The Holocaust

Presents an in-depth overview of the Holocaust, intended for undergraduates, graduate students, and law school students. Chs. 1-2 (pp. 5-78) survey Jewish history from the ancient period to the early 20th century, focusing on antisemitism. Historical antisemitism created the environment that helped pave the way for the Holocaust. However, it was "modern" ideas of the late 19th-early 20th centuries, including the "survival of the fittest" theory, eugenics, and first and foremost the idea of Aryan racial superiority, which made the Holocaust possible. Chs. 4-10 (pp. 79-442) contain a history of the Nazi genocide against Jews, Gypsies, and the handicapped, and its aftermath. Examines Hitler's ideology and dwells on early Nazi racist policies against Jews and Gypsies in 1933-39, ghettoization, and mass murders in Poland, the Soviet Union, and Western Europe. Discusses the role of Nazi-allied states in the genocide, the attitudes of neutral countries (including the Vatican) toward the Holocaust and its victims, and postwar trials of Nazi criminals in Germany and elsewhere. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)