Amazon.com
Debates concerning the historical and moral significance of Adolf Hitler have gone on since the beginning of his rise to power in Germany. In the decades after his bunker suicide, those debates elevated to arguments over the very nature and existence of evil. An integral part of the arguments has been the ongoing attempt to understand the why of Hitler. In this engaging work of literary journalism, Ron Rosenbaum travels the world to converse with some of the historians, philosophers, filmmakers, and others who have attempted to make sense of Hitler's actions, to find a root cause for the Holocaust.
Rosenbaum methodically examines the evidence for and against all the major hypotheses concerning the origin of Hitler's character. He sifts through all the rumors--including his alleged Jewish ancestry and what biographer Alan Bullock refers to as "the one-ball business"--and the attempts to derive some psychological cause from them. Various Hitlers emerge: Hitler as con man and brutal gangster, Hitler the unspeakable pervert, Hitler the ladies' man, Hitler as modernist artist working in the medium of evil....
But Rosenbaum's portrayals of those who would define Hitler are as fascinating as the shifting perspectives on the führer. Here we see the brave journalists of the Munich Post who attempted to reveal Hitler's evil to the world as early as the 1920s. We witness Shoah director Claude Lanzmann's imperious attempts to stifle analysis of Hitler and the Holocaust, branding such historical inquiries as "obscene." We see the effects, on a frazzled Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, of the controversy surrounding the publication of his Hitler's Willing Executioners. We see the interior crises of Hitler apologist David Irving and philosopher-novelist George Steiner, among others, as they struggle with the ramifications of their work and thought. And, best of all, we have Rosenbaum to serve as an informed, intimate, and on occasion witty guide. In White Noise, Don DeLillo depicted the satirical academic discipline of "Hitler studies;" Ron Rosenbaum breathes a life into the field that no fiction can match. --Ron Hogan
Book Description
When Hitler's war ended in 1945, the war over Hitler--who he really was, what gave birth to his unique evil--had just begun. Hitler did not escape the bunker in Berlin but, half a century later, he has managed to escape explanation in ways both frightening and profound. Explaining Hitler is an extraordinary quest, an expedition into the war zone of Hitler theories. This is a passionate, enthralling book that illuminates what Hitler explainers tell us about Hitler, about the explainers, and about ourselves.
Customer Reviews:
A truly phenomenal read!.......2007-09-19
It would by now take several lifetimes to read all the literature concerning Hitler and the Holocaust but luckily author Ron Rosenbaum has done it for us and has concisely distilled it all into one stylishly written, riveting volume. Everything you ever wanted to know about Hitler, was his ancestry Jewish? Did he have just one ball? It's all here!
Understainding evil.......2007-01-10
This book does not really explain Hilter. Rather it highlights what the various explanations for Hilter reveal about the people or societies attempting the explanations. Rosenbaum offers a balanced assessment of the various opinions commonly offered to explain what happened in Germany in the 1920's through the 1940's and the European reaction to those event. Explaining Hitler is not a full history of the Nazi era but it is a fascinating social analysis of our response to that era.
Rosenbaum thinks only in terms of halocaust evil .......2006-12-18
I'm not going to gripe, as many others have, about the spurious nature of Rosenbaum's arguments, which mostly involve asking fellow Jewish authors why they think Hitler didn't care much for their ancestors.
My gripe is why Rosenbaum thinks that the Jewish halocaust was the only, or even the most important, example of Hitler's evil. In terms of body counts of innocent victims, 10 million of them being fellow Germans, Hitler's sins against the Jews are trumped by his sins against his own people, not to mention those 20 million pretty dead Russians, 10 million of which were completely innocent civilians, which constitutes three times the horror visited upon Rosenbaum's Jewish relatives. Rosenbaum is, like other minority groups, making claim that his ancestors were the champion victims. Perhaps in terms of percentages, but percentages aren't realistic metrics, only total numbers are, which makes the Russians and Germans tops in this competition. I wonder if Rosenbaum ever even considered who was actually massacred by the war, other than his targetted Jews?
