Raul Hilberg's the Destruction of the European Book Review

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Raul Hilberg's The Destruction of the European Jews is a classic in its field and a landmark historical text. First published in 1961, The Destruction of the European Jews was, and remains, one of the most comprehensive works of research on the Holocaust. The tome has been re-released in a three-volume set, revealing the level of complexity and comprehensiveness the author originally imparted. The Destruction of the European Jews therefore continues to have relevance today and is a must-have feature of scholarly bookshelves.

What makes The Destruction of the European Jews unique and indispensible is the fact that it focuses more on the German genocide project than on Jewish culture. This permits insight into the sociology, psychology, ethics, and politics of genocide: allowing scholars to apply Hilberg's analysis to other instances of genocide. The account is grim, eerie, and disturbing. For those who have not yet visited Auschwitz or any other concentration camp, Hilberg describes the processes of mass murder with enough detail to suffice as armchair travel.

Hilberg's book is also rational and even quantitative at times. The author provides ample data, facts, and figures in the forms of tables and charts. Hilberg provides information on the actual instruments used to annihilate the Jews. Human hands operated everything from rifles to crematory ovens to bone crushers. These modern instruments of torture are difficult to fathom. That is, until Hilberg manages to put it all into perspective. The author asserts that the German death machine was a product of evil genius: the creation of a highly organized and bureaucratic model that ensured efficiency and obedience. Nothing was left to chance. Each arm and leg of the Nazi organization was calculated, crafted, and finely honed. Policies were polished and perfected. Leaders and their subordinates had clearly defined roles and goals. Hilberg controversially contrasts the well-oiled German machine to the loose alignment of Jews scattered across Europe in the diaspora.

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Although The Destruction of the European Jews is unapologetically about the German Nazi mechanisms by which the Holocaust was able to happen, the author cannot avoid discussing the characteristics of the victim population that might have enhanced the success of the regime and its genocide. The author shows how in the diaspora, Jews were devoid of a strong central leadership the likes of which the Nazis clearly had. The Nazis also knew this, and exploited the lack of Jewish cohesion and organization. Whereas Germans united under the rubric of anti-Semitism and Nazi philosophy, the Jews were not even linked by language except in their regions. Centuries of anti-Semitic policy toward the Jews throughout Europe ensured that communities were dismantled every few generations, and prevented a cohesive European Jewry from developing systematically or organically. It would be preferable to supplement Hilberg's text with information about European Jewish culture, because Hilberg does not take much time addressing these issues.

The main purpose of The Destruction of the European Jews is to expose the precise ways the Germans operated. Hilberg addresses the subject from multiple levels: the mechanical level; the bureaucratic and organizational level; the political and policy level; the social and cultural level. One of the most important features of The Destruction of the European Jews is the way the author paints a picture of the German societies that supported or at least condoned the genocide. The Nazi machine could not operate without the express support of the people. Neighbors and former friends stood by and watched; the passivity of the Jews is nothing compared to the limp, spineless, immoral inaction exhibited by the majority of German citizens.

Hilberg does refer to the Judenrate, or Jewish Councils, which is….....

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