Synopses & Reviews
Why exactly did the Nazis burn the Hebrew Bible everywhere in Germany on November 9, 1938? The perplexing event has not been adequately accounted for by historians in their large-scale assessments of how and why the Holocaust occurred. In this gripping new analysis, Alon Confino draws on an array of archives across three continents to propose a penetrating new assessment of one of the central moral problems of the twentieth century. To a surprising extent, Confino demonstrates, the mass murder of Jews during the war years was powerfully anticipated in the culture of the prewar years.
and#160;
The author shifts his focus away from the debates over what the Germans did or did not know about the Holocaust and explores instead how Germans came to conceive of the idea of a Germany without Jews. He traces the stories the Nazis told themselvesand#151;where they came from and where they were headingand#151;and how those stories led to the conclusion that Jews must be eradicated in order for the new Nazi civilization to arise. The creation of this new empire required that Jews and Judaism be erased from Christian history, and this was the inspirationand#151;and justificationand#151;for Kristallnacht. As Germans imagined a future world without Jews, persecution and extermination became imaginable, and even justifiable.
Review
and#8220;A very original and persuasive account of the Holocaust. With style, imagination, and confidence, Confino has offered a telling critique of the reading of the Nazis as racial ideologues and shown how Nazi persecution was embedded in Christian imagery and memory.and#8221;and#8212;Mark Roseman, Indiana University
Review
"Thousands of books explain the political, social, and institutional origins of the Holocaust. As Alon Confino shows with style, sensitivity and nuance, the Nazis also built their racial state and committed genocide on the basis of German collective memory. An important and challenging book that pushes the boundaries of Holocaust history,and#160;
A World Without Jewsand#160;will be widely read and keenly debated."and#8212;Dan Stone, Royal Holloway, University of London
Review
and#8220;In this refreshingly provocative re-reading of Nazi anti-Semitism, Alon Confino depicts a civilizational reordering of German origins and the making of a radically transgressive new European order.and#160; He sensitively analyzes how this counter-narrative was cruelly and fanatically implemented from 1933 on and illustrates it in almost unbearably graphic photographs.and#8221;and#8212;Steven E. Aschheim, author of At the Edges of Liberalism
Review
“In this sensitive intellectual history, Alon Confino maintains that the Nazis envisioned a world without Jews long before they found the means to kill them. This is a book about the Holocaust, but it is also something more: an attempt to make us see how what we call unthinkable was indeed a matter of thought.”—Timothy Snyder, author of
Bloodlands Timothy Snyder
Review
"In this pioneering exploration and explanation of Nazi antisemitic violence as a failed cultural revolution, Alon Confino's presentation is compelling, convincing, and long overdue. Uncovering new evidence and reexamining what has been known in an original way, A World Without Jews is an important history of culture as an agent of genocide."and#8212;Wendy Lower, author of
Hitlerand#8217;s Furies, National Bood Award Finalist
Review
“Insightful [and] chilling . . . represents Nazism less as a ‘banality of evil and more as an ‘intimate brutality.”—Kirkus Reviews Kirkus Reviews
Review
and#8220;Well written [and] provocative.and#8221;and#8212;Frederic Crome, Library Journal
Review
and#8220;Quietly devastating . . . [a] short, staggering new book . . . an absolutely horrifying portrait . . . at once so disturbing and so hypnotic to read . . . in clear, unsparing prose . . . . Deserves the widest possible audience.and#8221;and#8212;Steve Donoghue, Open Letters
Review
“Bold and provocative . . . important.”—Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal Jonathan Kirsch
Review
“Persuasive.”—David Mikics, Tablet Jewish Journal
Review
andldquo;Bold and provocative . . . important.andrdquo;andmdash;Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal
Review
andldquo;Persuasive.andrdquo;andmdash;David Mikics, Tablet
Review
andldquo;Insightful [and] chilling. . . . Represents Nazism less as a andlsquo;banality of evilandrsquo; and more as an andlsquo;intimate brutality.andrsquo;andrdquo;andmdash;Kirkus Reviews
Review
andldquo;Confino has done a great service by drawing our attention to the mythic dimension of the Nazisandrsquo; apocalyptic war against the Jews.andrdquo;andmdash;David Biale, Los Angeles Review of Books
Review