Great Information, Egghead Writing.......2006-06-17
The information in this book is excellent. That being said, the prose is at times absolutely outlandish. The introduction gives you a cue of what's to come as the author gives you a "Dennis Milleresque" outline of the facts. After he used the term "Heathcliffian" I knew I may be in over my head. I ended up keeping my Franklin electronic dictionary next to the book to define the plethora of odd synonyms used.
It's worth the dollars. Just prepare to feel uneducated.
One of the most in-depth and thought-provoking historiographies of Hitler.......2006-04-16
Written about the history of Hitler studies, Rosenbaum gives a well-written and thoughtful insight into Hitler historians (be they primarily focused on Hitler or some other aspect of the Third Reich/Holocaust - the figure of Hitler always seems to rear his head). Direct interviews with historians gives Rosenbaum insight into who these historians are, and attempts to explain not only what we believe about Hitler but WHY we believe it. Very interesting, and the bible of Hitler historiographies.
Customer Reviews:
A well detailed view of the beginning of a nightmare.......2006-08-17
A most insightful and highly detailed work concerning man's worst scientificly guided attrocities. And most releavent to those living in this very day.
This book covers the origins of Hitler's Nightmare. It did not begin with the Jews or the Gypsies, it began with the mentally ill and the disabled. Thie book begins here and gives us not just the crimes but insights into the minds of the criminals who perpetrated it. Men who were collage educated and socially quite liberal rather than the mercenary uneducated thugs who operated the death camps.
A must read for those interested in this subject.
Excessive detail; overall, worth your time.......2006-02-13
An extremely detailed account of one of the worst human rights atrocities in recent memory. Unfortunately, the book is so thorough that it detracts from the flow. Footnotes or endnotes would significantly help the problem. You will find yourself bored throughout the book because you are constantly hammered with small details. And that is why it gets 3 stars.
There is also a very unnecessary, albeit subtle, pro-choice message in the "Note On Language" section in the beginning of the book (Note: I did *not* deduct a star because of this). Quote:
"Whatever one's position on either abortion or assisted suicide, comparisons with Nazi killing operations do not illuminate today's discussion. It seems to me, however, that one general lesson can be applied. Government programs launched by the Nazi regime to exclude and kill clearly show that there are private spheres of human life where no state interest is sufficiently compelling to justify intervention. Only the individual directly affected, and possibly his or her closest relatives, should make such intimate decisions. True, individuals might err, but even mistakes by millions of private citizens about their bodies or their lives are far less open to abuse than are judgments legislated by the state imposed by its agents."
While reading a book detailing the destruction of, among others, the disabled, I find it really unfortunate that Friedlander felt a need to insert such statements. He implies that government sanctioned killing of the disabled (or others) is wrong, but a private killing on a similar scale is "ok" because it's confidential and everyday people make mistakes.
Despite these problems, the book is an excellent reference guide. A sad, scary chapter in human history. You should at least take the time to skim this book, if nothing else.
the second great one.......2005-08-17
A very important book that must be read with the "Nazi Doctors"
Very interesting, but somewhat poorly written.......2005-06-29
I did enjoy reading Friedlander's book, and I found it very informative. It was very interesting to track the origins and path of the Nazi genocide program, from the view of the handicapped, Gypsies, and Jews. As a scientist, I feel it is very important to understand what happened so that it can be prevented again. Even chemists like myself were involved in the operation.
The problem I have with the book is the way in which it is written. First of all, Friedlander gives far too much information, which ends up detracting from the overall theme of the book. For one person, he will often provide four or five different dates, where they were born, the three or four different jobs they performed before the war even started, and it all is very tedious. Second, much related information is scattered throughout the book. He may have three different chapters discussing essentially the same topic, and he is often very redundant. He will restate minor details over and over again, thereby reducing the impact of the more important information concerning Nazi genocide. Finally, I believe the book would have had much more impact if more true stories and examples were provided. While he does present a fair amount of examples in some chapters, in others there are none. I believe the book would be more profound and emotional if these "stories" were provided. Even so, I would still recommend this book.
