National Socialist Extermination Policies: Contemporary German Perspectives and Controversies (War and Genocide) [Hardcover]

Ulrich Herbert (Editor), Gotz Aly (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1571817506 | ISBN-13: 978-1571817501 | Publication Date: April 2000

Moving beyond the well-established problems and public discussions of the Holocaust, this collection of essays, written by some of the leading German historians of the younger generation, leaves behind the increasingly agitated arguments of the last years and substantially broadens, and in many areas revises, our knowledge of the Holocaust. Unlike previous studies, which have focused on whether the Holocaust could best be understood as the "fulfilment of a world view or as a process of "cumulative radicalisation," these articles provide an overview of how situational elements and gradual processes of radicalisation were variously combined with ever-changing objectives and fundamental ideological convictions. Focusing on the developments in Poland, the Soviet Union, Serbia, and France the authors find that heretofore we have actually had very little knowledge of many aspects of this history, particularly with regards to the specific forces that motivated German policy in the individual regions of Central and Eastern Europe. Thus the National-Socialist extermination policy is not seen as a secret undertaking but rather as part of the German conquest and occupation policy in Europe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An excellent introduction." War in History "... the essays in this volume, individually and as a whole, represent for the English reader a valuable addition to scholarship on the emergence of genocidal policies." Journal of Jewish Studies "A very interesting and valuable contribution to the debate on National Socialism." Osterreichische Zeltschrift fur Politikwissenschaft

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Berghahn Books (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571817506
• ISBN-13: 978-1571817501
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,696,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting & Informative Range of Holocaust Articles, August 16, 2000

By 

Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: National Socialist Extermination Policies: Contemporary German Perspectives and Controversies (War and Genocide) (Paperback)

This is a quite diverse collection of translated essays written by a selection of young contemporary German scholars discussing various aspects of the Holocaust, ranging from individual articles describing Jewish resettlement to the deportation of French Jews during the occupation of France to a fascinating albeit bizarre depiction of Concentration Camp SS officers as a kind of functional elite within the military hierarchy. The authors collectively discuss a myriad of otherwise mystifying aspects of the Holocaust, bring in to light interesting, provocative, and diverting bits of information that helps the reader to better understand the complexities of the Holocaust.

This is, in essence, the book's major strength, for it aids us now some sixty years removed from the savage barbarism that was the experience of the Holocaust to get a more accurate glimpse of how and why it was that ordinary human beings like ourselves actually perpetrated the mistreatment, torture and murder on so many innocent men, women and children for no other reason than their status as Jews. In several cases the information presented here considerably revises or alters our previous understanding of particular aspects of those experiences and those years. Taken as a group, these articles provide the reader with an overview of how existential circumstances and the gradual corruption and re-socialization of the German population into a world-view that would allow these kinds of atrocities.

These essays are certainly not light reading, and although they are quite educational, I would strongly suggest caution in allowing them to be read by anyone not emotionally mature enough to deal with the rather brutal realities of life as a Jew in Nazi Germany as are often graphically described herein. One of the most surprising and fascinating aspects of the book is the way in which the reader comes to recognize in these pages how little we actually know, in concrete terms, about the specific influences that animated particular policy changes within specific regions of Central and Eastern Europe during the years of Nazi rule.

As has been written elsewhere, most notably by authors like Martin Gilbert and Gerhard Weinberg, there is much evidence that various aspects of the so-called "Final Solution" appear on balance to have been more the improvised policies emanating from the hellishly fragmented and hopelessly bureaucratized nature of Nazi governance than from any brilliantly evil design. This isn't to suggest that the Nazis meant the Jews no harm, or that they didn't mean to annihilate them, but that the specific way the Holocaust evolved seem to owe more to the requirements of exigent circumstance (e.g. the inability of Nazi officials in Poland to feed and house the dislocated Jews in their districts) than to any well-coordinated master plan. All that said, the jury is still out, research is ongoing, and this book of essays from scholars involved in Holocaust studies is an interesting, informative, and provocative look into various aspects of the particulars of life during those times. I highly recommend this book.