Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews [Hardcover]

Peter Longerich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2010

In 1998, Peter Longerich published Politik der Vernichtung (Politics of Destruction), a stunning re-examination of the Holocaust. The book received universal acclaim, and is now generally recognized by historians as the standard account of this horrific chapter in human history.
Now finally available in English, this masterful history uses an unrivalled range of sources to lay out in clear detail the steps taken by the Nazis that would lead ultimately to the Final Solution. Focusing closely on the perpetrators and exploring the process of decision making, Longerich convincingly shows that anti-Semitism was not a mere by-product of the Nazis' political mobilization or an attempt to deflect the attention of the masses. Rather, from 1933 anti-Jewish policy was a central tenet of the Nazi movement's attempts to implement, disseminate, and secure National Socialist rule--and one which crucially shaped Nazi policy decisions.
Holocaust is perhaps most remarkable for its extensive use of the 1930s archives of the Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith, which re-emerged in the 1990s after years languishing in Moscow. The letters and reports from this archive document in detail the attacks suffered by ordinary Jewish people from their German neighbors. They show how, contrary to what has been believed in the past, the German populace responded relatively enthusiastically to Nazi anti-Semitism.
This long-awaited English edition has been fully updated by Longerich himself. It features revised appendices with notes and further reading, as well as a new preface by the author. In addition, Longerich has added new material on the Jewish victims and on the camps and the ghettos, and has extended the story from the end of the war right up to the present day. In all, it is the most complete treatment ever published on the history of this monumental tragedy.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Skeptics who maintain there is little of value left to learn about the Holocaust should read this superb and provocative work originally published in German in 1998. Now revised and published in English for the first time, it offers relatively new data as well as a convincing thesis regarding the genesis and execution of systematic genocide. Longerich rejects the assertions of so-called “structuralists” who view the “Final Solution” as a byproduct of the war, which implies that anti-Jewish policies simply “got out of control” under wartime stress. Rather, extermination of Jews was the logical result of the virulent race hatred of the Nazis. Furthermore, Longerich shows that this hatred of Jews was prevalent in Germany well before the Nazi ascension to power in 1933. As expected, it permeated parties of the Right, but it infected all aspects of German society. This is a scholarly work relying heavily on letters, reports, and statistics, but it does not neglect the shattering anguish of individual humans. This is a vital addition to the field of Holocaust studies. --Jay Freeman

Review

"This wide-ranging, comprehensive analysis of the Holocaust from origins to consequences promises to set a new standard for Holocaust studies."--Shofar

"A milestone in holocaust scholarship."--Christopher Browning, author of Origins of the Final Solution

"Superb, perhaps the best overview there is." --Mark Roseman, author of The Villa, the Lake, the Meeting

"A formidable work of scholarship...the most authoritative account of the Holocaust that we have."--Jeremy Noakes, editor of Nazism 1919-1945. Vol 4 The German Home Front in World War II

"Skeptics who maintain that there is little left of value to learn about the Holocaust should read this superb and provocative work originally published in German in 1998. Now revised and published in English for the first time, it offers relatively new data as well as a convincing thesis regarding the genesis and execution of systematic genocide. Longerich rejects the assertions of so-called 'structuralists' who view the 'Final Solution' as a byproduct of war, which implies that anti-Jewish policies simply "got out of control" under wartime stress. Rather, extermination of Jews was the logical result of the virulent race hatred of the Nazis. This is a vital addition to the field of Holocaust studies."--Booklist Starred Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; First Edition (US) First Printing edition (May 29, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192804367
• ISBN-13: 978-0192804365
• Product Dimensions: 1.6 x 6.6 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #676,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Longerich is Professor of Modern German History at Royal Holloway University of London, and founder of Royal Holloway's Holocaust Research Centre. He has published extensively on Nazi Germany, including the acclaimed Holocaust: The Nazi Murder and the Persecution of the Jews, The Unwritten Order: Hitler's Role in the Final Solution, and The Systematic Character of the National Socialist Policy for the Extermination of the Jews.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal Analysis of the Nazi March to Genocide August 9, 2010