Who Cries for the Different?.......2000-08-21
Henry Friedlander provides a compelling and accurate portrayal of the origins of the Holocaust in the elimination of the mentally ill and physically handicapped. He starts with a description of the origins of German theories of racial superiority based upon social Darwinism which began long before the Nazis came to power. Many German physicians believed that the handicapped were a burden to society and that one of Medicine's chief functions was to be merciful and weed out the lame and feeble and remove them, painlessly, of course. With the advent of National Socialism and coming to power of Adolf Hitler, these doctors willingly joined in the sterilization and euthanistic practices of the Master Race. Gypsies and Jews were the main groups selected but all handicapped were gathered up. The author describes in detail the frustrations experienced by these teutonic genetic warriors because they could not more efficiently kill and maim and remove the untermeunschen. This book is a nightmare which can happen again. The world still witnesses the open genocide of Central Europe and parts of Africa and Asia. While Hitler's bodily presence has been gone for 55 years, his philosophical dementia remains with us. This book is an excellent reminder of science misused and politicized.
Book Description
In a study that compares the major attempts at genocide in world history, Robert Melson creates a sophisticated framework that links genocide to revolution and war. He focuses on the plights of Jews after the fall of Imperial Germany and of Armenians after the fall of the Ottoman as well as attempted genocides in the Soviet Union and Cambodia. He argues that genocide often is the end result of a complex process that starts when revolutionaries smash an old regime and, in its wake, try to construct a society that is pure according to ideological standards.
Customer Reviews:
Book description is incorrect.......2007-04-24
This 1996 paperback version is not a "New Ed" like the Product Detail says, and it is not 386 pages either. It is a 363 page reprint of the 1992 original. If you have the 1992 edition, do not buy this. There is nothing new in this printing.
Nationalist Propagada.......2005-05-07
It just astonished me as how certain discursive formations can actually lead people to believe as the 'real' reality. It does not matter whether for an event to 'really happen' or not. What matters is that you hear it on a radio or read it on a newspaper or website or even talk about it at the water-cooler. Those who have had the chance to watch 'Wag the Dog' might get the idea of how such 'reality' is constructed.
On a more advanced level 'discursivity', a la Foucault, is a building block of a discourse in which certain linkages, here and their, add to what ordinary people believe on the street.
Now obviously Hitler was one of the worst things that happened during the 20th century. This is commonsense. But to add certain 'material' so as to advance another claim by building upon Hitler, is something that should be carefully approached, at least for people who at least visit and read stuff through Amazon.
If a chain in a series of discursive formations can be shown to be weak or invalid than it would be proven that that chain of a discourse is on shaky grounds, and that most of what is known about it is likely to be false.
Unfortunately we see certain 'material' is attached to certain claims so as to resemble the Holocaust. Let us revisit a single claim on part of those would like to exploit the events during the early 20th century. A reviewer, for instance, obviously bought one claim and thus knows it to be the 'truth'
Adolf Hitler: "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"
Now has anybody bothered to investigate it. No, of course. "It sounds like as if it is true, so why not believe it". Well fortunately there are still people who like investigating such stuff.
Read for example :
Heath W. Lowry
Washington, D.C.
Political Communication and Persuasion, Volume 3, Number 2 (1985)
Abstract This article traces the history of a purported Adolf Hitler quote which cites the perecent of the world's lack of reaction to the fate of Armenians during the First World War as a justification for his planned extermination of European Jewry in the course of the Second World War. By a detailed examination of the genesis of this quotation the author demonstrates that there is no historical basis for attributing such a statement to Hitler...
[...]
If one is serious about really getting into history, rather than believing simply what is out their in the popular press,
I would additionally suggest to take a tour of the documents of Ambassador Morgenthau. First let us not take any word for having a Godly truth 'Its ambassador so its gotta be true' mentality is ok if you're ok with it (respect of thought). But there are historical evidence that suggests that Morgenthau did not even know Ottoman scripture, and that this is proved throughout his letters when he attempts to translate 'words' and 'dates' of events. Do not hesitate to read...
[...]
