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Nazi Germany and the Jews: 1933-1945 by Prof Saul Friedlander
Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1933-1945 is an abridged edition of Saul Friedländer's definitive Pulitzer Prize-winning two-volume history of the Nazi Germany and the The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939 and The Years of Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945. The book's first part, dealing with the National Socialist campaign of oppression, restores the voices of Jews who were engulfed in an increasingly horrifying reality following the Nazi accession to power. Friedländer also provides the accounts of the persecutors themselves--and, perhaps most telling of all, the testimonies of ordinary German citizens who, in general, stood silent and unmoved by the increasing waves of segregation, humiliation, impoverishment, and violence. The second part covers the German extermination policies that resulted in the murder of six million European Jews--an official program that depended upon the cooperation of local authorities and police departments, the passivity of the populations, and the willingness of the victims to submit in desperate hope of surviving long enough to escape the German vise. A monumental, multifaceted study now contained in a single volume, Saul Friedländer's Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1933-1945 is an essential study of a dark and complex history.
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Published January 1, 1778
About the author
Saul Friedländer
60 books86 followersSaul Friedländer (Hebrew: שאול פרידלנדר) is an Israeli/French historian and a professor emeritus of history at UCLA.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 1, 2013
W. G. Sebald said that no serious person ever thinks about anything other than the events of 1939-1945 in Nazi-Occupied Poland. This amazing piece of work will go on to be regarded as the standard text on those events. Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the most inhuman chapter of modern history.
September 23, 2019
What can one say about the Holocaust without diminishing its true horror and wickedness? I will not try, but I will write a few words about this book which is the author's meticulously researched attempt to truthfully describe the events in Nazi-occupied Europe.
I spent nearly four months reading it – not because it was long and not because it was boring, even though it did get bogged down with minutia and meticulousness on occasion. Instead, it was such a long slog because of the frequent need I felt for respite. The details of how the leadership of one country planned, organized, and carried out, over many years, the attempted genocide of an entire class of people is disturbing in the extreme. Personally, I needed frequent breaks, which allowed me to read several other books while this one would sit temporarily abandoned on the shelf.
I really hoped that this book would teach me why the Holocaust happened. But, unfortunately, this question and a few other philosophical questions I have remain unanswered. I still do not understand, and simply cannot comprehend how the people, collectively, allowed the Holocaust to happen. Knowing that each and every one of us is cut from the same cloth (DNA), I realize that similar events could happen anywhere at any time under the right combination of circumstances. Indeed, much of what I see, hear, and read about in today's unhealthy and divisive political climate – much of it directed at unfortunate, displaced, and disenfranchised "undesirables" – echos the early tactics and rhetoric employed by the Nazis in their campaign against the Jews.
I spent nearly four months reading it – not because it was long and not because it was boring, even though it did get bogged down with minutia and meticulousness on occasion. Instead, it was such a long slog because of the frequent need I felt for respite. The details of how the leadership of one country planned, organized, and carried out, over many years, the attempted genocide of an entire class of people is disturbing in the extreme. Personally, I needed frequent breaks, which allowed me to read several other books while this one would sit temporarily abandoned on the shelf.
I really hoped that this book would teach me why the Holocaust happened. But, unfortunately, this question and a few other philosophical questions I have remain unanswered. I still do not understand, and simply cannot comprehend how the people, collectively, allowed the Holocaust to happen. Knowing that each and every one of us is cut from the same cloth (DNA), I realize that similar events could happen anywhere at any time under the right combination of circumstances. Indeed, much of what I see, hear, and read about in today's unhealthy and divisive political climate – much of it directed at unfortunate, displaced, and disenfranchised "undesirables" – echos the early tactics and rhetoric employed by the Nazis in their campaign against the Jews.
March 3, 2009
This is an unforgettable book. A comprehensive, detailed, definitive history of how hate become pandemic created war and cataclysm. I've read lots of holocaust writing, and seen a lot of film. But there is nothing else like this.
Though lengthy, I had to press on and finish. I'm so glad I did.
Though lengthy, I had to press on and finish. I'm so glad I did.
