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Peter Longerich
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The Unwritten Order: Hitler's Role in the Final Solution (History of Nazism) Hardcover – January 1, 2002

by Peter Longerich (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 31 ratings
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The Holocaust differs from other genocides in recent history for one main reason—there is no other example in which a minority was annihilated so systematically on the orders of a head of state and through the apparatus of government. Through the recent discovery of documents, the central role that Hitler played in the persecution and murder of the European Jews can be proved much more conclusively than was possible just a few years ago.
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  1. Print length
    224 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Tempus Pub Ltd
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    6.25 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0752419773
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0752419770
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tempus Pub Ltd; 1st ed. edition (January 1, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0752419773
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0752419770
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 31 ratings

About the author

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Peter Longerich

Peter Longerich

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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.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
31 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Lily's pet human
5.0 out of 5 stars The order was unwritten, but came from the top nevertheless
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2019
The book apparently arose out of Dr. Longerich's expert testimony at the Irving trial.
No “smoking gun” direct written order from Hitler for the annihilation of the European Jews has ever been found. Dr. Longerich however assembles a very large collection of circumstantial evidence (Goebbels diary notices, notes from meetings, progress reports of Einsatzgruppe killings being sent to the Reich Chancellery,…) that the impulse to escalate from expulsion to physical extermination came from the apex of the leadership pyramid (i.e., AH himself); that AH verbally gave instructions to Himmler et al. and was kept in the loop, including written progress reports to the Reich Chancellery; and that Himmler and his subordinates explicitly invoked AH’s name down the command chain.
Also, Longerich rightly points out that AH would temporarily apply the brakes on earlier anti-Jewish measures when those interfered with his other policy goals at the time --- for instance, he froze the deportations to the Generalgouvernement in the lead-up to Barbarossa, such as not to interfere with troop movements and invasion preparations. He pointed did not interfere in this manner when things escalated from deportation to Einsatzkommandos in the wake of the armies invading Russia: this is a "smoking gun by omission", since we know "Ereignismeldungen" (event reports, in context: progress reports) were sent to the Reich Chancellery.
Longerich also discusses the overall context, namely, of the General Plan East for a mass culling of the Soviet population (plans spoke of 30 million) through an engineered famine. It is hard to say which is more staggering, the callous inhumanity of such plans or their megalomania.
Finally, Longerich argues that no program on this scale and entailing such resources -- while invoking the name of the Führer, at that -- could have been conducted in the Third Reich without the Führer’s approval if not outright instigation.
As I read it, both intentionalists and functionalists will find elements affirming their paradigms: intentionalists might see the ramping up from discrimination to isolation to expulsion to annihilation as a planned escalation, functionalists will see a sequence of ad hoc responses to changing circumstances and opportunities. Longerich places the transition point from the chimeric "Madagascar Plan" of mass expulsion to one of genocide in the lead-up to Operation Barbarossa (and the attendant Generalplan Ost mentioned above).
This book is a must-read for anybody seriously interested in the history of the Shoah.
[Disclosure: I read the original German edition on loan from the Yad Vashem library.]
2 people found this helpful
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R PRIUS
4.0 out of 5 stars Supports Hitler's Final Solution
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2012
Despite the fact that Hitler, as head of state, craftily left no paper trail connecting himself to the systematic annihilation of 6 million people, this book manages to support the concept that it was Hitler who masterminded the holocaust. Much like a puppet master, Hitler orchestrated mass extermination under the auspices of the Third Reich via his henchman Heinrich Himmler and somewhat covertly managed to, at least publicly, absolve himself of direct participation in the final solution.
The author does a good job of linking Hitler to the holcaust by uncovering documentation via testimony and documentation to one of the most shocking as well as enduring legacies of WWIi.
While this book may seem somewhat dry at times, I found it interesting and pertinent to other books relating to the topic as a whole.
This is definitely a book for anyone interested in WWII as well as the Holocaust. It illuminates a subject often discussed and investigated and provides solid documentation regarding the subject.
6 people found this helpful
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Walter F. Renn
5.0 out of 5 stars "No Hitler, No Holocaust"
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2007
Peter Longerich's well researched and clearly written study, The Unwritten Order: Hitler's Role in the Final Solution, is a highly readable, scholarly work setting forth the direct evidence of Hitler's pivotal role in the genesis of the Holocaust. Longerich makes clear that Hitler's role was central, despite there being no written order. As head of the German state, because of fear of international repercussions, and due to considerations of German public reaction, Hitler maintained his distance and silence regarding his direct role in the top secret project of the destruction of the European Jews. This has led to postwar controversies about the degree of Hitler's knowledge and approval of the annihilation of the European Jews. The purpose of Longerich's work is to show that, despite stringent efforts and much burning of documents at the end of the war, there is ample evidence to demonstrate conclusively that Hitler was well aware of the Holocaust and that it happened in consequence of his direct wishes.
Longerich's book is more than a satisfactory introduction to this important subject. But, for those wishing to learn more about Hitler and the Holocaust, several other serious studies should be read: Christopher Browning, The Origins of the Final Solution; Gerald Fleming, Hitler and the Final Solution, Philippe Burrin, Hitler and the Jews, and the relevant chapters of Ian Kershaw's two volume biography of Hitler. These books are all carefully researched and written by competent and renowned professional historians specializing in the Holocaust, Hitler, and Third Reich history.
23 people found this helpful
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Benjamin R. Cox, III
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing research and analysis
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2005
I bought this book as a follow-up on the David Irving-Deborah Lipstadt trial. Professor Lipstadt listed it, I believe, in the bibliography of her book on that same trial. Longerich was called as a special witness, along with Robert Jan Van Pelt. This book, to me, as a student of the Holocaust, is amazing.

There is NO single document in which Hitler orders the Final Solution. Deniers use that to say that Hitler did not know about the Final Solution and even tried to stop it. Dr. Longerich traces the long, fragmented, documentary route of Hitler's thought on the subject and how the Third Reich functioned to prove beyond a doubt that Hitler did indeed know and was definitely in charge.

This book will clear up any doubt that one might have on the subject. Along with this book, I would recommend to the serious student of Holocaust Studies the following:

1)The Holocaust on Trial by Guttenplan

2) History of Trial by Lipstadt

3) Lying About History by Evans

All this will give the reader a more complete picture of the responsibility of the Historian to report history in an objective way.
23 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Jack Graham
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2024
Verified Purchase
Clear, clarifying, concise, detailed, irrefutable.
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Jan Erik Range
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2018
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absense of evidence is not evidence of absence, And Peter Longerich points the finger at the guilty with conviction
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Andy W
3.0 out of 5 stars An academic read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2020
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Detailed and factual but a dry read for the non-specialist.
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ChallngerII
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2016
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Looks good solid stuff but not had time to read it yet
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little
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2015
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A little disappointing. Difficult to read and follow
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