War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust (Critical Issues in World and International History)

Bergen situates the Holocaust in its historical, political, social, cultural and military contexts. The text discusses not only the persecution of the Jews, but also other segments of society victimized by the Nazis, including gypsies, homosexuals, Poles, Soviet POWs and the disabled. In examining one of the defining events of the twentieth century, Doris L. Bergen situates the Holocaust in its historical, political, social, cultural, and military contexts. Unlike many other treatments of the Holocaust, this revised, third edition discusses not only the persecution of the Jews, but also other segments of society victimized by the Nazis: Roma, homosexuals, Poles, Soviet POWs, the disabled, and other groups deemed undesirable. In clear and eloquent prose, Bergen explores the two interconnected goals that drove the Nazi German program of conquest and genocide-purification of the so-called Aryan race and expansion of its living space-and discusses how these goals affected the course of World War II. Including firsthand accounts from perpetrators, victims, and eyewitnesses, her book is immediate, human, and eminently readable Introduction : Holocaust, war and genocide : themes and problems Dry timber : preconditions Leadership and will: Hitler, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, and Nazi ideology From revolution to routine: Nazi Germany, 1933-1938 Open aggression: in search of war, 1938-1939 Brutal innovations : war against Poland and the so-called euthanasia program, 1939-1940 Expansion and systematization : exporting war and terror, 1940-1941 War and genocide : decisions and dynamics in the peak years of killing, 1942-1943 Flashover : the killing centers, 1942-1944 Death throes and killing frenzies, 1944-1945 Conclusion : legacies of atrocity. Places the Holocaust in its historical, political, social, cultural, and military contexts, focusing on the two goals that drove the Nazis in their persecution of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, and other groups they deemed as undesirables.