War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust » (2nd Edition)

In examining one of the defining events of the 20th century, Doris Bergen situates the Holocaust in its historical, political, social, cultural, and military contexts. Unlike many other treatments of the Holocaust, the revised, second edition of War and Genocide discusses not only the persecution of the Jews, but also other segments of society victimized by the Nazis: gypsies, homosexuals, Poles, Soviet POWs, the handicapped, 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 first hand accounts from perpetrators, victims, and eyewitnesses, the book is immediate, human, and eminently readable.

Preface: War and Genocide: Race and Space

1 Preconditions: Antisemitism, Racism, and Common Prejudices in Early-Twentieth-Century Europe 1

2 Leadership and Will: Adolf Hitler, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, and Nazi Ideology 29

3 From Revolution to Routine: Nazi Germany, 1933-1938 51

4 Open Aggression: In Search of War, 1938-1939 79

5 Experiments in Brutality, 1939-1940: War against Poland and the So-Called Euthanasia Program 101

6 Expansion and Systematization: Exporting War and Terror, 1940-1941 135

7 The Peak Years of Killing: 1942 and 1943 167

8 Death Throes and Killing Frenzies, 1944-1945 215

Conclusion: The Legacies of Atrocity 233

Sources and Suggestions for Further Reading 245

Photo Credits 259

Index 263