The origins of the final solution : the evolution of Nazi Jewish policy, September 1939-March 1942 / Christopher Browning ; with contributions by Jürgen Matthäus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Browning, Christopher R., author.

Contributor:

Matthäus, Jürgen, 1959- contributor.

Series:

The Comprehensive history of the Holocaust.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Government policy--Germany--History--20th century.

Jews.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Causes.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).

Germany--Ethnic relations.

Germany.

Germany--Politics and government--1933-1945.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 615 pages.) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Lincoln, Nebraska : University of Nebraska Press, 2004.

Summary:

In 1939, the Nazi regime’s plans for redrawing the demographic map of Eastern Europe entailed the expulsion of millions of Jews. By the fall of 1941, these plans had shifted from expulsion to systematic and total mass murder of all Jews within the Nazi grasp. The Origins of the Final Solution is the most detailed and comprehensive analysis ever written of what took place during this crucial period—of how, precisely, the Nazis’ racial policies evolved from persecution and “ethnic cleansing” to the Final Solution of the Holocaust. Focusing on the months between the German conquest of Poland in September 1939–which brought nearly two million additional Jews under Nazi control—and the beginning of the deportation of Jews to the death camps in the spring of 1942, Christopher R. Browning describes how Poland became a laboratory for experiments in racial policies, from expulsion and decimation to ghettoization and exploitation under local occupation authorities. He reveals how the subsequent attack on the Soviet Union opened the door for an immense radicalization of Nazi Jewish policy—and marked the beginning of the Final Solution. Meticulously documenting the process that led to this fatal development, Browning shows that Adolf Hitler was the key decision-maker throughout, approving major escalations in Nazi persecution of the Jews at victory-induced moments of euphoria. Thoroughly researched and lucidly written, this groundbreaking work provides an essential chapter in the history of the Holocaust.-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1. Background

2. Poland, laboratory of racial policy: Abdication of the army ; Racial policy and terror

3. The search for a final solution through expulsion, 1939-1941: Eichmann and the Nisko plan ; The Baltic Germans, the first short-range plan, and the Warthegau deportations ; The curbing of Nazi deportation plans, January-February 1940 ; The intermediate plan, the Stettin deportations, and the Volhynian action, February-July 1940 ; The army, from abdication to complicity ; The Madagascar plan ; The last spasms of expulsion policy, fall 1940-spring 1941

4. The Polish ghettos: Ghettoization ; Exploitation ; Production or starvation, the ghetto managers' dilemma

5. Germany and Europe: Racial persecution inside Germany, 1939-1941 ; The Nazi sphere of influence

6. Preparing for the "war of destruction": Military preparations for the "war of destruction" ; Preparations of the SS ; Economic and demographic preparations for "Operation Barbarossa" / by Christopher R. Browning and Jürgen Matthäus

7. Operation Barbarossa and the onset of the Holocaust, June-December 1941 / by Jürgen Matthäus: German perceptions and expectations regarding "the east" ; Early anti-Jewish measures and the mid-July turning point ; Pogroms and collaboration ; Toward the Final Solution, August-December 1941 ; The Final Solution in the east

8. From war of destruction to the Final Solution: Euphoria of victory and decision making, July-October 1941 ; Consternation and anticipation ; Inventing the extermination camp

9. The Final Solution from conception to implementation, October 1941-March 1942: Deportations from Germany, the first and second waves ; Integrating the bureaucracy into the Final Solution ; The gassing begins

10. Conclusion: Hitler and the decision-making process in Nazi Jewish policy, September 1939-March 1942 ; Germans and the Final Solution.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780803203921 (electronic book)

9780803253117

0803253117

9780803203921

0803203926

OCLC:

54860099