September 22, 2009
Man am I happy to be done reading this book. It's good and I'm glad I read it. But it is mostly a book about names rather than a book about people. Very straightforward history stuff, not much in the way of personal background info. No established characters, if you will. Granted, it's not a novel or a memoir, so it's not like I expected The Diary of Anne Frank: Now With Lots of Facts or anything. I think one of the main problems is that this is an abridged/combined version of two longer books by Friedländer: The Years of Persecution and The Years of Extermination. The intro claims that this book isn't meant to replace those two, it's meant to get people to read this one and then seek out the full versions. I kind of doubt that people who read this book are going to do that. Otherwise why read an abridged version in the first place. I've never read the originals so I can't say for sure, but this felt, at times, clumsily abridged and combined. It also seems geared toward people who already have a good background knowledge re: the historical figures involved. Mine is pretty shaky, so the scant introduction to these people didn't help me remember who the hell they were when they were mentioned dozens of pages later. Sure, I could have Googled every name, but then I never would have finished this. Time was of the essence since this is a library book. That is probably late. In any case, I gained something from reading this, but think I would have been better off to read the original books, which I now, in all likelihood, won't.
August 10, 2022
The most detailed account of the most unspeakable, protracted crime of all time. Friedländer achieves a Herculean task: documenting and narrating the escalating persecution of European Jews from 1933 onwards in a readable manner. Crude historical facts and figures are interwoven with harrowing eyewitness accounts as well as the readers’ warnings and critiques, especially towards the moral inadequacy of the Christian leadership and mass popular complacency.
January 30, 2021
Seriously well researched...
February 7, 2012
Not an easy read but essential to get an understanding of Europe in the 20th century. The book is an abridgement of two larger books. At times the narrative is disrupted or names are mentioned out of context or so long since a previous mention that I had forgotten who the people were.
One of the main issues the book raises is how the holocaust was allowed to happen in supposedly civilised Europe - I kept thinking of Gandhi's quip that he thought European civilisation would be a good idea. In almost mind-numbing detail the book goes through how the Jews were rounded up in the Reich and in the occupied countries and shipped to Poland to ghettos and then to the camps for extermination. The book has no maps which would have been helpful - I suppose they were abridged out!
In my own understanding I had thought the holocaust was a secret only revealed when the Soviets liberated the extermination camps in Poland in early 1945. This is of course not true and may have been the result of re-writing of history in our education system or in society more generally to relieve feelings of guilt. This book makes it clear that while it may not have been publicly reported much in Europe due to Nazi control of the media, ordinary people all over Europe knew what was happening to the Jews departed to Poland. Reports were sent to the Red Cross and to various governments and to the Vatican.
One aspect of the holocaust not so well covered in the book is the involvement of ordinary people from many European countries in the exterminations. This is covered much better by Inga Clendinnen
in Reading the Holocaust.
Overall a book everyone should read, but probably not one for re-reading.
One of the main issues the book raises is how the holocaust was allowed to happen in supposedly civilised Europe - I kept thinking of Gandhi's quip that he thought European civilisation would be a good idea. In almost mind-numbing detail the book goes through how the Jews were rounded up in the Reich and in the occupied countries and shipped to Poland to ghettos and then to the camps for extermination. The book has no maps which would have been helpful - I suppose they were abridged out!
In my own understanding I had thought the holocaust was a secret only revealed when the Soviets liberated the extermination camps in Poland in early 1945. This is of course not true and may have been the result of re-writing of history in our education system or in society more generally to relieve feelings of guilt. This book makes it clear that while it may not have been publicly reported much in Europe due to Nazi control of the media, ordinary people all over Europe knew what was happening to the Jews departed to Poland. Reports were sent to the Red Cross and to various governments and to the Vatican.
One aspect of the holocaust not so well covered in the book is the involvement of ordinary people from many European countries in the exterminations. This is covered much better by Inga Clendinnen
in Reading the Holocaust.
Overall a book everyone should read, but probably not one for re-reading.
January 9, 2013
Disturbing, yet still fascinating in its detail. I used Friedlander's unabridged version as a source for a paper on the Shoah a few years back and it was dense but useful. This much shorter version isn't perfect (editing could have been more precise) but it stands to be as valuable for the student of Holocaust studies as the original. I must agree with another reviewer that Dr. F's constant use of personal names slows the reading and can interfere with the narrative flow without adding that much to the story. I understand, however, that Friedlander wanted to make this personal - these were actual people, families, neighborhoods, towns, cities, that were being systematically slaughtered.
