nazi Justice. 6. History of German Jews to 1939 Emancipation. Can Jews Be Accepted as Germans? Economic Antisemitism. Political Antisemitism. Jewish Reaction: The Reform Movement.

    Biography

    Rita Steinhardt Botwinick