For those who have CAREFULLY read what I have written so far, notice I am not either on one side of the argument between Armenian historians or historians of the Ottoman empire, but that I have just thrown out some thought provoking information so that one will at least ask some questions before believing what they read. Doubtless there will be those occasional pointless replies to this review, but again all I am saying is, think before you react. Now one could argue that I am saying is a postmodernist crituque and historical relativism. That would be false. I believe in historical analysis, as a scientific enterprise (and only the scientific version of it). But then again let us not forget that some American historians who were studying the case at hand were bombed by Armenians. Now if history is written by historians and that some historians (i.e. UCLA professor Stanford Shaw)are bullied so as not to investigate certain historical matters than, at least if you have a capacity to think critically than be suspicious about it. [...]
By the way absolutely nothing is mentioned about the equal ammount of civilian Turks that were slaugthered by Russian backed Armenian militia. Nor anything about the terrorism campaign of Armenians during the 1970's that left thousands of people dead and wounded. To say "denying genocide is a wrong thing" is one thing. But in doing so if one is denying the death of tens of thousands of innocent Turks, is called hypocrism and puts one in ethically shaky grounds.
The latest British governemeents acceptance that the "blue book", which Armenian claims are based upon, have been declared by the government itself to be a WW1 time propaganda material. Yes you heard it right!
Here's another eye opener: Often the claim is made there 1 million Armenians were murdered. What they do not say that the same material they indicate that a "genocide" happened says that
the ENTIRE Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire was 800 thousand (200 thousand difference!) MOREOVER Keep in mind that the Armenian diaspora, that builds its own desire to have a national identity, has a population of more than 9 million people across the world. HOW CAN this be??? Well thats how nationalism is formed: impossibile numbers, man on white horse, the evil "other" etc.... So this "genocide" attitude is more of identity building rather than real history.
Well I hope I contributed on an intellectual level and I hope 'thought thugs' would not misunderstand what I have suggested.
Study of Armenian Genocide by a non-Armenian.......2003-09-26
The comparison of The Genocide and the Holocaust can be considered an important step towards the recoginition of this almost a century old crime against the Armenians. I felt this book analyzed the conditions of both of these events and came to conclusion that they were same. I commend Dr. Melson for this effort.
An excellent work from a leading genocide scholar.......1998-10-17
In this intelligent work, Melson studies the role of revolution in the promulagtion of genocide. His theories cover political, historical, cultural, and psychological rationales, and lead to a concrete answer to a fluid question. The Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust are systematically disected, studied, and put back together, and a rational theory about revolution's role in genocide emerges. A definite requirement for anyone studying modern genocide.
Book Description
In 1939, the Nazi regime’s plans for redrawing the demographic map of Eastern Europe entailed the expulsion of millions of Jews. By the fall of 1941, these plans had shifted from expulsion to systematic and total mass murder of all Jews within the Nazi grasp. The Origins of the Final Solution is the most detailed and comprehensive analysis ever written of what took place during this crucial period—of how, precisely, the Nazis’ racial policies evolved from persecution and “ethnic cleansing” to the Final Solution of the Holocaust.
Focusing on the months between the German conquest of Poland in September 1939–which brought nearly two million additional Jews under Nazi control—and the beginning of the deportation of Jews to the death camps in the spring of 1942, Christopher R. Browning describes how Poland became a laboratory for experiments in racial policies, from expulsion and decimation to ghettoization and exploitation under local occupation authorities. He reveals how the subsequent attack on the Soviet Union opened the door for an immense radicalization of Nazi Jewish policy—and marked the beginning of the Final Solution. Meticulously documenting the process that led to this fatal development, Browning shows that Adolf Hitler was the key decision-maker throughout, approving major escalations in Nazi persecution of the Jews at victory-induced moments of euphoria. Thoroughly researched and lucidly written, this groundbreaking work provides an essential chapter in the history of the Holocaust.
Customer Reviews:
Evolution is apt.......2006-08-21
The mystery of how the Final Solution became the Final Solution will never be truly solved, that is lost to history, lost within Hitler's mind. Christopher Browning explains some of the forces and events that sped the Final Solution along. Browning may be the most eminent Holocaust scholar in America today. He has been looking at the whys and hows and wheres, mainly of the executioners, where motivations are still not crystal clear. What I saw as a reader was that the road to the Final Solution was almost an organic event. Poland was the first step, ethnic German resettlement next,then the necessities of occupation and finally Russia. Not one decision, but as you will see, decisions and choices dictated by events as much as ideology. This story will carry you along with fascination, with horror, and with a chilling understanding, not justification mind you, but understanding.
