The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry, 1932-1945

by Leni Yahil, Ina Friedman (Translator), Haya Galai (Translator)

When The Holocaust first appeared in Israel in 1987, it was hailed as the finest, most authoritative history of Hitler's war on the Jews ever published. Representing twenty years of research and reflection, Leni Yahil's book won the Shazar Prize, one of Israel's highest awards for historical work. Now available in English, The Holocaust offers a sweeping look at the Final Solution, covering not only Nazi policies, but also how Jews and foreign governments perceived and responded to the unfolding nightmare.
The Holocaust is astonishingly comprehensive. Yahil weaves a gripping chronological narrative that stretches from the Norwegian fjords to the Greek islands, from Amsterdam to Tehran--and even Shanghai. Her writing is balanced, objective, and compelling, as she systematically explores the evolution of the Holocaust in German-occupied Europe, probing its politics, planning, goals, and key figures. Yahil uses her command of the many relevant languages to marshal an impressive array of documentary and statistical evidence, driving her narrative forward with telling details and personal accounts--such as a survivor's description of her perseverance during a death march, or the story of the Struma , a boat that sank with over 700 Jewish refugees when the British refused to receive it in Palestine.
Along the way, she destroys persistent myths about the that Hitler had no plan for exterminating the Jews, that the Jews themselves went peacefully to the slaughter. Though Yahil finds that Nazi policies were often inconsistent, particularly during the years before the war, she conclusively demonstrates that Hitler was always working toward a final reckoning with world Jewry, envisioning his war as a war against the Jews. The book also recounts numerous uprisings and acts of resistance in ghettos and concentration camps, as well as the activities of Jewish partisan units. Yahil describes the work of Jews in America, Palestine, and world organizations on behalf of Hitler's victims--often in the face of resistance by the Allied governments and neutral states--and explores the factors that affected the success of rescue efforts.
The Holocaust is a monumental work of history, unsurpassed in scope and insightful detail. Objective yet compassionate, Leni Yahil brings together the countless diverse strands of this epic event in a single gripping account.

Genres: History, Holocaust, Nonfiction, European History, World War II, Jewish, War

832 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1990

About the author

Leni Yahil is Professor Emeritus at Haifa University, and is a member of the Editorial Board of Yad Vashem Studies and its affiliated publications.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A summary of the Jewish Holocaust :

The Nazis murdered between 5 and 6 million Jews which was one third of the total global Jewish population and two thirds of all European Jews. 75% of the murdered Jews were from Poland and the Soviet Union. Four of the six extermination camps were in Poland.
50% of all victims died in the 6 extermination camps
25% died in shootings by the Einsatzgruppen
25% died in ghettos, and in concentration camps

50% of victims died in the year between March 1942 and March 1943


****

"The Nazi murder of the Jews was unequalled because never before has a state, with the authority of its responsible leaders, decided and announced the total killing of a certain group of people, including the old, the women, the children, the infants, and turned this decision into fact with the use of all the possible instruments of power available to the state."

- Eberhard Jackel, German historian, 1987

****

Emil Fackenheim's “614th Commandment” (after the 613 of rabbinic tradition):
“We are, first, commanded to survive as Jews; we are commanded, second, to remember in our very guts and bones the martyrs of the Holocaust; we are forbidden, thirdly, to deny or despair of God, however much we may have to contend with him or with belief in him, lest Judaism perish; we are forbidden finally to despair of the world as the place which is to become the Kingdom of God lest we help make it a meaningless place in which God is dead or irrelevant and everything is permitted. To abandon any of these imperatives, in response to Hitler’s victory at Auschwitz, would be to hand him yet other posthumous victories.”

****


“The Holocaust is the definitive refutation of the grand illusion that human beings become better as they become more educated.”

- Carol Rittner

****

“Arguing for the explicability of the Holocaust does not mean that we are today at a stage where we can actually explain it, nor is it likely that we shall be able to do so in the forseeable future, if at all.”