Due respect should be given the author (and his 'life partner' who did the abridged version)that he shared the blame in this book. The US, France, the Swiss, the Catholic Church, and others - all stood by dispassionately as perhaps 8 million Jews, Gypsies, and Homosexuals were massacred. The shame should never be forgotten. A job well done for a subject matter that should never be far from our national consciousness.
Due respect should be given the author (and his 'life partner' who did the abridged version)that he shared the blame in this book. The US, France, the Swiss, the Catholic Church, and others - all stood by dispassionately as perhaps 8 million Jews, Gypsies, and Homosexuals were massacred. The shame should never be forgotten. A job well done for a subject matter that should never be far from our national consciousness.
February 5, 2014
An absolute must read for anyone studying WWII and the Holocaust. The reader is able to see the big picture of the horrific events of the war and the atrocities committed against the Jews. At times the book is incredibly difficult to take in, as it should be. I loved that it was a comprehensive history of the war but has victim testimony intermixed.
February 21, 2014
Nazi Germany and the Jews. A painstaking account of the Holocaust. This book felt endless, and I think that was exactly the way it should have felt. For readers like me, with pretty much zero background in this history, the author's constant introduction of new names and places will be hard but not impossible to follow.
June 19, 2017
Nazis Jewish Policies
This book details the policies of Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler up until the start of the war. It was very detailed and provided a lot of new information to me. I highly recommend this book.
This book details the policies of Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler up until the start of the war. It was very detailed and provided a lot of new information to me. I highly recommend this book.
October 1, 2019
Was likely a better read in the original format. This book reads more like a list of events with little narrative. Make no mistake, it is still horrifying as it details things that the world must never forget.
July 19, 2017
A meticulous account of the oppressive measures and the public acquiescence that eventually resulted in the Holocaust. Extremely well researched.
July 21, 2017
We should all read this book to see how easy it was for a civilised society to allow this to happen.
December 18, 2017
Incredibly depressing (and a bit dry at times, as textbooks tend to be), but a great crash course in this heartbreaking, vitally important subject.
August 13, 2018
An abridged version of Friedlander's two volume history of the Nazi's war on the Jewish people. Comprehensive and well researched
March 21, 2019
A book everyone should read about an important part of history that tells us a lot about humanity and horror.
May 16, 2023
Although I’ve read many books on the Holocaust, this one was especially difficult to read. The fact that the book had four chapters entitled “Total Extermination” then addressing various periods over two years highlights the gloom and grief brought to life in this book. Friedlander focuses on the machine of death more than the people who were killed. This well-researched book is nearly as terrifying as the horrific history of these petrifying years of death by gassing, assassination, burning people to death, and worse. It’s a truly difficult book to consume.
The book also underscores how a system of hate was created, not just by Hitler but so many others. Years of hatred off of old scores, historic antisemitic views, the elimination of a free press, increasingly restrictive laws, greed, and the silence of religious organizations and others all allowed this horrific system of butchery to take place. Friedlander constantly pointed to the failure of churches, the absence of Britain, the United States, and other nations to do the right thing, and how other nations bent to the wishes of the Nazis either because of long-time antisemitic views or because of pressure in an undemocratic system.
The gradual nature of the system of discrimination allowed the unthinkable to occur over a few years. Despite Hitler’s stated hatred of Jews, many Jews had false security that the respected President Paul von Hindenburg having some control when Hitler came to power would maintain some level of the status quo. Many Jews had fought for their country during the recent world war, earning medals, including the beloved Iron Cross for their dedication to their country. Early legal restrictions didn’t impact most Jews since restrictions on serving in government affected few Jews and there were many exemptions for those who were not fully Jewish or those who had served in the military. But as 1933 and the following year progressed, restrictions increased – dismissal of Jewish lawyers, elimination of Jewish judges, limiting the enrollment of Jewish students to German schools and universities, forbidding Jews from owning farms, kicking Jews out of journalist associations and firing editors of newspapers who were Jewish.
Laws alone did not move this nation to craziness. Boycotts of Jewish businesses were launched, sometimes with the help of churches. Students took pictures of students attending classes by Jewish professors and broadcast them. By mid-May 1933, book burnings took place in various German towns with Goebbels a featured speaker. Still, most Jews did not see what was happening – and would occur. Of the 525,000 Jews in Germany, only 37,000 left the changing country. Churches were mostly making decisions that were self-serving, only standing up for Jews when it came to converted Jews or those married to their parishioners.