Did Hitler ever ordered it?Not a shred of evidence here!.......2004-12-28
This is a most commendable work from Browning, an internationally repescted Holocaust researcher who conclusively demonstrated that Hitler, while desiring of the cleansing, ie, forcible expulsion, of the Jews from German dominated Europe, in one way of another, had never decreed that the Final Solution , as coined by Himmler and his deputy, Heydrich, should end in the death camps and gas chambers.
The radicalization and escalation of measures against the Jews mostly originated from his underlings who competed for brute power in a polycratic, darwinist bureaucracy, and who sometimes paid little attention to Hitler's expressed wishes, unless they were set down as written directives.
On wonders all those counter factual arguments puit forth by the Intentionalists that Hitler, mindful of the adverse consequences (!) of a written directive putting Jews to death, was careful not to lay down a paper trail leading to him as the main culprit, when Hitler himself signed a directive for the forced euthanasia of crippled , mentally handicapped, and deformed GERMAN babies and old people (what would cause a greater outcry amongst the Germans, should a directive be found, one for disposing of thier own kin and the other of the despised Jews?).
As from 1939, Hitler, as evidenced by all the OKW/OKH/OKL/OKM dairies as well as his so called table talk,concerned himself exclusively with foreign diplomacy or his campaigns, and never gave much thought about domestic politics or internal administration, thus leaving a void for his cohorts to enagage in a free for all power grab, with to each his own interpretation of what Hitler mentioned as the end of Jewry in Europe, and each and everyone going for increasingly radical measures as justification for aggregating addtional power/authority to oneself.
All in all, this is a sad book to read of the fate and treatment of the Jews by their persecutors, tormentors and executioners, be they Germans, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Dutch, French, Italians, Russians, Slovaks, Czechs, Serbs, Croats, Albanians, Belgians, Greeks....
Intensive but worthwhile.......2004-08-26
This is one of the best books on the market that explains the political development of the Holocaust inside the Nazi power circle. It provides a strong argument that the Nazis did not originally plan to exterminate the Jews in Europe, but rather export them from Germany. Browning's thesis is a challenge to the slippery slope fallacy, which suggests that just because a person steps a foot in one direction doesn't mean he'll step a mile. The Nazis clearly started out w/ a 'Final Solution' plan of sending the Jews to a place like Madagascar (which was on the table as late as the Battle of Britain), but after the invasion of Russia this 'Final Solution' snowballed into a landslide of killing Jews via gas chambers (not that the Anti-Semitic rhetoric of the early 30s were justified in any way, whether pro-genocide or pro-expulsion). The Nazis took a step in a bad direction, and then they walked a mile along that evil path. This would give logicians a nightmare.
Most people assume that Hitler ran on a genocide program in 33. This is a dangerous assumption, for two reasons: 1.) it tends to view the Nazis as a supernatural party of evil. Make no mistake, the Nazis WERE evil, but they believed themselves to be do-gooders who provided solutions to the problems the average German faces. Did the German people know what they were getting into in 1933? Sure, they were willing to view Jews as the scapegoats for the Depression, but did they hate Jews enough to kill them? This book challenges the "Hitler's Willing Executioners" theory, because although Hitler touted a Final Solution in Mein Kampf, that wasn't interpreted by him or his companions as outright genocide until 1941.
And 2.) Holocaust deniers use this fact, that the "Final Solution" in the 30s meant population dispersal rather than genocide, and then they play the "Well, if you were lied to in high school about the original intentions of the Nazis, what else were you lied to about? (hint hint, you were lied to about the Holocaust period!)" card to gain confidence w/ the unsuspecting listener, and then convert this person into a Holocaust denier. It is important that we know the facts about the Holocaust, so that the uninitiated in deep WWII history won't be hoodwinked w/ "gotcha" facts by Holocaust deniers.
