Hitler, the Germans, and the Final Solution | 
 enlarge | Author: Ian Kershaw
Publisher: Yale University Press
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 22771
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0300124279
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5318
EAN: 9780300124279
ASIN: 0300124279
Publication Date: June 10, 2008
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Product Description
This book is the culmination of more than three decades of meticulous historiographic research on Nazi Germany by one of the period’s most distinguished historians. The volume brings together the most important and influential aspects of Ian Kershaw’s research on the Holocaust for the first time. The writings are arranged in three sections—Hitler and the Final Solution, popular opinion and the Jews in Nazi Germany, and the Final Solution in historiography—and Kershaw provides an introduction and a closing section on the uniqueness of Nazism. Kershaw was a founding historian of the social history of the Third Reich, and he has throughout his career conducted pioneering research on the societal causes and consequences of Nazi policy. His work has brought much to light concerning the ways in which the attitudes of the German populace shaped and did not shape Nazi policy. This volume presents a comprehensive, multifaceted picture both of the destructive dynamic of the Nazi leadership and of the attitudes and behavior of ordinary Germans as the persecution of the Jews spiraled into total genocide.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Kershaw on the Final Solution November 24, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I echo the first two reviewers. But with regard to the "battle of the historians", I would like to see more familiarity by historians of social psychological research into the genesis of this kind of behavior, such as Asch's studies of conformity, Milgram's studies of obedience to authority, and Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment, among others. All are relevant to this issue.
 Grim fairy tales October 30, 2008
4 out of 23 found this review helpful
Oh well, here we go again.
By now, more than 70 years after the events, just about everyone knows what happened, or rather, what did not happen - except of course the court historians and their ultimate, definitive contributions to `holocaust studies, published, surprise, surprise, by none other than the International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. However, truth be told, watching these academics twist and turn does supply one with a certain amount of unsolicited entertainment! Ultimately, what the book says is that, nothing at all can be proved and therefore the holocaust happened exactly as the orthodox version claims!
A 400-page book (394 to be exact) dealing specifically with the final solution cannot be complete without making mention of bogeyman David Irving, and indeed reference to him comes up three times (making, btw. misclaims about Irving). It must however be remembered that Irving does not and never has done holocaust research and cannot in any way be considered a holocaust researcher. Yet, key holocaust researchers such as Fred Leuchter, Germar Rudolf, Arthur Butz, Jurgen Graff, Stephan Werner, Carlo Mattogno (the list can go on a long time), all of whom having thrown, not a cat, but a tiger among the pigeons are nowhere to be found - not event to debunk them with a casual wave of the hand. This, to say the least astonishing, but, I guess Kershaw, simply follows the tried and tested approach of ignoring research that you cannot refute.
Another tried and tested technique of dealing with uncomfortable facts, is newspeak. When documents and/or forensic evidence cannot be found to prove one's case, then, that in itself is the proof - i.e. it was so secretive that no evidence was left! Similarly, documents that do exist but do not support the orthodox theory are, by sleigh of hand (or pen) declared to mean the opposite of what they say - eg. the Wannsee protocols. I wonder what the court historians will say if they found a genuine document in which Hitler claims that 2 + 2 = 4 - would they claim that he only said that to deceive and that what he really meant, and what his fellow Nazis really understood, is that 2 + 2 = 5? Probably.
Oh yes, before I forget, there is also the `psycho' explanation thrown in. Kershaw speculates that the Holocaust was in effect Hitler's angry answer to Stalin's vicious treatment of Germans. Red herring of course because what now gets `analysed' (Frankfurt School Authoritarian Personality sidetracking strategy) is no longer the facts surrounding the holocaust event but the mind of its perpetrator. The holocaust is taken for granted, which, when all the smoke and dust has finally settled is probably the only real proof that's left is this - it is taken for granted!
Kershaw questions so much of handed down truth concerning the holocaust that one wonders how, after all is said and done, he can actually still claim that it really happened! But he does, and gets loudly praised by the likes of Lipstadt for his efforts. Just who is claiming that 2 + 2 = 5?
Indeed, as Rollings said in his Lucifer's lexicon about Holocaust literature: "Grim fairy tales"!
More Incisive Kershaw Analysis and Insights October 16, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
As this book attests, Ian Kershaw had become one of the leading commentators on Nazi Germany even before writing his masterful two-volume biography of Hitler in 2000 & 2001. This book consists of 14 essays written largely during the late 1980's and the 1990's, but also three during the 2000's as well. Such a collection can present problems--for example are they still fresh and current in analysis? These essays meet that standard, since they reflect superb analysis which stands up as well today as when written, perhaps even more so since a number Kershaw's predictions have turned out to be correct. Another problem with article collections is whether there are central themes and too much repetition. Kershaw has solved this problem by including a helpful essay written for the book as an introduction which divides the articles into several major categories and discusses recent developments in each that have occurred since the essays were published.
Kershaw is interested in several major foci of analysis. First, public opinion studies, largely done in Bavaria, as to how typical Germans reacted to persecution of the Jews, the removal and relocation, and the "final solution." What is interesting here are his finding of how little interest typical Germans had in these topics, what Kershaw categorizes as "passive complicity" and "lethal indifference." His suggested explanation for this phenomenon is quite interesting. A second major theme is how the "final solution" came about and Hitler's role in it. Here Kershaw makes a convincing case that there was no masterplan from the start of the war to exterminate the Jews, but that the policy evolved overtime largely at the hands of local administrators, as increasing Jews were deported from Germany and other areas and relocated to Poland, overloading facilities there. The adverse eastern front situation also foreclosed the relocation option, and extermination was turned to, what Kershaw refers to as "improvised genocide." As to Hitler, Kershaw joins other historians in concluding that Hitler's primary involvement was in creation of the enti-Jewish environment and encouraging harsh policies, but there is no evidence that any order came from Hitler to initiate the "final solution."
A third and most interesting theme is the battle of historians--how does one treat Nazi Germany. Is it just another historical era, to be handled professionally but with no special considerations. Or is it by its very nature so unique and horrible that any analysis must reflect moral issues that might not otherwise be considered by professional historians. An additional focus is comparing Hitler with Stalin and their respective roles in their regimes. Kewshaw finds Stalin deeply involved in bureaucratic policy making; by contrast, Hitler demonstrated no interest in the mechanics of how his government was run. Finally, Kershaw is very interested in the early period of Hitler's rise to power, the 1920's, which he finds illuminating in understanding later developments.
There are many other points touched upon by Kershaw which add even more value to this fine book. Each essay is accompanied by extensive notes, and there is a very comprehensive index. As mentioned above, his introductory essay is particularly effective in orienting the reader. An indispensable book for serious students of this fascinating period.
German's Hatred September 13, 2008
6 out of 18 found this review helpful
This book explains further how the German people allowed repression by abstention. By allowing laws that discriminated against Jews the German people who had a history of dislike for Jews ignored the subtle and not so subtle hatred of Jews to become part of the fabric of their society. Yes it was the German people and not just Hitler. What still must be examined in another book is that the only thing all Nazis has in common was that they were Christian.
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