THE HOLOCAUST The Holocaust: Origins, Implementation, Aftermath presents a critical and important study of the Holocaust. Complete with an introduction that summarises the state of the field, this book contains major reinterpretations by leading Holocaust authors along with key texts on testimony, memory, and justice after the catastrophe. Many of the pieces challenge conventional interpretations and preconceived notions about the Holocaust, whether they have to do with the centrality of anti- Semitism, the importance of economic calculations, or the timing of the decision on the ‘Final Solution’. Starting with the background of the Holocaust by focusing on anti-Semitism and scientific racism as being at the root of the ‘Final Solution’, the book goes on to examine the context of the decision to unleash the genocide of the Jews. Three powerful texts then provide readers with a close look at the psychology of a perpetrator, the attitude of the bystanders, and the fate of the victims. Finally, there is an analysis of survivors’ oral testimonies, a deeply revealing discussion on the limits of transmitting the experience of the camps to posterity, and a powerful plea for the prosecution of crimes against humanity. Omer Bartov is Professor of European History at Rutgers University and has written on the Holocaust, Nazi Germany and modern France. His books include Mirrors of Destruction: War, Genocide and Modern Identity (2000); Murder in Our Midst: The Holocaust, Industrial Killing, and Representation (1996); and Hitler’s Army: Soldiers, Nazis and War in the Third Reich (1991). Series editor Jack R. Censer is Professor of History at George Mason University REWRITING HISTORIES Series editor: Jack R. Censer Already published THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WORK IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE Edited by Lenard R. Berlanstein SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN THE SLAVE SOUTH Edited by J. William Harris ATLANTIC AMERICAN SOCIETIES From Columbus through Abolition Edited by J.R. McNeill and Alan Karras GENDER AND AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1890 Edited by Barbara Melosh DIVERSITY AND UNITY IN EARLY NORTH AMERICA Edited by Philip D. Morgan NAZISM AND GERMAN SOCIETY 1933–1945 Edited by David Crew THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1989 Edited by Vladimir Tismaneanu THE ISRAEL/PALESTINE QUESTION Edited by Ilan Pappé THE FRENCH REVOLUTION Recent debates and new controversies Edited by Gary Kates STALINISM Edited by Sheila Fitzpatrick THE HOLOCAUST Origins, Implementation, Aftermath Edited by Omer Bartov London and New York First published 2000 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001. © 2000 Selection and editorial material Omer Bartov; individual chapters to their authors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Holocaust: origins, implementation, aftermath / [edited by] Omer Bartov. p. cm. — (Rewriting histories) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945) 2. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Causes. I. Bartov, Omer II. Re-writing histories. D804.3.H6478 2000 940.53´18—dc21 99-044232 ISBN 0-415-15035-3 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-15036-1 (pbk) ISBN 0-203-01197-X Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-17327-9 (Glassbook Format) CONTENTS Series editor’s preface vii Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 OMER BARTOV PART I Origins: antisemitism and scientific racism 19 1 The destruction of the European Jews: precedents 21 RAUL HILBERG 2 Psychiatry, German society and the Nazi “euthanasia” programme 43 MICHAEL BURLEIGH 3 Step by step: the expansion of murder, 1939–1941 63 HENRY FRIEDLANDER PART II Implementation: beyond intentionalism and functionalism 77 4 The extermination of the European Jews in historiography: fifty years later 79 SAUL FRIEDLÄNDER 5 The planning intelligentsia and the “Final Solution” 92 GÖTZ ALY v CONTENTS 6 The Wannsee Conference, the fate of German Jews, and Hitler’s decision in principle to exterminate all European Jews 106 CHRISTIAN GERLACH 7 German soldiers and the Holocaust: historiography, research and implications 162 OMER BARTOV 8 “Once again I’ve got to play general to the Jews”: from the war diary of Blutordensträger Felix Landau 185 ERNST KLEE, WILLI DRESSEN AND VOLKER RIESS (EDS) 9 Places far away, places very near: Mauthausen, the camps of the Shoah, and the bystanders 204 GORDON J. HORWITZ 10 Under a cruel star: a life in Prague 1941–1968 219 HEDA MARGOLIUS KOVÁLY PART III Aftermath: testimony, justice, and denial 233 11 Redefining heroic behavior: the impromptu self and the Holocaust experience 235 LAWRENCE LANGER 12 The gray zone 251 PRIMO LEVI 13 Remembering in vain: the Klaus Barbie trial and crimes against humanity 273 ALAIN FINKIELKRAUT Index 292 vi SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE Rewriting history, or revisionism, has always followed closely in the wake of history writing. In their efforts to re-evaluate the past, professional as well as amateur scholars have followed many approaches, most commanly as empiricists, uncovering new information to challenge earlier accounts. Historians have also revised previous versions by adopting new perspectives, usually fortified by new research, which overturn received views. Even though rewriting is constantly taking place, historians’ attitudes towards using new interpretations have been anything but settled. For most, the validity of revisionism lies in providing a stronger, more convincing account that better captures the objective truth of the matter. Although such historians might agree that we never finally arrive at the “truth,” they believe it exists and over time may be better approximated. At the other extreme stand scholars who believe that each generation or even each cultural group or subgroup necessarily regards the past differently, each creating for itself a more usable history. Although these latter scholars do not reject the possibility of demonstrating empirically that some contentions are better than others, they focus upon generating new views based upon different life experiences. Different truths exist for different groups. Surely such an understanding, by emphasizing subjectivity, further encourages rewriting history. Between these two groups are those historians who wish to borrow from both sides. This third group, while accepting that every congeries of individuals sees matters differently, still wishes somewhat contradictorily to fashion a broader history that incorporates both of these particular visions. Revisionists who stress empiricism fall into the first of the three camps, while others spread out across the board. Today the rewriting of history seems to have accelerated to a blinding speed as a consequence of the evolution of revisionism. A variety of approaches has emerged. A major factor in this process has been the enormous increase in the number of researchers. This explosion has reinforced and enabled the retesting of many assertions. Significant ideological shifts have also played a major part in the growth of revisionism. First, the crisis of Marxism, culminating in the events in Eastern Europe in 1989, has given rise to doubts about explicitly Marxist accounts. Such doubts have spilled over into the entire field of social history which has vii SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE been a dominant subfield of the discipline for several decades. Focusing on society and its class divisions implied that these are the most important elements in historical analysis. Because Marxism was built on the same claim, the whole basis of social history has been questioned, despite the very many studies that directly had little to do with Marxism. Disillusionment with social history, simultaneously opened the door to cultural and linguistic approaches largely developed in anthropology and literature. Multi-culturalism and feminism further generated revisionism. By claiming that scholars had, wittingly or not, operated from a white European/American male point of view, newer researchers argued that other approaches had been neglected or misunderstood. Not surprisingly, these last historians are the most likely to envision each subgroup rewriting its own usable history, while other scholars incline towards revisionism as part of the search for some stable truth. Rewriting Histories will make these new approaches available to the student population. Often new scholarly debates take place in the scattered issues of journals which are sometimes difficult to find. Furthermore, in these first interactions, historians tend to address one another, leaving out the evidence that would make their arguments more accessible to the uninitiated. This series of books will collect in one place a strong group of the major articles in selected fields, adding notes and introductions conducive to improved understanding. Editors will select articles containing substantial historical data, so that students – at least those who approach the subject as an objective phenomenon – can advance not only their comprehension of debated points but also