Synopses & Reviews
Many historians view the Holocaust as a consequence or "by-product" of the horrific brutality that occurred in World War II. Hitler's Shadow War, however, contends just the opposite: that the war was a direct result, not the cause, of Hitler's racial persecution and genocidal program. When Nazis confiscated Jewish bank accounts and businesses, for example, those assets were used to finance Germany's rearmament. Toward the end of the war, when Germany desperately needed trains for the war effort, Hitler instead used the railroads to ship Jews to their death, at great expense to the military. World War II acted as a veil behind which Hitler implemented his plans for systematic mass murder.
Hitler's Shadow War, a distillation of decades of study, examines the entire history of Hitler's racial war, including the murderous role of the Wehrmacht in the extermination of Jews; Jewish resistance; and the role of German citizens as both enablers and witnesses.
Synopsis
Examines the entire history of Hitler's racial war, including the murderous role of the Wehrmacht in the extermination of Jews; Jewish resistance; and the role of German citizens as both enablers and witnesses.
Synopsis
Historian McKale challenges the view that the Holocaust was the result of the violence of World War II, arguing that genocide was Hitler's main objective, and that he used the war in Europe to veil his actions.