REMEMBERING THE HOLOCAUST
date: 27 January 2010 at 15:46:02 - 0 comments

Until very recently, the Holocaust was quite a well kept secret. Even among historians. How could you possibly attempt to describe the horrors that were an integral part of the Nazi regime? And even more difficult, how could you begin to explain the cold statistical facts of genocide?

The history of the Jews during the Second World War was reduced to a selection of shocking film images in black and white, which allowed for little comment, though there have always been people who deny or minimise the importance of what happened.
In the last twenty years, however, huge advances have been made by a number of historical writers, and it is worth remembering who they are, and what their books were about. If we wish to avoid making the same horrific mistakes – classifying people by nature of their colour, religion or creed – generalising and discriminating against them, then here are three books that everyone must read:

Hitler, Joachim C. Fest, Penguin, 1974;
Hitler’s Willing Executioners – Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, Daniel J. Goldhagen, Abacus, 1996;
The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies, Guenter Lewy, Oxford University Press, 2000.

When talking about the history of Germany, it is worth remembering that prejudice against the Jews existed long before the Nazis ever came to power. If you haven’t read “Days of Atonement,” the theme of our second Hanno Stiffenis novel concerns the murder of a Prussian officer. When the French invade Prussia in 1806, bringing ‘Liberté, Fraternité, Egalité,’ and equal rights for all men,  Bruno Gottewald declares the fact that he is a Jew.
The consequences of his revelation are devastating…