Superb Investigation Of Holocaust Circumstances!.......2004-08-19
While no serious Holocaust scholar would argue against the idea that the Third Reich meant in some fashion to dispose of its so-called "Jewish Problem" through some dispicable action or another, whether it by via forced emigration, deportation, resettlement in either Madagascar or the western reaches of the Ukraine, or through other means, there has been a long-ranging debate within the academic community regarding the intent of the Nazis from the beginning regarding the actual attempted extermination of the Jewish people as it later occurred, primarily in Poland and the occupied territories, during the later course of World War Two. One school of thought argues that from the very beginning Hitler intended to rid himself and Europe of the Jews through such nefarious means as starvation, forced labor, and later, in the death camps. Others, such as Professor Christopher Browning, posit that the policy of extermination evolved as a result of existential factors such as food and shelter as the Wehrmacht marched east into Poland and beyond to the Soviet escarpment.
Thus, this brilliant work by Browning intends to offer proof of the more circumstantial theory, one in which various attempts were made to offer some relief to over-extended troops and resources to deal with the indigenous Jewish population within Poland and the other territories as they were conquered based both on logistics and the state of chaos that ensued in the war zone. This is not to suggest that the Nazis intended to spare the Jews; on the contrary, the issue was how to dispose of them, whether it be through forced emigration, slave labor, simple starvation, or finally, through implementation of an intentional murder machine by way of the death camps. From the beginning Hitler intended to use them to best advantage.
As Browning argues, however, the course of events must be taken into consideration when viewing the evidence, for while Hitler's main aim in warring first with Poland and later with Russia was for what he referred to as "Liebenstraum", or living room, it was also his intent to brutally subjugate the native populations within the conquered areas and literally work them to death, so their labors could profit the Third Reich and prepare the areas for German immigrants. But given the chaotic and undisciplined nature of the Nazi hierarchy and its bureaucracy, several overlapping policies worked against each other and created a wilderland of competing efforts, many of which left the local authorities puzzled as to what policy to follow and how to reach the unrealistic goals given to it by higher headquarters. In the midst of the chaos, according to Browning, evil machinations gradually emerged and as they succeeded in reaching goals, became the modus operandi.
Browning brilliantly focuses on the specific time frame in which the policies of the Third Reich solidified into what became the Final Solution. This is easily the best and most completely documented work on the subject I have yet read, and while I find it an impressive work of historical research (Browning's use of new archives and secondary materials is particularly impressive in this regard), I remain unconvinced that Professor Browning has successfully ended the debate (not that he claims to have done so), nor do I think he has explained some very deliberate and troubling evidentiary materials that seem to provide grist for the other camp regarding the instructions given to both the Wehrmacht and to special troops under the command of the Gestapo regarding the conduct of troops in the eastern zone.
In this regard, German troops were encouraged from the very beginning of the so-called eastern campaigns against both the Poles and the Russians to consider all indigenous Jews as communists, and thus subject to summary execution whenever and wherever they might be discovered, whether in urban areas working as academics or as rural farmers tending to their humble fields, and to support and aid the special troop formations trained and organized to systematically round up and murder indigenous Jewish populations from village to village, from the very outset of military operations in September 1939. So, while I personally subscribe to Browning's interpretation of the gradual move toward more and more intentionally systematic and increasingly more murderous assaults against the Jewish population, I do not believe he has proven once and for all that it was not part of the original plan from the time the Nazis took power in 1933. Nonetheless, this is indeed a superb book, and one I can heartily recommend. Enjoy!
Only for academics.......2004-06-21
This book is only appropriate for someone that desires a comprehensive, in-depth understanding of the subject. The actual text is about 450 pages with some 200 pages of footnotes. The writing is very difficult to follow and its meaning unclear. The text would have benefitted from a strong editor who would have forced the author to speak in plain, generally understood English.
Book Description
Tells the remarkable story of six young men and the organizations they founded between 1939 and 1948 that would set the stage for the militant Zionist activism of today.
During and shortly after the Second World War, six young men-emissaries of the revisionist-Zionist "Irgun" military movement in Palestine - revolutionized the American - Jewish and Zionist scene. Judith Tydor Baumel provides the complete story of the role the Bergson group played in raising American public consciousness of Jewish and Zionist concerns. After founding a series of pro-Zionist and rescue organizations, they initiated a new form of fundraising that used the media to turn the spotlight on their activities, gaining adherents and supporters from both ends of the political and social spectrum. Long before the protest movements of the 1950s and 1960s, members of this group learned the art of courting the media in order to bring word of their existence to every part of the United States.