Yehuda Bauer


*****

How horrible and how problematic is all of this! I tremble to make any kind of remarks about the Holocaust itself, but I offer a few observations about this particular book : it's huge, as befits its subject, and it's very dense and often is more like an encyclopedia than a narrative. But how would anyone subsume this story of millions into a mere sequence of events. Impossible. Most readers will not need this amount of detail. Most readers will not wish to read for 700 pages about the einsatzgruppen, the sonderkommando, the transports, the camps, the gas chambers, the death marches, the experiments, the lambs to the slaughter, Himmler, Eichmann, Heydrich, Hoess, Stangl and the utter triumph of evil. In fact I would direct most readers to books which discuss the Holocaust in all its fearsome appalling implications, like

Approaches to Auschwitz : the Legacy of the Holocaust – Rubenstein & Roth
The Holocaust in Historical Perspective : Yehuda Bauer
Rethinking the Holocaust : Yehuda Bauer
The Holocaust in History : Marrus

These books can at least give us some company as we stumble dismayed in the hideous moral rubble left by the SS.

[Syd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, this was about 800 pages of emotional anguish, but if you only read one book about the holocaust, this should probably be the one.

[Don Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

So you think you know the history of the Holocaust? I thought I knew it... I didn’t know squat.

This is probably the most comprehensive book I have ever read on the topic

It is not an easy read... it took a while to get through it and absorb it... but it is well worth the time and attention

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

PERHAPS THE GREATEST SUMMARY OF THE HOLOCAUST, AND ITS BACKGROUND

Israeli historian Leni Yahil wrote in the Preface to this 1987 book, “This book represents the English version of the original Hebrew edition published in Israel jointly by Schocken Publishing House and Yad Vashem. To render the book in translation it was necessary to abridge to some extent the text of the original two volumes by deleting occasionally illuminating details and shortening extensive descriptions without, however, sacrificing specific information or affecting the overall meaning. I have attempted to correct errors that crept into the Hebrew edition, to include important new results of recent research and, in particular, to update the bibliography.”

She adds in the Introduction, “The major question facing all… is: Why were the Jews of Europe abandoned to their fate?... responsibility has been placed on a number of parties, above all the Nazis and their minions. Yet charges have also been laid against the peoples of the free world for not lending a hand in rescue missions. And Jews have even cast blame on the Jews themselves---those who enjoyed freedom and those trapped under Hitler’s rule---arguing that their conduct contributed to the tragedy… Questions have been asked not only in Israel but also… in the Diaspora, for the condition of Diaspora Jewry today is closer to that of European Jewry prior to the Holocaust than to the situation in Israel. The sense of continuity is also stronger… and the dangers inherent in Diaspora life are more patent… the generation that has grown up in Israel has asked two questions…: Why didn’t the Jews of Europe defend themselves, fight back, or try to save themselves? Why didn’t the Jews of the rest of the world, including Palestine, take action to save them? If the Jews are a single people and, whether living in their homeland or the Diaspora, share a common fate and mutuality of responsibility, how come this shared destiny did not engender a united act of rescue?” (Pg. 6-7)

She observes, “the Jewish population … made up a distinct community that was easy to assail and depict… as the main cause of its present suffering and a menace to the future. The anti-Semitic ideology countenanced the envy felt toward the Jews, and the Nazi party channeled the frustration into the ‘people’s rage,’ while the maligned Jewish population… had no political base of its own.” (Pg. 23) She continues, “anti-Semitism is predicated on the imputation of contradictory traits: the Jew is a braggart and a coward… omniscient and noncreative… racially pure and a mongrel… Thus, anti-Semitism makes it possible to identify the Jew with every conceivable foe and direct every kind of hostility against him.” (Pg. 35) She continues, “Racism as political doctrine rests on three propositions: (1) race is a…determining factor… (2) race is a generic factor that finds expression in all aspects of life; (3) race is the prime element of any form of rule. This… makes the racist doctrine … devoid of all the ethical norms … It is amoral, just as nature is amoral.” (Pg. 37) She adds, “Hitler fused all the thoughts, impulses, and influences that anti-Semitism ascribed to the Jew into a comprehensive ideology…” (Pg. 44)