Violence was part of the movement in 1934 with major attacks on Jewish stores in March and April starting in Munich, the “Night of the Long Knives” in June, and targeted attacks on fancy stores owned by Jews in Berlin in mid-July. Laws continued to become more restrictive – Jews were not allowed at swimming pools, properties at resorts were taken away from Jews, musicians who were Jews were fired, Jewish culture wasn’t allowed to be shared anymore, citizenship was restricted suddenly with Jews even being prohibited from flying the German flag. Only the upcoming Olympic and the possibility of world reaction kept the violence and unfair laws from being more pronounced. Fact, signs restricting Jews were removed from the view of visitors for the Olympics. Forbidding Jews from using pools were held off until the world’s focus on Germany due to hosting the Olympics.
Despite the need for doctors, Jews were kicked out of the profession. By the end of 1934, over 2,000 of the 8,000+ Jewish doctors left the country. Jewish businesspeople were restricted from markets and fairs, real estate transactions with Jews were cancelled, boycotts were strengthened, and harassment from the SS started at a high level. As the years passed, pressure increased on Jews to immigrant by taking their property, passports were confiscated from Jews, property had to be recorded, a ban of all Jewish businesses was imposed, imprisonment started to be used, and violence was taken up another level with Kristallnacht on November 9-10, 1938. Hitler stood away from these vehement activities, pulling the strings from behind the scenes to keep international attention off of him. He wanted popular anger to push long-time Jewish citizens from their country. 36 Jews were killed, 267 synagogues were demolished, and 7,500 businesses owned by Jews were vandalized. Jews started to commit suicide to escape this unimaginable violence from their neighbors. Shortly after, all remaining Jewish children were expelled from German schools, access to public places were restricted to just a few hours a day, and most public facilities including theatres, museums, and sports facilities were restricted. Before the end of the year, Jews’ drivers’ licenses were lifted and Jewish pharmacists were kicked out of training. Later, in 1942, Jews were not permitted to have pets, had to give up all electrical appliances, cameras, and bikes. Even library cards were pulled from Jews.
Churches were silent during all these discriminatory laws and violent treatment. Most Germans stayed silent, literally often looking the other way.
Once Germany took control of Poland, their larger long-time Jewish population became the target of similar attacks. The government required all Jewish men between 15 and 60 to report to clean the streets while being humiliated, including having their hair pulled and cut. Jews were ordered to impart in heavy exercises before working, march and sing Polish national songs. By December, the Jews were required to wear the Star of David. Jewish Councils were established, helping the government to move forward as they developed new plans. The author made it clear that at this point, the future of Jews was not determined. Bribery often slowed the progress and allowed some elites some relief of the new, antisemitic government.
French Jews also saw change, including the swastika on the Eiffel Tower and German guard of honors at the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe. But they had a hard time escaping this increasingly large anti-Jewish governments. As the author repeatedly reminds the readers, other countries did not open their doors except for limited experiences. British government didn’t want Jews to escape to Palestine for fear of the reaction of Arab countries, especially since fuel was needed for the fight against the Nazis. Yet, the Nazis continued to put more restrictions on Jewish people, including seizing their property, removing exemptions, restricting Jewish culture, canceling credit owed to Jewish business people, restricting shopping of Jews to one hour a day, registration of Jews, and then the start of restricted Jewish neighborhoods called ghettos. While their rights were stripped away, they were subjected to violence and hate, Jews continued to try to retain some cultural life including creating orchestras within the ghettos. The Catholic Church was silent, with some Bishops even speaking out in favor of the restrictions.
But the author points out that Hitler’s anti-Jewish policy spread in many areas of Europe. In Romanian, the Orthodox Church held anger from accusing the Jews from siding with the Hungarians or Russians during earlier disputes. In France, Germans set up offices to facilitate the anti-Jewish attacks. The cardinals and bishops endorsed the limitations on Jews while other in faith communities were largely silent. While many people in Holland, especially the communists, fought back against the Germans. Collaboration by the Jewish Councils in that country undercut the resistance.
What was truly appalling was all the documented massacres of Jewish people:
• In March 1943, within a few weeks 90% of the 50,000 Salonica Jews from Greece were killed in Auschwitz.
• When Lwow was liberated in July 1942, of the 160,000 Jews, less than 3,500 were still living.
• By the end of June 1942, some 52,000 Slovak Jews had been deported, mainly to die in Auschwitz.
