The Holocaust: A German Historian Examines the GenocideThe history of the Holocaust keeps being written and rewritten in ever greater detail, but almost always by Jews. Wolgang Benz's book makes an important contribution by bringing the German perspective to this horrific event. A masterpiece of compression, the books covers all the major topics and issues, from the Wannsee Conference of January 20, 1942, to stripping Jews of their civil rights, from the establishment of ghettos to the creation of killing centers and the development of an efficient system for extermination. The book also includes a chapter on "The Other Genocide: The Persecution of the Sinti and Roma," detailing the crusade against the Gypsies. From the Foreword by Arthur Hertzberg: Benz's account is the necessary 'first course' for anyone who wants to know about the Holocaust and to think further about its meaning for humanity. It is of particular importance that the historian who has written this book is a German. This account is trustworthy because its author combines within himself the rare authority of someone who belongs to the past of his nation. He has both understood and transcended its history in this century. The subject of the book, the Holocaust, is somber beyond words, but this account in Benz's words is a cause for hope. |
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annihilation antisemitism April army arrived Aryanization August Auschwitz barracks Belzec Berlin Central commandant concentration camp cultural Czerniakow death decree deportation documents East Eastern economic Eichmann Einsatzgruppen emigration engine Europe evacuation execution existence extermination camp fact fate Final Solution forced laborers gas chambers genocide German Jews German Reich Gestapo ghetto inmates Göring groups Gypsies hand Heydrich Himmler Hitler's Holocaust human January Jewish Council Jewish elder Jewish question Jewry Juden July June killing living Lodz Madagascar Main Office Majdanek mass murder ment million Jews Mischlinge Munich National Socialist Nazi regime NSDAP Nuremberg Laws October operation organization persecution Poland Polish population prisoners racial Reichsführer ss Reichsvereinigung represented responsible Riga RSHA Rumkowski Security Police September shooting shot Sinti Sinti and Roma Sobibor Sonderkommando Soviet territory Theresienstadt thousand Jews tion transit camps transport Trawniki Treblinka Ukrainian victims Wannsee Conference Warsaw women Würzburg Zionist