She states, “The exclusion of the Jews from the economic, cultural and social life of Germany was not accomplished according to a definite, preconceived plan, but steadily expanded… The Nazis used three methods to achieve their objective of oppressing the Jews: terror, propaganda, and legislation.” (Pg. 62) She adds, “The Nuremberg Laws were designed to achieve two purposes: to separate the races and to define the rights of a citizen of the Reich… the law forbade marriages between Jews and ‘subjects … of German or related blood'… [Hitler] considered the Nuremberg Laws a milestone … to achieving his objective: ‘purging’ Germany of Jews as an essential prerequisite to the establishment of the Reich that would last for a thousand years.” (Pg. 71-72) She continues, “Hitler’s rise to power … forced world Jewry to face up to a new situation for which it … was sorely unprepared.” (Pg. 90) She states, “The Zionists in Germany… acknowledged the need to fight for the right of the Jews to remain in Germany; on the other [hand], they recognized the urgency of emigration to Palestine.” (Pg. 99)

She explains, “Hitler’s ultimate objective was to rule the world, and in this respect he regarded the United States as his main adversary… Hitler’s ambition … was closely bound up with his conception of the Jews as his implacable enemies… Millions of Jews were living in Eastern Europe, the very region he looked to as [‘living space’] for the German people. Hence, their annihilation was one of the war’s objectives.” (Pg. 127) She continues, “The concentration camp was the instrument by which Hitler terrorized the population… Detained in these camps was anyone considered an opponent of the regime: socialists, clergy… Jews and members of other ‘inferior races’ … as well as … homosexuals, prostitutes, and beggars.” (Pg. 133) She adds, “planning the measures against the Jews was … guided by principle… First came the eviction of the Jews… Second was the concentration and isolation of the Jews… Third, the burden of the organization and maintenance of the deported … Jews was placed on their communal organizations… Fourth, the economic basis of Jews’ lives would be destroyed… Fifth was to make use of the Jewish labor force.” (Pg. 146, 148)

She summarizes, “Hitler … had begun the war against the Jews of Europe, but it was still far from having reached its full dimensions.” (Pg. 185) She observes, “the Jews in occupied Europe fought for their existence with little outside assistance… As the nightmare overtook them… they hoped it would pass---if they could only hold out---while the few who foresaw the fate in store for them felt helpless.” (Pg. 240) She acknowledges, “We do not know for sure when Hitler finally made up his mind to exterminate the Jews in order to ‘solve’ the Jewish problem… Nor do we know of any statement of Hitler at the time of the conquest of Poland that… he perceived … [the] ghettos as a preparatory sage for systematic mass extermination.” (Pg. 252) She reports, “According to Eichmann… [he] drafted the letter that Heydrich … submitted to Göring for his signature… The directive … mentions a ‘final solution'… this phrase served to disguise the intention to wipe out the Jewish population of Europe and, if possible, throughout the world.” (Pg. 255)

She recounts, “One of the methods chosen to circumvent the need to involve German soldiers in direct acts of killing was the introduction of gas vans… They represented the transition to killing by gas in the concentration camps.” (Pg. 259-260) She continues, “the Einsatzgruppen used gas cells installed on trucks… the death camps were established in occupied Poland… The idea of employing gas to eliminate the sick… Jews, and others… made it easy for the leadership… [T]he Nazi regime was contemplating … these measures at the time it dispatched the Einsatzgruppen to execute Jews by shooting.” (Pg. 310-311) Later, she adds, “No such official directive from Himmler was ever found---if it ever existed, it may be assumed that it was destroyed… before the collapse of the Third Reich.” (Pg. 315) She summarizes, “in the summer of 1941---concomitantly with the killings by the Einsatzgruppen---preparations for the mass murder of the Jews commenced.” (Pg. 319)

