Argues that anti-Semitism was not a consequence of Nazi political mobilization but rather, from 1933 onwards, a central principle of the Nazi movement's attempts to implement, disseminate, and secure National Socialist rule.

The most thorough and reliable account...deserves to be in the library of everyone interested in the history of the greatest genocide in history.

Autorentext

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. He has published widely on the subject, in English and German, including 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. The latter formed part of his Expert Opinion in the notorious David Irving v. Penguin/Lipstadt trial. His latest book is a biography of SS leader Heinrich Himmler, which is also to be published by Oxford University Press.

Klappentext

A comprehensive history of the Nazi persecution and murder of European Jews, paying detailed attention to an unrivalled range sources. Focusing clearly on the perpetrators and exploring closely the process of decision making, Longerich argues that anti-Semitism was not a mere by-product of the Nazis' political mobilization or an attempt to deflect the attention of the masses, but that 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, from their earliest days in power through to the invasion of the Soviet Union and the Final Solution. As Longerich shows, the 'disappearance' of Jews was designed as a first step towards a racially homogeneous society - first within the 'Reich', later in the whole of a German-dominated Europe.

Zusammenfassung
A comprehensive history of the Nazi persecution and murder of European Jews, demonstrating just how central anti-semitism was to Nazi ideology and what a driving force it was in the development of Nazi decision-making, from their earliest days in power through to the invasion of the Soviet Union and the implementation of the Final Solution.

Inhalt

• Introduction
• Historical Background: Anti-Semitism in the Weimar Republic
• PART I: RACIAL PERSECUTION, 1933-1939
• 1: The Displacement of Jews from Public Life, 1933-1934
• 2: Segregation and Comprehensive Discrimination, 1935-1937
• 3: 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 Germany
• 4: The Intensification of the Racial Persecution of Non-Jewish Groups by the Police Apparatus, 1936-1937
• 5: Comprehensive Deprivation of Rights and Forced Emigration, late 1937-1939
• 6: The Politics of Organized Expulsion
• PART II: THE PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS, 1939-1941
• 7: The Persecution of Jews in the Territory of the Reich, 1939-1940
• 8: German Occupation and the Persecution of the Jews in Poland, 1939-1940/1941: The First Variant of a 'Territorial Solution'
• 9: Deportations
• PART III: MASS EXECUTIONS OF JEWS IN THE OCCUPIED SOVIET ZONES, 1941
• 10: Laying the Ground for a War of Racial Annihilation
• 11: The Mass Murder of Jewish Men
• 12: The Transition from Anti-Semitic Terror to Genocide
• 13: Enforcing the Annihilation Policy: Extending the Shootings to the Whole Jewish Population
• PART IV: GENESIS OF THE FINAL SOLUTION ON A EUROPEAN SCALE, 1941
• 14: Plans for a Europe-Wide Deportation Programme After the Start of Barbarossa
• 15: Autumn 1941: Beginning of the Deportations and Regional Mass Murders
• 16: The Wannsee Conference
• PART V: THE EXTERMINATION OF THE EUROPEAN JEWS, 1942-1945
• 17: The Beginning of the Extermination Policy on a European Scale in 1942
• 18: 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 Deportations
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index