Having energized politicians, gangsters, Hollywood moguls, and ultra- Orthodox rabbis, the handful of young men taught other Zionist and American- Jewish groups not only how the media was the message but how it could and should be used. A guiding force behind the creation of the War Refugee Board, the group served as a beacon for contemporary Zionist militancy while ultimately laying the groundwork for other organizations to utilize the media in future political campaigns.
Book Description
The Holocaust: Origins, Implementation, Aftermath offers a critical and important study of the Holocaust. Complete with an introduction that summarizes the state of the field, this book contains major reinterpretations by leading Holocaust authors (including Levi, Burleigh and Goldhagen, among others) along with key texts on testimony, memory and justice after the catastrophe.
The book challenges conventional interpretations and truths of the Holocaust, whether it has to do with the centrality of anti-Semitism, the importance of economic calculations or the timing of the decision on the "Final Solution."
Three powerful texts provide readers with a close look at the psychology of a perpetrator, the attitude of the bystanders and the fate of the victims. Finally, there is an analysis of survivor's oral testimonies, a deeply revealing discussion on the limits of transmitting the experience of the camps to posterity and a powerful plea for the prosecution of crimes against humanity.
Customer Reviews:
Superb collection for classroom use.......2001-09-10
It would be hard to imagine a better, and certainly a more up-to-date, introduction to the Jewish holocaust and the scholarly controversies it has engendered. Omer Bartov, whose research on the role of the Wehrmacht (German army) in Nazi crimes has helped to shatter many comfortable myths about that key institution, here presents a selection of the best and most searching writings on the holocaust. The selections range from Raul Hilberg's analysis of European anti-Semitism (a reminder that many scholars had isolated this as key to the Nazis' policies long before Daniel Goldhagen made his "discoveries" in "Hitler's Willing Executioners"), to a meditation by Alan Finkielkraut on the Klaus Barbie trial and the notion of "crimes against humanity." Sandwiched in between is a fine overview of the functionalist/intentionalist controversy in holocaust scholarship (the debate over whether the holocaust was primarily the willed result of Hitler and other Nazi ideologues' hatred of the Jews, or an unplanned consequence of war, demographic policy, internecine rivalries, and bureaucratic momentum). Bartov has selected the essays with great sensitivity, and provided brief introductions to place them in scholarly, historical, and human context. A bonus is the inclusion of Primo Levi's unforgettable essay "The Gray Zone," which explores the politically-charged issue of Jews' coerced collaboration with the forces of mass murder. This book is ideal for introductory classes on the holocaust or genocide in general, and as a primer for those who want to find their feet in the scholarly debate, which shows no signs of waning.
Average customer rating:
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The Origins of Simultaneous Interpretation: The Nuremberg Trial
Francesca Gaiba
Manufacturer: University of Ottawa Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0776604570 |
Book Description
More than any other single event of the 20th century, the Nuremberg Trial of Nazi war criminals set forth as a principle of international law that crimes of war and crimes against humanity would not go unpunished. The Nuremberg Trial was also the first official international gathering in which simultaneous interpretation was used. This book offers the first complete analysis of the emergence of simultaneous interpretation and the individuals who made the process possible. Francesca Gaiba offers new insight into this monumental event based on extensive archival research and interviews with interpreters who worked at the trial.
Book Description
Following World War II, the American Military Tribunal indicted twenty- three Nazi doctors and administrators for performing agonizing and often fatal experiments on helpless concentration camp inmates. Using primarily court records, this book attempts to answer the following salient questions: What sort of medical experiments did the Nazi doctors perform? Who were their victims, and what was their fate? What, if any, were the medical results? What legal charges were brought against the doctors, and what was their defense? Who were the witnesses? Did the defendants try to reconcile their brutal acts with the Hippocratic Code never to do harm, or were they devoid of any medical ethics? Did they constitute dishonorable exceptions to a principled German medical profession, or were they symptomatic of a more widespread disregard for traditional medical ethics? In trying to answer these questions, Horst H. Freyhofer gives the reader the opportunity to follow the exchanges between prosecutors and defendants as well as the final reasoning of the court.
