Synopses & Reviews
This monumental 7-volume encyclopedia, the result of years of work by the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, will describe the universe of camps and ghettos--some 20,000 in all--that the Nazis and their allies operated, from Norway to North Africa and from France to Russia. For the first time, a single reference work will provide detailed information on each individual site.
This first volume covers three groups of camps: the early camps that the Nazis established in the first year of Hitler's rule, the major SS concentration camps with their constellations of subcamps, and the special camps for Polish and German children and adolescents. Overview essays provide context for each category, while each camp entry provides basic information about the site's purpose; the prisoners, guards, working and living conditions; and key events in the camp's history. Material from personal testimonies helps convey the character of the site, while source citations provide a path to additional information.
Review
This book is the first in a projected multivolume reference work on the thousands of concentration camps and ghettos administered by Nazi Germany both prior to and during WW II. All told, millions of prisoners from all over Nazi-occupied Europe were placed in these camps. After being incarcerated for various reasons involving race, politics, and Germany's need for labor, millions were murdered. Although Jews were the special targets, other groups included were Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), homosexuals, resistance fighters, common criminals, communists, prisoners of war, and more. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum undertook this project to provide a reliable, up-to-date reference based on the massive amount of archival material that has become available since the expiration of the 50-year archival restrictions in many countries and the successful effort to open the Bad Arolsen archives in Germany. Toward this end, the project directors enlisted the leading experts on the Holocaust and on Nazi Germany to write the articles included in this work. The result is a readable encyclopedia with very up-to-date bibliographical sources. This important reference work belongs on every library bookshelf. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.J. Fischel, Professor Emeritus, Messiah College, CHOICE, November 2009
Review
"A readable encyclopedia with very up-to-date bibliographical sources. This important reference work belongs on every library bookshelf." --Choice, November 2009 Indiana University Press Indiana University Press
Review
"The most efficacious way of fighting the scourge of Holocaust denial is with the facts. No argument posed by deniers can withstand the overwhelming weight of the truth. This encyclopedia will provide a host of detail about crucial aspects of the Holocaust that cannot be found elsewhere." --Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving
Review
"Well researched... accessible... this valuable resource covers an aspect of the Holocaust rarely addressed and never in such detail. A valuable addition to libraries focusing on the Holocaust." --Library Journal
Review
"This work will be of particular use to specialists in the fields of German and Austrian history, European labor history, and the history of World War II." --Jewish Book World, Fall 2010 Indiana University Press
Review
"[This] volume would well serve those who research the Holocaust or work with survivor memoirs and testimonies." --The American Jewish World, April 2, 2010
Review
"The USHMM Encyclopedia is a highly significant and overdue synthesis of existing documentary studies and specialized knowledge on the history and profile of Nazi concentration camps." --German Studies Review
Review
"An indispensable source that no one individual could compile in a lifetime of research.... An especially useful reference work for anyone working with survivor memoirs and testimonies." --Christopher R. Browning, author of Ordinary Men: Reserve Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
Synopsis
This monumental 7-volume encyclopedia, the result of years of work by the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, will describe the universe of camps and ghettos--some 20,000 in all--that the Nazis and their allies operated, from Norway to North Africa and from France to Russia. For the first time, a single reference work will provide detailed information on each individual site.
Synopsis
First volume of a comprehensive reference on all camps in the Nazi system
About the Author
Geoffrey P. Megargee is an applied research scholar at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is author of War of Annihilation: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941 and Inside Hitler's High Command.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Elie Wiesel
Preface
Acknowledgments
Overview
Reader's Guide
List of Abbreviations
Early Camps
Introduction
Camps: Ahrensbök-Holstendorf-Zwickau
Youth camps
WVHA Camps
Introduction
Auschwitz
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Altdorf-Tschechowitz
Bergen-Belsen
Main camp
Camps: Bomlitz-Unterlüss
Buchenwald
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Abteroda-Wolfen
Dachau
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Augsburg-Horgau-Zangberg
Flossenbürg
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Altenhammer-Zwodau
Gross-Rosen
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Aslau-Zittau
Herzogenbusch
Main camp
Camps: Amersfoort-Venlo
Hinzert
Main camp
Camps: Bad Nauheim-Zeltingen
Kaunas
Main camp
Camps: Kauen-Alexoten-Schaulen
Krakau-Plaszöw
Main camp
Camps: Kabelwerk-Zakopane
Lublin-Majdanek
Main camp
Camps: Blizyn-Trawniki
Mauthausen
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Amstetten-Wien-Schwechat-Heidfeld
Mittelbau
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Ballenstedt-Napola-Wickerode
Natzweiler
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Adun-le-Tiche-Wesserling
Neuengamme
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Alt Garge-Wöbbelin
Ravensbrück
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Ansbach-Zichow
Riga
Main camp
Camps: Dondangen-VEF
Sachsenhausen
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Bad Saarow-Wulkow
SS-Baubrigaden
Introduction
Camps: Alderney-Wuppertal
Stutthof
Main camp
Subcamp system
Camps: Adlershorst-Zeyersvorderkampen
Vaivara
Main camp
Camps: Aseri-Vivikonna
Warschau
Wewelsburg
Appendices
International Tracing Service Sources Update
About the Editor
List of Contributors
Index