Synopses & Reviews
Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers, German Killers focuses on controversial issues in current Holocaust scholarship. How did Nazi Jewish policy evolve during the first years of the war? When did the Nazi regime cross the historic watershed from population expulsion and decimation ("ethnic cleansing") to total and systematic extermination? How did Nazi authorities attempt to reconcile policies of expulsion and extermination with the wartime urge to exploit Jewish labor? How were Jewish workers impacted? What role did local authorities play in shaping Nazi policy? What more can we learn about the mindset and behavior of the local perpetrators? Using new evidence, this book attempts to shed light on these important questions. Christopher R. Browning is the Frank Porter Graham Professor of History at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He is the author of The Path to Genocide (Cambridge University Press 1992) and Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, which received the Jewish National Book Award.
Review
"The essays contain a great deal of interesting material....Browning's current contribution to this debate is very welcome...." The New Republic"...the book as a whole is very readable, with the individual lectures being shining examples for concise and clear argumentation...Together, these lectures are the best introduction to current issues in serious Holocaust Studies available at the moment. I would highly recommend the book to any student or scholar looking for a succinct summary and critical discussion of the state of knowledge in this field." H-Net Reviews"Browning is one of the leaders in the study of the Holocaust, and the essays in this book confirm his reputation. The essays explore important and often neglected aspects of the Holocaust, and are original, well argued and incredibly well researched. In the book he focuses on the victims and the perpetrators, using oral testimony on documentary evidence. There is a lot of drama in each story, and I found them quite stimulating. Together they offer both interesting theoretical perspectives, and substantive new information. Like his many other publications, this book deserves a wide readership." Robert Gellately, Strassler Professor in Holocaust History, Clark University"In the 'fateful months' following Barbarossa, a series of decisions would be taken. One of these decisions would emerge as what the Nazis called 'the Final Solution to the Jewish Question,' a program of systematic and total mass murder, to begin and be completed as soon as feasibly possible, and for the first time with clear priority for the implementation of Jewish policy over the various other Nazi demographic schemes affecting ethnic Germans and Slavs." -from Chapter 1"Thus does Browning demonstrate how interplay between policy and perpetration worked smoothly in creating the most efficient murder machine in history-German killers. Not easy reading, but vital arguments. See for yourself." Winston-Salem (NC) Journal
Synopsis
This volume uses new evidence to shed light on controversial issues in current Holocaust scholarship.
Synopsis
How did Nazi Jewish policy evolve? When did the Nazi regime cross the historic watershed from population expulsion and decimation ('ethnic cleansing') to total and systematic extermination? Using new evidence, this book attempts to shed light on controversial issues in current Holocaust scholarship.
Table of Contents
Introduction; Map of Poland; 1. From 'ethnic cleansing' to genocide to the 'final solution': the evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, 1939-1941; 2. Nazi policy: decisions for the final solution; 3. Jewish workers in Poland: self-maintenance, exploitation, destruction; 4. Jewish workers and survivor memories: the case of the Starachowice Labor Camp; 5. German killers: orders from above, initiative from below, and the scope of local autonomy - the case of Brest-Litovsk; 6. German killers: behavior and motivation in the light of new evidence; Postscript; Index.