She explains the Extermination Process: “a selection… [would] single out the strong and healthy … and put them to work. This task was assigned to the SS doctors in Auschwitz… the deportees did not grasp the significance of this division… Those sentenced to death… were ordered to undress, purportedly in order to shower… To complete the deception, each person was given a piece of soap, and the gas chambers were equipped with shower heads… [Kommandant Höss claimed] these arrangements… ensured a calm atmosphere by avoiding the wave of terror that gripped the victims in the other camps when they were sent running to their deaths… The pellets of… Zyklon-B… were poured into the gas chambers… After checking the situation through the peephole in the steel door, they activated the ventilators… [and] wash[ed] down the interior of the chamber with jets of water.” (Pg. 365-366)

She notes, “The SS doctors… were engaged at the time in an additional kind of ‘medical’ operation, conducting experiments on prisoners… In Auschwitz the aim of the experiments was primarily to find the most expeditious way of sterilizing human beings… The most notorious of the SS physicians in Auschwitz was Dr. Josef Mengele… After the war Mengele managed to flee to South America and was in hiding there for decades.” (Pg. 368-370)

She observes, “from … both their social and professional makeup, the Jews of the West were less equipped to fight for their lives… the survival instinct … grows to the degree that life-securing necessities… are denied or destroyed… But for the Jews these necessities were deliberately and systematically destroyed by the Germans, who added torture, humiliation, and the isolation of people to the list of ordeals… [But h]ow can we account for the fact that fighters rose up and resistance forces emerged under these conditions?” (Pg. 456)

As the Nazis began to lose the war, “secret orders had been issued to begin liquidating the prisons… Himmler [issued]… a general liquidation order … [in] January 1945… No less urgent for the SS was the destruction of the documents attesting to the tasks that Auschwitz had fulfilled… with the end approaching, the SS were possessed by panic. During its final days, Auschwitz looked like one huge bonfire… The burning of documents did not stop until the night before … the Russians neared the camp.” (Pg. 528)

She explains, “it remains to delve into the specific issue of rescue, whose components formed something of a triangle. One side was the INFORMATION known to all the parties… The second was the degree of ACKNOWLEDGEMENT evoked by this information. And the third was the ACTION prompted by this acknowledgement… Entirely separate is the matter of the actual odds of saving people and the objective and subjective factors necessary for rescue to succeed.” (Pg. 544-546) Later, she adds, “In no place were the Jews in a position to work toward their rescue... without the aid of confederates and supporters. Such allies ran the risk of losing their own and their families’ freedom, property, or lives… [These] individuals who took their lives in their hands … have come to be known as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’… Not all of them are known to us, especially as many perished along with the Jews they were trying to protect.” (Pg. 591)

She reports, “Alongside the attempts to negotiate with the Germans came an effort to … halt the deportations to Auschwitz and the operation of the gas chambers by bombing the camp and the rail routes leading to it… Research has shown that the refusal of the American and British air forces to bomb these installations stemmed from their disinclination to be involved with rescue operations per se.” (Pg. 638-639)

She concludes, “Hitler in the depths of his bunker … Helpless to control Germany’s fate, he played out his final performance… Hitler was still possessed by searing hatred and wanted to drag the German nation into the grave with him because it was ‘undeserving’… to the last he exhorted his people ‘to observe the racial laws most carefully, to fight mercilessly against the poisoners of all the peoples of the world, international Jewry.’ So ended ‘The Final Solution of the Jewish Question.’” (Pg. 651-652)

This marvelous book will be absolute ‘must reading’ for anyone seriously studying the Holocaust and its background.

[Rivka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the most important and concise work on the subject!

[Bouncy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started reading book a couple of days ago, it is one of the best Holocaust books ever. It links the Holocaust and Hitler's views to history and how it transcended after Hitler.

[Crystal Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent comprehensive look at the causes behind and the results of Hitler's "final solution".

[Abraham]

An excellent introductory text to the Holocaust of European Jewry under the Nazis.

[Jennifer]

History

[Rod Zemke · Rating 3 out of 5]

a scholarly approach