Kirjahaku

Christopher R. Browning addresses some of the most heated controversies surrounding the use of postwar testimony: Hannah Arendt's uncritical acceptance of Eichmann's self-portrayal; the conviction of Ivan Demjanjuk on the basis of survivor testimony and its subsequent reversal by the Israeli Supreme Court; the debate in Poland sparked by Jan Gross's use of both survivor and communist courtroom testimony in his book Neighbors; and the conflict between Browning and Daniel Goldhagen, author of Hitler's Willing Executioners, regarding the use of pre-trial testimony. Despite these controversies and challenges, Browning delineates the ways in which the critical use of such problematic sources can provide telling evidence for writing Holocaust history.

Employing the rich testimony of almost three hundred survivors of the slave-labor camps of Starachowice, Poland, Christopher R. Browning draws the experiences of the Jewish prisoners, the Nazi authorities, and the neighboring Poles together into a chilling history of a little-known dimension of the Holocaust. Combining harrowing detail and insightful analysis on the Starachowice camps and their role in the Holocaust, Browning’s history is indispensable scholarship and an unforgettable story of survival.

The Nazi Holocaust haunts the modern imagination as one of the most compelling examples of the human capacity for organised atrocity on a mass scale. This authoritative account of the evolution of Nazi Jewish policy from 1939 to 1942 seeks to answer some of the fundamental questions about what actually happened, and why, between the outbreak of war and the emergence of the Final Solution. Christopher Browning assesses the historians’ interpretations and offers his own insights, based on detailed case studies uncovering important and telling new evidence.

The Nazi Holocaust haunts the modern imagination as one of the most compelling examples of the human capacity for organised atrocity on a mass scale. This authoritative account of the evolution of Nazi Jewish policy from 1939 to 1942 seeks to answer some of the fundamental questions about what actually happened, and why, between the outbreak of war and the emergence of the Final Solution. Christopher Browning assesses the historians’ interpretations and offers his own insights, based on detailed case studies uncovering important and telling new evidence. ‘The clarity as well as economy with which he writes, his firm grasp of the evidence and the balanced judgement he brings to its interpretation make this a most impressive performance … He uses his flair for uncovering new archive material to throw light on the attitudes and roles of a variety of people who became involved in carrying out the Final Solution.’ The Times Literary Supplement

Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers, German Killers focuses on controversial issues in current Holocaust scholarship. How did Nazi Jewish policy evolve during the first years of the war? When did the Nazi regime cross the historic watershed from population expulsion and decimation ('ethnic cleansing') to total and systematic extermination? How did Nazi authorities attempt to reconcile policies of expulsion and extermination with the wartime urge to exploit Jewish labor? How were Jewish workers impacted? What role did local authorities play in shaping Nazi policy? What more can we learn about the mindset and behavior of the local perpetrators? Using new evidence, this book attempts to shed light on these important questions.

Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers, German Killers focuses on controversial issues in current Holocaust scholarship. How did Nazi Jewish policy evolve during the first years of the war? When did the Nazi regime cross the historic watershed from population expulsion and decimation (‘ethnic cleansing’) to total and systematic extermination? How did Nazi authorities attempt to reconcile policies of expulsion and extermination with the wartime urge to exploit Jewish labor? How were Jewish workers impacted? What role did local authorities play in shaping Nazi policy? What more can we learn about the mindset and behavior of the local perpetrators? Using new evidence, this book attempts to shed light on these important questions.

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 period—of 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 1939–which brought nearly two million additional Jews under Nazi control—and 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 policy—and 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.

Om morgenen den 13. april 1942 kom mennene i reserve.bataljon 101 til den lille landsbyen Józefów i Polen, en typisk polsk landsby med beskjedne, hvite, stråtekte hus. Da kvelden kom, var 1500 av de 1800 jødiske innbyggerne skutt - kvinner, barn og gamle. Arbeidsdyktige menn ble deportert til en arbeidsleir. I de påfølgende 16 månedene deltok bataljonen i skyting av 38 000 jøder. 45 000 ble sendt til konsentrasjonsleiren Treblinka. Gjerningsmennene var middelaldrende familiefolk fra Hamburg, fra arbeiderklassen og nedre middelklasse. De var ferske rekrutter uten tidligere krigserfaring. Det var mindre enn tre uker siden de kom til Polen. Browning har studert beveggrunnene som drev mennene til å delta. Han hevder at de fleste ikke var fanatiske nazister, men helt vanlige menn som handlet ut fra sammensatte motiver, som gruppepress, autoritetstro og rolletilpasning. Helt vanlige menn er en av de viktigste bøkene som er skrevet om Holocaust. Den stiller et spørsmål vi alle må ta stilling til: Kan jeg være sikker på at jeg ville ha handlet annerledes i en lignende situasjon? Brownings svar er urovekkende.