• In May 27, 1942, in response to an assassination of a top German Nazi, Hitler ordered the murder of most of the population of Lidice, a small town near Prague, because they thought the assassin was hiding there. Except for some of the Jewish children who were “Germanized” and raised by German families, all others were shot or sent to concentration camps where they were gassed.
• On April 17, 1942, 52 Jews who had been working in the underground press were yanked out of their apartments and shot in the back of their necks.
• On March 17, 1942, 30,000 Jews from the Lublin ghetto were the first to be gassed at the Belzec camp. Within a month, some 75,000 Jews were murdered. By the end of that year, 434,000 Jews would be exterminated in Belzec with only two surviving the war.
• In February 1942, Lithuania had murdered 138,272 people including 55,556 women and 34,464 children along with 653 mentally ill and 1,064 communists.
• In 1942, 66,000 Jews – nearly every Jewish person in Lithuania – were murdered.
• By April 2, another 34,073 Jews who had been sent earlier to the ghetto were deported and murdered.
• By the end of 1941, 2,000 Jews in Estonia were killed.
• On November 12, 1941, Himmler ordered the murder of 30,000 Jews of the Riga ghetto. 12 marksmen working in shifts shot the Jewish people from a distance of about 2 meters while naked in a mass grave.
• Jews forced into slave labor often died, including over 40,000 by the end of 1941.
• 33,700 Kiev Jews kills on September 29, 1941 in Babi Yar.
• In August, 1941, 18,000 mostly Polish Jews were round up and deported with 23,600 exterminated.
• 1,000 Jews killed largely by broomsticks with nails attached by Ukrainians on July 6, 1941.
• In Croatia, genocide was launched against the 2,200,000 Christian-Orthodox Serbs and the 45,000 Jews. Villages were burned to the ground, killing everyone in them and others were hacked to death, including some Serb women who had their breasts carved off by pocket knives or men having their eyes gorged out or otherwise mutilated.
• On June 26, 1941, killings started of Jews including 1,400 who suffocated or died of thirst in one train and 1,194 people in a second train.
• 201 mostly Jewish men executed on June 24th in a small boarder town of Gargzdia. Other kills occurred a few days later in Vilna and Kovno. The children and women of Gargzdia were murdered a few months later.
And while all of this occurred, the author points out that the world awakened slowly, faith groups looked the other way or even agreed to the unjust, in humane treatment of people who were Jewish. Friedlander reports that the Red Cross inspected the camp established just for the eyes of the world while the Nazis continued to assassinate millions. The notes that the Red Cross provided on those visits were hard to read.
Most heart breaking was again reading on how the last days of the war, Nazis killed every Jewish person they could before the Soviets or Allies arrived.
The book also underscores how a system of hate was created, not just by Hitler but so many others. Years of hatred off of old scores, historic antisemitic views, the elimination of a free press, increasingly restrictive laws, greed, and the silence of religious organizations and others all allowed this horrific system of butchery to take place. Friedlander constantly pointed to the failure of churches, the absence of Britain, the United States, and other nations to do the right thing, and how other nations bent to the wishes of the Nazis either because of long-time antisemitic views or because of pressure in an undemocratic system.
The gradual nature of the system of discrimination allowed the unthinkable to occur over a few years. Despite Hitler’s stated hatred of Jews, many Jews had false security that the respected President Paul von Hindenburg having some control when Hitler came to power would maintain some level of the status quo. Many Jews had fought for their country during the recent world war, earning medals, including the beloved Iron Cross for their dedication to their country. Early legal restrictions didn’t impact most Jews since restrictions on serving in government affected few Jews and there were many exemptions for those who were not fully Jewish or those who had served in the military. But as 1933 and the following year progressed, restrictions increased – dismissal of Jewish lawyers, elimination of Jewish judges, limiting the enrollment of Jewish students to German schools and universities, forbidding Jews from owning farms, kicking Jews out of journalist associations and firing editors of newspapers who were Jewish.
Laws alone did not move this nation to craziness. Boycotts of Jewish businesses were launched, sometimes with the help of churches. Students took pictures of students attending classes by Jewish professors and broadcast them. By mid-May 1933, book burnings took place in various German towns with Goebbels a featured speaker. Still, most Jews did not see what was happening – and would occur. Of the 525,000 Jews in Germany, only 37,000 left the changing country. Churches were mostly making decisions that were self-serving, only standing up for Jews when it came to converted Jews or those married to their parishioners.