andldquo;Highly original and edifying . . . the writing is powerful and convincing and [Confinoandrsquo;s] evidence and conclusions will certainly push the boundaries of Holocaust scholarship and discussion for years to come.andrdquo;andmdash;Michael N. Dobkowski, Jewish Book Council
Review
andldquo;Stimulating . . . chilling . . . [Confino] skillfully shows how the Nazis pursued their own origin myth by attacking Jewish history and memory.andrdquo;andmdash;Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, Jewish Review of Books
Review
andldquo;One of the most important books on the Holocaust to be published in recent years . . . a historical breakthrough . . . accessible and fascinating.andrdquo;andmdash;Amos Goldberg, H-Net Reviews
Review
andldquo;Confinoandrsquo;s study is a triumphant demonstration that Nazi anti-Jewish policies are within the realms of comprehension and that it is possible to find the words to explain them accessibly and forcefully.andrdquo;andmdash;David Cesarani, Fathom
Review
andldquo;Incisive . . . a major new interpretation of the Holocaust . . . Confino is such a subtle and persuasive writer . . . his speculations are never less than compelling.andrdquo;andmdash;Devin O. Pendas, German History
Review
andldquo;A thoughtful, eloquent, and provocative work of intellectual and cultural history . . . [that] may change the state of play in Holocaust studies for years to come.andrdquo;andmdash;Christopher J. Probst, Contemporary Church History Quarterly
Review
andldquo;Incisive . . . Confino [is] one of the most gifted historians of modern Germany . . . A World Without Jews sheds genuinely new light on the inner workings of the Third Reich.andrdquo;andmdash;Thomas Weber, Contemporanea
Synopsis
A groundbreaking reexamination of the Holocaust and of how Germans understood their genocidal project
Synopsis
A groundbreaking reexamination of the Holocaust and of how Germans understood their genocidal project
Why exactly did the Nazis burn the Hebrew Bible everywhere in Germany on November 9, 1938? The perplexing event has not been adequately accounted for by historians in their large-scale assessments of how and why the Holocaust occurred. In this gripping new analysis, Alon Confino draws on an array of archives across three continents to propose a penetrating new assessment of one of the central moral problems of the twentieth century. To a surprising extent, Confino demonstrates, the mass murder of Jews during the war years was powerfully anticipated in the culture of the prewar years.
The author shifts his focus away from the debates over what the Germans did or did not know about the Holocaust and explores instead how Germans came to conceive of the idea of a Germany without Jews. He traces the stories the Nazis told themselves where they came from and where they were heading and how those stories led to the conclusion that Jews must be eradicated in order for the new Nazi civilization to arise. The creation of this new empire required that Jews and Judaism be erased from Christian history, and this was the inspiration and justification for Kristallnacht. As Germans imagined a future world without Jews, persecution and extermination became imaginable, and even justifiable."
About the Author
An excerpt from
A World Without Jews:
A history of the Holocaust must include the history of emotions and imagination of Germans during the Third Reich, for the fundamental reason that the persecution and extermination was built on fantasy. In persecuting and exterminating the Jews, Germans waged a war against an imaginary enemy that had no belligerent intentions toward Germany and possessed no army, state, or government.
and#160;
The essential motivations for this war were not practical, for Germans and Jews did not have a conflict over territory, land, resources, borders, or political power that often characterizes cases of ethnic cleansing and genocide in the modern world. In the mind of the Nazis, this was a war about identity. Nothing about Nazi anti-Semitism was driven by a desire to provide a truthful account of reality. Yet it was nonetheless believed by many Germans and therefore was for them real and truthful.
and#160;
A key to understanding this world of anti-Semitic fantasies is no longer to account for what happenedand#151;the administrative process of extermination, the racial ideological indoctrination by the regime, and the brutalizing warand#151;because we now have sufficiently good accounts of these historical realities. Rather, a key is to account for what the Nazis thought was happening, for how they imagined their world. What was this fantasy created by Nazis and other Germans during the Third Reich, and the story that went along with it, that made the persecution and extermination of the Jews justifiable, conceivable, and imaginable?