Om morgenen den 13. april 1942 kom mennene i reserve.bataljon 101 til den lille landsbyen Józefów i Polen, en typisk polsk landsby med beskjedne, hvite, stråtekte hus. Da kvelden kom, var 1500 av de 1800 jødiske innbyggerne skutt - kvinner, barn og gamle. Arbeidsdyktige menn ble deportert til en arbeidsleir. I de påfølgende 16 månedene deltok bataljonen i skyting av 38 000 jøder. 45 000 ble sendt til konsentrasjonsleiren Treblinka. Gjerningsmennene var middelaldrende familiefolk fra Hamburg, fra arbeiderklassen og nedre middelklasse. De var ferske rekrutter uten tidligere krigserfaring. Det var mindre enn tre uker siden de kom til Polen. Browning har studert beveggrunnene som drev mennene til å delta. Han hevder at de fleste ikke var fanatiske nazister, men helt vanlige menn som handlet ut fra sammensatte motiver, som gruppepress, autoritetstro og rolletilpasning. Helt vanlige menn er en av de viktigste bøkene som er skrevet om Holocaust. Den stiller et spørsmål vi alle må ta stilling til: Kan jeg være sikker på at jeg ville ha handlet annerledes i en lignende situasjon? Brownings svar er urovekkende.

På morgonen den 13 juli 1942 gick den tyska Reservpolisbataljon 101 in i den polska byn Jozefow. Vid nattens inbrott hade de skjutit 1.500 av byns 1.800 judiska invånare - kvinnor, barn, gamla. Under de följande 16 månaderna deltog de i avrättandet av 38.000 judar och sände ytterligare 45.000 till koncentrationslägret Treblinka.Reservpolisbataljon 101 bestod inte av tyska yrkessoldater utan av helt vanliga män som var för gamla för att kallas in till militärtjänst. De sorterade alltså inte under Wehrmacht och heller inte under Gestapo utan under ordningspolisen.Christopher R. Browning har studerat vilka motiv som drev männen att delta i massakerna. Hans slutsatser är skrämmande: de var inte tvingade att lyda order utan gjorde det av så banala skäl som karriärism och grupptryck.Helt vanliga män är en av de viktigaste böcker som skrivits om Förintelsen. Den ställer den fråga vi alla måste ta ställning till: Kan jag vara säker på att jag skulle agerat annorlunda i samma situation? Det svar Christopher R. Browning ger kommer att göra er sömnlösa.Boken är försedd med ett nyskrivet efterord.

27 octobre 1942: 4 000 juifs du ghetto de Wierzbnik sont deportes au camp d'extermination de Treblinka II et pres de 1 600 sont envoyes comme main-d'oeuvre a Starachowice, dont le chef de la police criminelle est un certain Walther Becker. 8 fevrier 1972: la cour de justice de Hambourg acquitte Walther Becker, le lavant de l'accusation de crimes de guerre commis a l'encontre de la population juive du ghetto de Wierzbnik, au motif de temoignages peu fiables et divergents. Devant ce qui lui semble etre une parodie de justice, Christopher R. Browning se penche sur les recits des survivants et les interrogatoires realises en vue du proces Becker. Il s'attache alors a un objet historique relativement peu etudie pour lui-meme faute de documentation, le camp-usine de travail force. S'appuyant sur les 292 temoignages de victimes du camp de Starachowice recueillis de 1945 a 2008, il ecrit une magistrale histoire des camps-usines de cette ville industrielle polonaise et soumet a l'analyse critique les temoignages oculaires qu'il confronte les uns aux autres. Cette recherche inedite sur un des aspects du genocide juif nous place au coeur des histoires d'heroisme, de compassion, mais aussi de corruption, de choix contraints et desesperes d'hommes et de femmes, de parents et d'enfants, qui sont autant de strategies de survie. Apres Des hommes ordinaires. Le 101e bataillon de reserve de la police allemande et la Solution finale en Pologne (1994), Politique nazie, travailleurs juifs, bourreaux allemands (2002) et Les Origines de la Solution finale. L'evolution de la politique anti-juive des nazis (2007), Christopher R. Browning, professeur d'histoire a l'universite de Caroline du Nord, signe pour la collection Histoire un nouvel ouvrage de reference.