Violence was part of the movement in 1934 with major attacks on Jewish stores in March and April starting in Munich, the “Night of the Long Knives” in June, and targeted attacks on fancy stores owned by Jews in Berlin in mid-July. Laws continued to become more restrictive – Jews were not allowed at swimming pools, properties at resorts were taken away from Jews, musicians who were Jews were fired, Jewish culture wasn’t allowed to be shared anymore, citizenship was restricted suddenly with Jews even being prohibited from flying the German flag. Only the upcoming Olympic and the possibility of world reaction kept the violence and unfair laws from being more pronounced. Fact, signs restricting Jews were removed from the view of visitors for the Olympics. Forbidding Jews from using pools were held off until the world’s focus on Germany due to hosting the Olympics.
Despite the need for doctors, Jews were kicked out of the profession. By the end of 1934, over 2,000 of the 8,000+ Jewish doctors left the country. Jewish businesspeople were restricted from markets and fairs, real estate transactions with Jews were cancelled, boycotts were strengthened, and harassment from the SS started at a high level. As the years passed, pressure increased on Jews to immigrant by taking their property, passports were confiscated from Jews, property had to be recorded, a ban of all Jewish businesses was imposed, imprisonment started to be used, and violence was taken up another level with Kristallnacht on November 9-10, 1938. Hitler stood away from these vehement activities, pulling the strings from behind the scenes to keep international attention off of him. He wanted popular anger to push long-time Jewish citizens from their country. 36 Jews were killed, 267 synagogues were demolished, and 7,500 businesses owned by Jews were vandalized. Jews started to commit suicide to escape this unimaginable violence from their neighbors. Shortly after, all remaining Jewish children were expelled from German schools, access to public places were restricted to just a few hours a day, and most public facilities including theatres, museums, and sports facilities were restricted. Before the end of the year, Jews’ drivers’ licenses were lifted and Jewish pharmacists were kicked out of training. Later, in 1942, Jews were not permitted to have pets, had to give up all electrical appliances, cameras, and bikes. Even library cards were pulled from Jews.
Churches were silent during all these discriminatory laws and violent treatment. Most Germans stayed silent, literally often looking the other way.
Once Germany took control of Poland, their larger long-time Jewish population became the target of similar attacks. The government required all Jewish men between 15 and 60 to report to clean the streets while being humiliated, including having their hair pulled and cut. Jews were ordered to impart in heavy exercises before working, march and sing Polish national songs. By December, the Jews were required to wear the Star of David. Jewish Councils were established, helping the government to move forward as they developed new plans. The author made it clear that at this point, the future of Jews was not determined. Bribery often slowed the progress and allowed some elites some relief of the new, antisemitic government.
French Jews also saw change, including the swastika on the Eiffel Tower and German guard of honors at the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe. But they had a hard time escaping this increasingly large anti-Jewish governments. As the author repeatedly reminds the readers, other countries did not open their doors except for limited experiences. British government didn’t want Jews to escape to Palestine for fear of the reaction of Arab countries, especially since fuel was needed for the fight against the Nazis. Yet, the Nazis continued to put more restrictions on Jewish people, including seizing their property, removing exemptions, restricting Jewish culture, canceling credit owed to Jewish business people, restricting shopping of Jews to one hour a day, registration of Jews, and then the start of restricted Jewish neighborhoods called ghettos. While their rights were stripped away, they were subjected to violence and hate, Jews continued to try to retain some cultural life including creating orchestras within the ghettos. The Catholic Church was silent, with some Bishops even speaking out in favor of the restrictions.
But the author points out that Hitler’s anti-Jewish policy spread in many areas of Europe. In Romanian, the Orthodox Church held anger from accusing the Jews from siding with the Hungarians or Russians during earlier disputes. In France, Germans set up offices to facilitate the anti-Jewish attacks. The cardinals and bishops endorsed the limitations on Jews while other in faith communities were largely silent. While many people in Holland, especially the communists, fought back against the Germans. Collaboration by the Jewish Councils in that country undercut the resistance.
What was truly appalling was all the documented massacres of Jewish people:
• In March 1943, within a few weeks 90% of the 50,000 Salonica Jews from Greece were killed in Auschwitz.
