Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews

by Peter Longerich

Overview

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.

Named a 2010 Book of the Year by Atlantic Monthly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199600731
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2012
Pages:	672
Sales rank:	612,598
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Peter Longerich is Professor of Modern German History and Director of the Research Centre for the Holocaust and Twentieth-Century History at Royal Holloway, University of London. His books include Heinrich Himmler: A Life, 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.

Table of Contents

IntroductionHistorical Background: Anti-Semitism in the Weimar RepublicPART I: RACIAL PERSECUTION, 1933-19391. The Displacement of Jews from Public Life, 1933-19342. Segregation and Comprehensive Discrimination, 1935-19373. Interim Conclusions: The Removal of Jews from German Society, the Formation of the National Socialist 'People's Community', and its Consequences for Jewish Life in Germany4. The Intensification of the Racial Persecution of Non-Jewish Groups by the Police Apparatus, 1936-19375. Comprehensive Deprivation of Rights and Forced Emigration, late 1937-19396. The Politics of Organized ExpulsionPART II: THE PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS, 1939-19417. The Persecution of Jews in the Territory of the Reich, 1939-19408. German Occupation and the Persecution of the Jews in Poland, 1939-1940/1941: The First Variant of a 'Territorial Solution'9. DeportationsPART III: MASS EXECUTIONS OF JEWS IN THE OCCUPIED SOVIET ZONES, 194110. Laying the Ground for a War of Racial Annihilation11. The Mass Murder of Jewish Men12. The Transition from Anti-Semitic Terror to Genocide13. Enforcing the Annihilation Policy: Extending the Shootings to the Whole Jewish PopulationPART IV: GENESIS OF THE FINAL SOLUTION ON A EUROPEAN SCALE, 194114. Plans for a Europe-Wide Deportation Programme After the Start of Barbarossa15. Autumn 1941: Beginning of the Deportations and Regional Mass Murders16. The Wannsee ConferencePART V: THE EXTERMINATION OF THE EUROPEAN JEWS, 1942-194517. The Beginning of the Extermination Policy on a European Scale in 194218. The Further Development of the Policy of Extermination after the Turning of the War in 1942-1943: Continuation of the Murders and Geographical Expansion of the DeportationsConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher

In an extensive rewrite when the book was translated into English, with additional sourcing, Longerich (modern German history, Royal Holloway, Univ. of London) presents an expanded English-language edition of his famous 1998 study of the Holocaust, Politik der Vernichtung. He demonstrates that Nazi policy evolved inconsistently, with almost every new anti-Jewish measure beginning with a sometimes vague decree by central leadership, which local party bosses then implemented, often violently. Once the regime was certain of public support, or at least indifference, it implemented more concrete, harsher rules against the Jews, creating a self-sustaining cycle of radicalization that built up over six years. To Longerich the critical period for deciding upon genocide was not fall 1941 (per the Intenationalist model) or even 1933 (the Functionalist assertion) but the outbreak of war in 1939. The Nazi goal was to create an Aryan racial utopia, and the extirpation of the Jews was a logical product of what Hitler described as a war against international Jewry. VERDICT Based on an additional decade of research in newly available archives, Longerich's book is not a history of Nazism or a comprehensive study of the Holocaust, and thus is not suitable for lower-level undergraduates. It is essential reading for advanced students and scholars who study the Holocaust.—Frederic Krome, Univ. of Cincinnati, Clermont Coll.

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