War and Genocide

A Concise History of the Holocaust

By (author) Doris L. Bergen

Not available to order

Publication date:

10 March 2016

Length of book:

384 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442242272

In examining one of the defining events of the twentieth century, Doris L. Bergen situates the Holocaust in its historical, political, social, cultural, and military contexts. Unlike many other treatments of the Holocaust, this revised, third edition discusses not only the persecution of the Jews, but also other segments of society victimized by the Nazis: Roma, homosexuals, Poles, Soviet POWs, the disabled, and other groups deemed undesirable. In clear and eloquent prose, Bergen explores the two interconnected goals that drove the Nazi German program of conquest and genocide—purification of the so-called Aryan race and expansion of its living space—and discusses how these goals affected the course of World War II. Including firsthand accounts from perpetrators, victims, and eyewitnesses, her book is immediate, human, and eminently readable.

Introduction: Holocaust, War, and Genocide: Themes and Problems
Chapter 1 Dry Timber: Preconditions
Chapter 2 Leadership and Will: Hitler, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, and Nazi Ideology
Chapter 3 From Revolution to Routine: Nazi Germany, 1933–1938
Chapter 4 Open Aggression: In Search of War, 1938–1939
Chapter 5 Brutal Innovations: War against Poland and the So-Called Euthanasia Program, 1939–1940
Chapter 6 Expansion and Systematization: Exporting War and Terror, 1940–1941
Chapter 7 War and Genocide: Decisions and Dynamics in the Peak Years of Killing, 1942–1943
Chapter 8 Flashover: The Killing Centers, 1942–1944
Chapter 9 Death Throes and Killing Frenzies, 1944–1945
Conclusion: Legacies of Atrocity
Acknowledgments
Sources and Suggestions for Further Reading
List of Maps
List of Illustrations
Index
About the Author

Doris Bergen's War and Genocide is a jewel of a book that addresses students, specialists, and the general public alike. Her clear analysis of the development of the genocide is combined with an extraordinary and broad view of the actions and experiences of those involved. She not only covers the history of Nazi perpetrators and their policies but also pays careful attention to the experience of Jewish victims as well as the varied social groups targeted for persecution including women, homosexual men, Roma, the disabled and others. In addition, her nuanced attention to visual and cultural sources further models how a critical history of the Holocaust can be written.