Synopses & Reviews
Laqueur's new introduction, written for this paperback edition of his classic work, revives the lesson of the Holocaust and broadens our understanding of one of history's most terrible crimes.
Despite the outrage that swept the world when the Nazi death camps were first liberated in 1945, the truth about the extermination of European Jewry had been an open secret since at least 1941. Using sources and documentaries only recently made available, Walter Laqueur examines when and how information about the genocide became known to millions of Germans, international Jewish organizations, leaders of Jewish communities throughout Europe, and top government officials in neutral and Allied countries. Laying bare the lethal combination of disbelief and indifference that met this news, The Terrible Secret offers a brilliant and chilling demonstration of paralysis in the face of ultimate evil.
Walter Laqueur, a distinguished professor of history and eminent commentator and expert on international affairs, is a chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Despite the outrage that swept the world when the Nazi death camps were first liberated in 1945, the truth about the extermination of European Jewry had been an open secret since at least 1941. Using sources and documentaries only recently made available, Walter Laqueur examines when and how information about the genocide became known to millions of Germans, international Jewish organizations, leaders of Jewish communities throughout Europe, and top government officials in neutral and Allied countries. Laying bare the lethal combination of disbelief and indifference that met this news, The Terrible Secret offers a demonstration of paralysis in the face of ultimate evil.
This 1998 paperback edition includes a new introduction by the author.
"A masterpiece . . . The lessons implicit in this booka classic of justicego far beyond the enormity of their occasion."George Steiner
"Laqueur moves swiftly, with brilliant concentration . . . The result is close to a landmark study."Terrence Des Pres, The New Republic
"A profoundly disturbing insight into that twilight world where so much of humanity lived and died."Bernard Wasserstein, The Times Literary Supplement
"After reading this book, with its proof of how much was known, I am astonished at our state of ignorance then."Telford Taylor, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"A masterpiece . . . the lessons implicit in this book--a classic of justice--go far beyond the enormity of their occasion."--George Steiner
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Review
"A masterpiece . . . the lessons implicit in this book--a classic of justice--go far beyond the enormity of their occasion."--George Steiner
Synopsis
Laqueur's new introduction, written for this paperback edition of his classic work, revives the lesson of the Holocaust and broadens our understanding of one of history's most terrible crimes.
Despite the outrage that swept the world when the Nazi death camps were first liberated in 1945, the truth about the extermination of European Jewry had been an open secret since at least 1941. Using sources and documentaries only recently made available, Walter Laqueur examines when and how information about the genocide became known to millions of Germans, international Jewish organizations, leaders of Jewish communities throughout Europe, and top government officials in neutral and Allied countries. Laying bare the lethal combination of disbelief and indifference that met this news, The Terrible Secret offers a brilliant and chilling demonstration of paralysis in the face of ultimate evil.
About the Author
Walter Laqueur, a distinguished professor of history and eminent commentator and expert on international affairs, is a chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University. He lives in Washington, D.C.