Customer Reviews:
comprehensive overview of the medical trial.......2005-06-25
The book is the first one I could find that gives a comprehensive overview of the medical trial.
The book puts the trial into its correct political and cultural background so that the actions of the major players are not mystified but are made understandable.
The author shows more clearly than others how implicated that Allies were in the medical research conducted on helpless victims. Americans condemned the experiments and used the data. They contracted Nazi scientists indicted at Nueremberg after the trial to work for the military, sometimes using equipment left over by the Nazis.
The author leaves no doubt about the abominable nature of the experiments, the depraved character of the perpetrators, and the unimaginable suffering of the victims. And it obviously not his intention to soil American history. But by merely pointing to the records and abstaining from speculating about them, such soiling seems inevitable. This may be the real reason why this book so far is the only one offering a comprehensive account (meaning leaving out none of the "uncomfortable" facts) of the medical trail, and may remain the only one for a long time to come.
Book Description
A leading social scientist's depiction of the Holocaust as the culmination of liberal, European modernization.
In the half-century since the appearance of Hannah Arendt's seminal work The Origins of Totalitarianism, innumerable historians have detailed the history of the Nazi years. Enzo Traverso's brilliant synthesis, The Origins of Nazi Violence, maps the troubling genealogy of the Nazi regime, situating the extermination camps at the terrible intersection of European modernity's industrialization of killing, dehumanization of death, and colonialist mindset.
Challenging the conventional presentation of the Holocaust as an inexplicable anomaly, in which Nazi crimes have been excised from the trajectory of the Western world, Traverso navigates the intricate history of technical, cultural, and ideological antecedents to the horrors of the Holocaust. The uniqueness of Nazism, he argues, lay not in its opposition to the West, but in its terrifying blend of many forms of distinctively Western violence.
The guillotine and machine gun, the prison and assembly line, racism and eugenics, the massacres of colonial wars and World War I, had already fashioned the social universe and the mental landscape in which the Final Solution would be conceived and set in motion. Deftly tracing and elucidating this complex lineage, Traverso reveals that the ideas that coalesced at Auschwitz came from Europe's mainstream and not its margins.
Customer Reviews:
The Holocaust riddle.......2004-12-11
The short commentary on this book notes, "A leading social scientist's depiction of the Holocaust as the culmination of liberal, European modernization." That's a little misleading and this very interesting analysis of the Holocaust is not as such a postmodern indictment of modernity, but an attempt to see some of the precursors of the tragedy in the deviations from true modernity such as imperialism, colonialism, instrumental rationality, etc... In all the theoretical endeavors here, amid the demands for honesty on this question, few authors dare even mention the place of Darwinism (yes, Darwinism, and not just Social Darwinism)in the picture, yet the echoes are direct once some of the real statements of Darwin and Wallace on extermination, imperialism, primitive peoples are brought out of mothballs (easier to do in France). These and many other useful insights make for a very cogent book, whether or not this is the final or best approach.
subtle and brilliant.......2003-12-12
A brilliant, subtle, thought-provoking study studded with insights on every page which, thanks to the author's intimate acquaintance with the existing literature on Nazism, achieves a density and refinement worthy of the very best history books. Traverso is equally good whether citing antecedents he admires (especially Arendt), laying into those he does not (he shreds Goldhagen's already dubious reputation), or laying out his powerful but clearly still unpalatable arguments about Nazism as a crazed extension of European political trends -- colonialism, eugenics, revolutionary nationalism, industrialisation -- not an aberration contradicting them. Highly recommended.
Book Description
The Final Solution provides new answers to key questions surrounding the attempt by the Nazis to exterminate the Jews.
Drawing on important new evidence, much of it from archives in Eastern Europe, the essays focus on the preconditions and antecedents for the "Final Solution" and the immediate origins of the decision. They consider the impact of the German invasion of Russia in June 1941 on the evolution of a genocidal policy and the response of the peoples and governments in Germany, occupied Europe, the Free World and the Jewish communities under the Nazis and in the West.
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