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11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Intentionalist view, though still valuable, July 30, 2000
Gerald Fleming makes an excellent case and puts forward an enriching amount of material that makes this study highly integral to both the historiography of the Holocaust, as well as to many aspects of this nightmarish aura of terror. A great many perpetrators are put forward in this study: Eichmann, Heydrich, Himmler, to name but a few, thus providing readers with a broader perspective and how Nazi Jewish policies involved large echelons of people that enacted, in different forms, such policies. At the forefront of this short, but provocative study, is Adolf Hitler himself. Fleming's apparent motivation stems from the recent controversy of Mr. David Irving, who apparently has far from negative views about 'Der Fuehrer' and his role in the Final Solution. There are a few negative things to be made clear. First, Fleming, though he does an excellent job in pinpointing Hitler's responsibility and knowledge of everything pertaining to genocide, argues a far-reaching theory known as "Intentionalism." This school of thought - now largely in a minority - believe that Hitler was set in his views about murdering the Jews of Europe from the very beginning of his political life (the 1920s). By the time he became Chancellor in 1933, all he needed was the right moment to lash out. This idea is a negative, as the exhaustive efforts of historians like Christopher R. Browning and Richard Breitman, have demonstrated (and provided overwhelming evidence) that Nazi Jewish policy emerged more as a solution amidst a series of failures and frustration in somehow getting Jews out of Europe rather than as a premeditated plan. This school of thought, of which the reviewer considers himself to be a member, is called "Functionalism." Second (and this is an example put forward by Breitman), Fleming does not take care to tell when exactly Hitler ordered various Jewish policies to take place. He just makes it clear that he did. The case Fleming puts forward is laudable and makes a very interesting read, especially in light of recent "paranormal" happenings with Holocaust and WWII scholarship - as evidenced by writers like revisionists David Irving and Daniel Goldhagen, who have put forward theories surrounding the Holocaust that merit plenty of question (this is, after all, revisionism, is it not?). Fleming's work, if nothing else, may serve as definite proof as to the ultimate bearer of responsibility for the genocide committed during the Second World War. Hitler, though he was careful never to leave a written order ("Fuehrerbefehl") pertaining to this, remained absolutely in touch to his nightmarish vision, where millions perished. Intentionalist or Functionalist, historian or everyday reader, make it a point to read Mr. Gerald Fleming's work.
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