• When Lwow was liberated in July 1942, of the 160,000 Jews, less than 3,500 were still living.
• By the end of June 1942, some 52,000 Slovak Jews had been deported, mainly to die in Auschwitz.
• In May 27, 1942, in response to an assassination of a top German Nazi, Hitler ordered the murder of most of the population of Lidice, a small town near Prague, because they thought the assassin was hiding there. Except for some of the Jewish children who were “Germanized” and raised by German families, all others were shot or sent to concentration camps where they were gassed.
• On April 17, 1942, 52 Jews who had been working in the underground press were yanked out of their apartments and shot in the back of their necks.
• On March 17, 1942, 30,000 Jews from the Lublin ghetto were the first to be gassed at the Belzec camp. Within a month, some 75,000 Jews were murdered. By the end of that year, 434,000 Jews would be exterminated in Belzec with only two surviving the war.
• In February 1942, Lithuania had murdered 138,272 people including 55,556 women and 34,464 children along with 653 mentally ill and 1,064 communists.
• In 1942, 66,000 Jews – nearly every Jewish person in Lithuania – were murdered.
• By April 2, another 34,073 Jews who had been sent earlier to the ghetto were deported and murdered.
• By the end of 1941, 2,000 Jews in Estonia were killed.
• On November 12, 1941, Himmler ordered the murder of 30,000 Jews of the Riga ghetto. 12 marksmen working in shifts shot the Jewish people from a distance of about 2 meters while naked in a mass grave.
• Jews forced into slave labor often died, including over 40,000 by the end of 1941.
• 33,700 Kiev Jews kills on September 29, 1941 in Babi Yar.
• In August, 1941, 18,000 mostly Polish Jews were round up and deported with 23,600 exterminated.
• 1,000 Jews killed largely by broomsticks with nails attached by Ukrainians on July 6, 1941.
• In Croatia, genocide was launched against the 2,200,000 Christian-Orthodox Serbs and the 45,000 Jews. Villages were burned to the ground, killing everyone in them and others were hacked to death, including some Serb women who had their breasts carved off by pocket knives or men having their eyes gorged out or otherwise mutilated.
• On June 26, 1941, killings started of Jews including 1,400 who suffocated or died of thirst in one train and 1,194 people in a second train.
• 201 mostly Jewish men executed on June 24th in a small boarder town of Gargzdia. Other kills occurred a few days later in Vilna and Kovno. The children and women of Gargzdia were murdered a few months later.
And while all of this occurred, the author points out that the world awakened slowly, faith groups looked the other way or even agreed to the unjust, in humane treatment of people who were Jewish. Friedlander reports that the Red Cross inspected the camp established just for the eyes of the world while the Nazis continued to assassinate millions. The notes that the Red Cross provided on those visits were hard to read.
Most heart breaking was again reading on how the last days of the war, Nazis killed every Jewish person they could before the Soviets or Allies arrived.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2024
This is the first volume of a history of Nazi Germany and the Jews. This volume gives a history of Anti-Semitism in history. The book then follows the rise of Hitler and the beginning of the persecution of the Jews. The persecution begins with decrees issued to begin depriving the Jewish people of their citizenship rights. At the same time efforts begin to confiscate the economic means of survival.
These first steps are taken with an eye on the reaction of other countries. As their response is acquiescence,the Nazis become bolder. Violence is often used but made to look spontaneous and not government sponsored. This violence culminates in Kristalnachtin November,1938.
Emigration is seen as the solution to eradicating the Jews from Germany. When it becomes obvious that other countries aren’t willing to accept them, the Nazis are handed a great propaganda coup.
The book also follows the Nazis persecution of other groups such as Gypsies, homosexuals and Communists. The reader also learns of the euthanasia of the mentally ill and the handicapped. Sterilization is also used to prevent mentally handicapped and physically impaired.
We see how the majority of the German population and the churches as well as other countries made no significant protest against the treatment of the Jews.
This book is an important work that lays the groundwork for the extermination of the Jews that took place later in the war.
These first steps are taken with an eye on the reaction of other countries. As their response is acquiescence,the Nazis become bolder. Violence is often used but made to look spontaneous and not government sponsored. This violence culminates in Kristalnachtin November,1938.
Emigration is seen as the solution to eradicating the Jews from Germany. When it becomes obvious that other countries aren’t willing to accept them, the Nazis are handed a great propaganda coup.