By S. Heminger

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Throughout the historiography of Nazi Germany there have been tumultuous and fractious divisions between scholars ascribing to a number of differing views on the development of government sponsored antisemitism, culminating in the Holocaust itself. For the most part those views have been mutually exclusive, hence the fractious nature. These mutually exclusive views and debates initially and most familiarly consisted of those between the 'intentionalist(Hitler's intentions and objectives are the primary focus) vs functionalist (the bureaucratic jumble in the regime led to an erratically radicalization in anti Jewish policy) ' schools of thought. More recently the debate has developed into one of whether the periphery (those at the enforcement level of government) or center (the highest echelons of Nazi officials) were most crucial in driving the radicalization of policy.

In Peter Longerich's new history, the Holocaust, he answers most emphatically that it was all of the above. His analysis, supported throughout with the kind of primary documents critical to a work of this nature, is full of insight and a fresh manner of reporting the march to genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany and those within her sphere of influence. In short, he argues that rather than either the functionalist or intentionalist, periphery or center arguments being correct, they all have merit. None of them exist in exclusion of opposing ideas but rather the periphery and center fed each other and Hitler's intentions and the bureaucratic confusion all contributed to the Holocaust occurring as it did.

Longerich's analysis, going back as far as the early days of the Nazi regime, is superb and adds fresh insight to initial methods used to marginalize and remove Jews from all manners of social and professional life in Germany. Through a methodical and exhaustive use of the extant contemporary documents he convincingly argues that from the beginning those on the periphery and center worked in parallel, using differing methods aimed towards achieving the same goal and both taking encouragement and feeding off of the other's cues. The center gave general directives and those at the periphery increasingly adjusted their rough intimidation and violent methods in an intuitive manner that usually preceded official legal measures. This he recounts with repeated examples in both economic and social life in Germany up to Kristalnacht and its attendant legal restrictions on Jews shortly thereafter. After this action, which represents the last of three periods identified of pre-war intensification of harassment and legal Entjudung (de-Jewification), the author writes that Nazi antisemitic public policy was at a temporary stand-still as the enfeebled position of the Jews in Germany made it nearly impossible to effectively evoke the image of the terrifying and dangerous threat they had been portrayed as, to that point. Furthermore, Longerich's narrative, explaining the box which the regime had painted itself into through its removal of Jews from the national economy and the now impossibility of pursuing the voluntary emigration of a people bankrupted by the regime's own actions is thoroughly convincing.

Longerich's analysis of the intensification of antisemitic measures of the war-time period, beginning with the invasion of Poland, is equally fascinating. This covers the early attempts at population transfers as embodied by the Nisko plan as well as later forced emigration schemes which are described in comprehensive detail. In general, this section alone is a masterpiece within the field of Holocaust studies and could easily fill a 500 page volume of its own. With his in-depth analysis and unrivaled command of the contemporary sources he clearly demonstrates that, once again, those on the periphery and those at the center were not working against each other and neither did one or the other take the lead. Rather he argues for an interpretation that envisions a type of give and take in which radicalization by those in the field, such as members of the SS, Police battalions or even technical experts from the T4 program took cues from those above and interpreted them into concrete actions.

Against this backdrop of increasingly larger scale assaults against Jewish communities in Poland and ever-more-grandiose 'reservation' plans for occupied Poland, Longerich traces the story of how massacres moved from a short-term plan for specific regions of the USSR to a Europe wide extermination plan by mid 1942. Unlike most of his contemporaries in the field of Holocaust studies however, the author eschews the typical search for a date by which a concrete decision to exterminate all the Jews in Europe and perhaps beyond was made. In fact he argues with a great deal of documentation to support it, that the Wannsee conference itself was not the watershed that it has later been made to appear. Longerich's assertion is that although there was a definite agreement that a 'Final Solution' would be implemented, there was no certain plan for implementing it and in fact this only came about gradually throughout the course of the spring and summer of 1942. Painstakingly, he recreates the decisions and events and provides a narrative of the highest quality.

