Holocaust, The: Reader, A

Description:
This interdisciplinary collection of primary and secondary readings encourages scholars and students to engage critically with current debates about the origins, implementation and postwar interpretation of the Holocaust. Interdisciplinary content encourages students to engage with philosophical, political, cultural and literary debate as well as historiographical issues. It integrates oral histories and testimonies from both victims and perpetrators, including Jewish council leaders, victims of ghettos and camps, SS officials and German soldiers. Subsections can be used as the basis for oral or written exercises. Whole articles or substantial extracts are included wherever possible.

Review:
'The book is very much what it promises, a reader designed to introduce the student to thinking about the Holocaust in analytical terms.' Australian Jewish News 'The greatest attribute of The Holocaust is quite simply the work itself as a whole. Rather than a comprehensive history of the Holocaust told from the point of view of one scholar, Gigliotti and Lang present primary and secondary works that approach the subject from historical, ethical, philosophical, sociological, and legal viewpoints. As a result, the editors not only appeal to a wide audience, but they also encourage cooperation between many fields of study. Simone Gigliotti and Berel Lang's contribution should become a staple in undergraduate and graduate seminars on the Holocaust and genocide for years to come, so the next generation of scholars will not forget and will begin their own efforts to understand.' H-Net Reviews 'Simone Gigliotti and Berel Lang's book constitutes a valuable new contribution to the field.' European History Quarterly

Table of Contents:
List of Maps.Acknowledgments.Chronology.Glossary.Introduction: Simone Gigliotti and Berel Lang.Part I Preconditions: Nazism and the Turn from Anti-Judaism to Antisemitism.Introduction.1 Anti-Semites: Bernard Lewis.2 From Weimar to Hitler: Robert S. Wistrich.3 Nation and Race: Adolf Hitler.4 Nuremberg Law for the Protection of the German Blood and of the German Honour of 15 September 1935.Part II A Racial Europe: Nazi Population and Resettlement Policy.Introduction.5 The Setting: Henry Friedlander.6 Ghetto Formation: Raul Hilberg.7 From 'Ethnic Cleansing' to Genocide to the 'Final Solution': The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, 1939-1941: Christopher R. Browning.8 Some Thoughts on the Treatment of the Alien Population in the East: Heinrich Himmler.Part III War and the Turn to Genocide.Introduction.9 The 'Commissar Decree,' June 6, 1941.10 Affidavit of SS Grueppenfuehrer Otto Ohlendorf.11 Operation Barbarossa as a War of Conquest and Annihilation: Jurgen Forster.12 From Mass Murder to the 'Final Solution:' The Shooting of Jewish Civilians during the first months of the Eastern Campaign within the context of the Nazi Jewish Genocide: Peter Longerich.13 Savage War: German Warfare and Moral Choices in World War II: Omer Bartov.Part IV Whose 'Final Solution'? Revisted Intentionalism and Functionalism.Introduction.14 Hitler's Reichstag Speech, January 30, 1939 : Adolf Hitler.15 Minutes of the Wannsee Conference, January 20, 1942.16Intentions and the 'Final Solution:' Berel Lang.17 A Controversy about the Historicization of National Socialism: Martin Broszat and Saul Friedlaender.18 Justice Jackson's Report to the President on Atrocities and War Crimes, June 6, 1945: Robert H. Jackson.Part V Response and Testimony: At the Center of the Whirlwind.Introduction.19 Inside the Ghetto: Emmanuel Ringelblum.20 Notebook H: Oskar Rosenfeld.21 The Second Winter: October 29, 1942--March 18, 1943: Herman Kruk.22 Letters from Westerbork: Etty Hillesum.Part VI Genocide and the Holocaust.Introduction.23 UnitedNations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, December 9, 1948..24 Defining Genocide as a Sociological Concept: Helen Fein.25 Is the Holocaust Simply Another Example of Genocide? Mark Levene.26 Conceptual Blockages and Definitional Dilemmas in the 'Racial Century:' Genocides of Indigenous Peoples and the Holocaust: A. Dirk Moses

Author Biography:
Simone Gigliotti is a lecturer in the History Program at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and a Fellow in the Department of History at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Previously, she taught at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, and was a visiting scholar at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC. Berel Lang is Professor of Humanities at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. His many books include The Future of the Holocaust: Between History and Memory (1999) and Act and Idea in the Nazi Genocide (1990). His forthcoming book is Post-Holocaust: Interpretation, Misinterpretation, and the Claims of History.