A Reader: “Holocaust: A History” by Deborah Dwork & Robert Jan van Pelt

Nationalism & The Blame

Nationalism needs an enemy. In the United States of America, this blame has almost always fallen on the shoulders of immigrants. In Nazi Germany, the blame fell primarily on the shoulders of the Jewish people. Once an enemy has been created, a powder keg for extreme violence and cruelty is set to blow. In this book, I found it both heartbreaking and fascinating to watch Hitler couple this hatred with economic populism and then to follow the cascade toward concentration camps and genocide.

The Swiftness of It All

Germany’s surrender to authoritarian rule gave birth to concentrated power which led to ghettos, mass deportations, annexations, mass genocide, a war in Europe, a world war, and finally Hitler’s death by suicide. As I read this book, I was floored by the swiftness of it all. In a little over a decade, the decisions of a few and the complacency of millions changed the course of human history for eternity.

Cruel

It is impossible to experience something about the Holocaust and not be struck by the cruelty of it all. Beginning with laws meant to punish and isolate Jewish people, the Nazi’s dangerous worldview soon morphed into ghettos, concentration camps, mass executions, and demented forms of punishment. Reading the stories of families torn apart and lives lost because of this genocide made a profound and life-altering impact on me. After reading these…