Indeed, Dr. Longerich's narrative suffers from only one drawback and that is readability. This is most certainly not a generalist book meant for the a reader with a moderate level of interest in the subject of the Nazi persecution and attempted extermination of European Jewry. This is a work of analysis however, and was never intended to have the emotional impact of a general narrative or memoir. Those looking for the latter would be well served with something along the lines of Dr Saul Friedlander's excellent two volume history. In any case, for those searching for the comprehensive history of the Nazi march to genocide, 'Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews' will likely be that history for years to come. It is truly a phenomenal work of history.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating scholarly account of the Holocaust November 14, 2010

By Christopher Grant

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is not for everyone interested in understanding the Holocaust. There are no pictures and no maps. The author makes no attempt to convey the horror of Nazi actions through vivid descriptions or language (beyond using the word "murder" a thousand times or so). He assumes a lot of background knowledge in the reader about the basic story of the Holocaust: the primary methods, locales, and perpetrators. The translation from the original German is pretty good but a little stilted. The text was originally the author's "Habilitation" thesis in Germany. It has lots of footnotes and a big bibliography.

There are pop history books, history textbooks, and scholarly historical works. This book is clearly in the latter category. If you don't like scholarly historical works, this book is not for you. That doesn't make you bad or the book bad; there's just going to be a mismatch between what you want and what this book provides.

What this book provides is a remarkably detailed and insightful look at the evolution of Nazi policy towards the Jews from the time the Nazis took over Germany to the time that the Third Reich collapsed. The author provides ample evidence that the policy evolved substantially throughout this time period, and he gives well-reasoned explanations of why it changed the way it did. Maybe this book ought to have seemed very dry, with the myriad Polish place names and the body counts eventually just becoming a blur in the mind of the reader. Yet I had trouble putting it down, and I feel much better informed for having read it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent work; some lacunae and shortcomings January 22, 2011

By Werner Cohn VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This English edition of Peter Longerich's masterful "Holocaust" -- the German version is now thirteen years old -- will in many (but not all) ways make previous scholarship on this topic obsolete. Longerich's Introduction outlines how he proposes to solve the disagreements of earlier scholars; disagreements between "structuralists" and "internationalists," and between those who emphasized central planning as opposed to those emphasized the work of the "periphery." And his Conclusion summarizes his synthesis -- successful, in my view -- of these older partial views of the Nazis' extermination of European Jews.

In between these chapters, there is the great wealth of detail, much of it from previously untapped primary sources, much of it from his mastery of the secondary literature. The result is a much better, much more detailed understanding of how the Nazis planned and carried out this very unique historical deed: the Holocaust of six million European Jews.

There are, to be sure, lacunae and shortcomings.

Among the lacunae, the most painful, to me, is the author's failure to consider the anti-Semitic traditions in the pre-Hitler parties of the Left. He carefully considers the various other anti-Semitic components of Weimar culture -- the parties of the Right and the Center, the two Christian communions -- but avoids all mention of the Marxist parties. The specialized literature on this subject, which discusses the complex relationship of the German left-wing to the Jews, is as absent from Longerich's text as it is from his bibliography.

Shortcomings: the English prose lacks all grace. Many passages are awkward, some ambiguous ("These units were to be made up of Ukrainians, Balts, and Belarussians, but only men who had not been conscripted into the Red Army or non-Communist prisoners of war." p. 239) Fairly formal prose will sometimes contain slang expressions, without regard for unity in the level of discourse.

And in a book that depends so much on historical detail, some of the facts are botched. On page 105 there is a reference to a "state Zionist organization," which leaves us in doubt whether he means the Zionist Organization of Germany or a splinter group, the State Zionists. And on page 305 the author will have us believe that Hitler declared war on the U. S. exactly a year later than in fact he did. Moreover, the index is incomplete and misleading. The SPD (Social Democratic Party) is mentioned in the text but is absent from the index and is absent, also, from the list of abbreviations. The KPD (Communist Party) on the other hand, also absent from the index, can be found in the list of abbreviations.

Let us hope that a new edition will make this excellent work even better !