The book also follows the Nazis persecution of other groups such as Gypsies, homosexuals and Communists. The reader also learns of the euthanasia of the mentally ill and the handicapped. Sterilization is also used to prevent mentally handicapped and physically impaired.
We see how the majority of the German population and the churches as well as other countries made no significant protest against the treatment of the Jews.
This book is an important work that lays the groundwork for the extermination of the Jews that took place later in the war.
November 2, 2012
Dit boek verdient in elke boekenkast een plaatsje. De schrijver is er in geslaagd om op een vlotte manier dit boek te schrijven zonder aan wetenschappelijke basis in te boeten. Doorheen dit boek wordt je bewustzijn gevormd, de Shoah was onbeschrijflijk. De schrijver probeert ook een schets weer te geven van hoe geraffineerd Nazi-Duitsland aan de slag ging met de vernietiging, daarvoor is het eerste deel (wat vaak onderbelicht is) de periode 1933-1939 besproken. Een must have voor iedereen die inzicht wilt krijgen waarom dit niet meer mag gebeuren.
January 20, 2014
after reading WWII histories covering battles, political leaders and particular units, I realized that I could not avoid this subject. I am glad to have read it, but it has reinforced do r me the depths of depravity to which humans can sink. The murderous policies and actions of the Nazi's is only slightly less understandable than the practiced and callous refusal of governments and churches and even Jewish institutions to raise much of a protest. I find that my next task will be to seek the roots of such anti semifinal.
April 23, 2016
This is one of the books I had to read for class, which is why it took me a bit longer to read than it should have otherwise. It's a really fantastic overview of the Holocaust. It was easy to read, detailed and comprehensive.
As noted this is the abridged version of the two-part series. It's more 'big-picture' focused but I felt like I learned so much and it was a great guide with understanding the course work better. I would recommend to anyone wanting to get a better insight on the horrors of the Holocaust from beginning to end.
As noted this is the abridged version of the two-part series. It's more 'big-picture' focused but I felt like I learned so much and it was a great guide with understanding the course work better. I would recommend to anyone wanting to get a better insight on the horrors of the Holocaust from beginning to end.
April 22, 2010
The at times haphazard yet ultimately systematic destruction of Jewish economic, cultural, social and physical life in Germany beginning in 1933 through law, decree, improvisation and violence. I believe that from Hitler's ascent to power in 1933, his goal for Jews was clear. He spoke the words of annihilation many times. The world did not believe him. Of course this is hindsight. An excellent book.
September 25, 2022
I read an abridged version of +/- 350 pages in Dutch. I have no doubt the unabridged original version is definitely worth it. This summary, while great in content, is somewhat botched. Too much information had to be crammed in 350 pages. Which makes it sometimes hard to follow, given the abundance of facts, names, places. Note: The original consists of two volumes and counts approx. 1400 pages. If you’re really interested in this topic, I’d suggest to pick up the original version.
January 18, 2023
This book gave me a different perspective on the Holocaust.
It wasn't about the horrific personal accounts of survivors, although there are plenty of those. It was a detailed catalogue of the lead-up to, degrees of international complicity with, and scale of the Nazi extermination of the Jews from 1933-1945. These were heartbreaking to read about in a different way, and left me questioning humanity just as much as the gruesome details did.
It wasn't about the horrific personal accounts of survivors, although there are plenty of those. It was a detailed catalogue of the lead-up to, degrees of international complicity with, and scale of the Nazi extermination of the Jews from 1933-1945. These were heartbreaking to read about in a different way, and left me questioning humanity just as much as the gruesome details did.
December 26, 2014
If there is one book that will give you the intimate day by day details of the effects of Nazi policies on the Jews of Europe this is that book. It takes policies, adds numbers, and then supports with eye witness accounts, letters, or journal entries.
It is a hard read because it is so overwhelming in detail. But a book everyone should read.
It is a hard read because it is so overwhelming in detail. But a book everyone should read.
April 25, 2025
Was likely a better read in the original format. This book reads more like a list of events with little narrative. Make no mistake, it is still horrifying as it details things that the world must never forget.
December 30, 2021
Sehr wichtiges Buch, welches die Verbrechen an den Juden festhält.
ABSOLUTE LESEEMPFEHLUNG!
ABSOLUTE LESEEMPFEHLUNG!
September 29, 2022
Incredibly well written
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