a great accomplishment

books:


	• The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 Saul Friedlander Harper Perennial, 2008 - 896 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Magnum Opus

In April of 2008 this book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. This fact alone is a reliable indicator that the work is of high quality and it is absolutely worth dedicating oneself to its 663 pages. It is a massively researched tome by a UCLA professor of history of the darkest and most cruel period of the 20th century: the Holocaust. In fact, as far as I know, the only comparable time in our recorded history is the Spanish Inquisition. It's very sad indeed that the most sadistic individual to ever walk on this planet can realistically be compared to the tribunals set up in the name of the church.

Many people possess the notion that the Holocaust was all Adolph Hitler's doing. Such false concept is prevalent throughout the world and is decisively disproved by the author. Anti-Semitism permeated not only the Third Reich but all of Europe for millennia. Professor Netanyahu in his magnum opus The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain traces it as far back as the 6th century B.C. Later in the Roman Empire Jews surrendered Jesus Christ to the proconsul of Judea for execution and this latter act has evolved into anti-Semitism that has been witnessed in Europe ever since. Unfortunately for millions of European Jews, Hitler's ascend to chancellorship procured him political and military means to carry out his diabolical blueprint to exterminate that ancient race. However, nearly everyone in the Nazi party was anti-Semitic, that's why the extermination crusade went so smoothly, stumbling on no resistance within the German bureaucratic circles. Initially the campaign was carried out "diplomatically" so no considerable protest was made by the German people either. Hitler's ambitions for the Reich were almost sacred in the eyes of the Germans and they followed him blindly, transgressing upon the most fundamental right of every man: the right to live. And it is naive to contemplate that they did not realize the magnitude of their sinister deeds, for the dynamics of the killing changed with time to cover the massacres.

But let's briefly examine other European nations during the period of German occupation. The only people to explicitly declare their repugnance for the anti-Jewish laws were the Dutch. The Dutch were considered Arian by Hitler's racial doctrines and that's why they were allowed some autonomy when it came to governing themselves. So when they began protesting the persecutions it had to be handled delicately and covertly. In other European countries the process was not impeded by the conquered peoples. As I mentioned above, anti-Semitism had been part of the European society for a very long time and constant deportation and annihilation of the Jews did not incite any pity, at least not in the beginning. Even the Church, that benevolent institution, the advocate of human rights and needs, did not exert any substantial influence to stop the genocide. In fact, the Church had been the most infamous persecutor of Jews for centuries, hence during the years of the extermination being passive in the face of such mass murder was perfectly within its guidelines of conducting business.

I wish to believe that the Western civilization has reached the apex in evolution of human rights. It's difficult to conceive a second Holocaust; it has only been 63 years since the first one ended. Many would say the same about another global war; however, I'm convinced that the creation of nuclear arsenals by the leading nations of planet Earth would only give us two options in case of titanic military escalation between nuclear powers: total annihilation or no world war. Genocides, on the other hand, will never cease to exist. As I am writing this, a genocide is being executed in Sudan and as with every genocide, any action to halt it is delayed. We may create a thousand Nurembergs, Geneva Conventions, or Tokyo trials, not deterring many who wish to perpetrate such crimes against humanity. International tribunals cannot change human nature.

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Amazing

I have never read anything by Saul Friedlander before. I'm not really a Holocaust historian, though I've read a few books on the subject. I tend to be more of a student of World War II history in general, and of the military aspects of things in particular. This book, however, attracted me because it won the Pulitzer, and frankly it doesn't disappoint: it's well-written, judicious, and very intelligent and comprehensive, and the author does an excellent job of putting everything in context and explaining what occurred.

The book begins with the start of the War, and discusses first the various efforts to resettle Germany's Jews, the dilemma the regime encountered when they conquered Poland, and finally the solution that they came up with to deal with the issue: extermination. The author discusses each period fairly objectively, frankly more objectively than I would have thought possible. Objectively, of course, Hitler and the Nazis wind up being described as insane mass-murderers. The author moves seamlessly from the discussion of various measures that were taken towards extermination with the diaries of various Jews who were caught in the Holocaust, and of various German soldiers and civilians who commented on how the Jews were treated.

This is a very very good book. It's hard to imagine saying you enjoyed reading it: it's a chronicle of mass murder, after all. But the book is extremely well-written and documented, and the facts are remorseless in their clarity. The author puts to bed two hoary old myths that have troubled me for years: most of the German population had at least some idea what was going on, and there was no propaganda or cynical aspect to the Nazi ideology: they were really that anti-semitic, and would have been even if opposed by the populace.

I would recommend this book to almost anyone interested in the Holocaust or 20th Century history.

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A constant warning

A beautiful book about monstrous beings. I have read many works on that terrible period of our earth; Friedlander's is one of the best. This is another list of warning signs for us. It contains data on what to guard against to retain sanity amongst us; but, there are reasons to suspect the signs are again surfacing, this time in our country.

a great accomplishment

well this book willbe along the work of maybe raul hillberg book published along time agoone of the great reference work on this turning point in twentieth century history. but a couple of pictures would have made this book more interesting for the average reader

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

The enactment of the German extermination policies that resulted in the murder of six million European Jews depended upon many factors, including the cooperation of local authorities and police departments, and the passivity of the populations, primarily of their political and spiritual elites. Necessary also was the victims' willingness to submit, often with the hope of surviving long enough to escape the German vise. The Years of Extermination, the completion of Saul Friedländer's major historical opus on Nazi Germany and the Jews, explores the convergence of the various aspects of this most systematic and sustained of modern genocides. In this unparalleled work?based on a vast array of documents and an overwhelming choir of voices from diaries, letters, and memoirs?the history of the Holocaust has found its definitive representation.

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