The Origins of the Final Solution
The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942
- 616 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Origins of the Final Solution
The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942
About This Book
Published by the University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, and Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
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 periodâof 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 1939âwhich brought nearly two million additional Jews under Nazi controlâand 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 policyâand 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.
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Table of contents
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- 1. Background
- 2. Poland, Laboratory of Racial Policy
- 3. The Search for a Final Solution through Expulsion, 1939â1941
- 4. The Polish Ghettos
- 5. Germany and Europe
- 6. Preparing for the âWar of Destructionâ
- 7. Operation Barbarossa and the Onset of the Holocaust, JuneâDecember 1941
- 8. From War of Destruction to the Final Solution
- 9. The Final Solution from Conception to Implementation, October 1941âMarch 1942
- 10. Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Comprehensive History of the Holocaust series