The War Against the Jews: 1933-1945

by Lucy S. Dawidowicz

Book Overview

"Books about Nazism are endless, but The War Against the Jews comes to us as a major work of synthesis, providing for the first time a full account of the Holocaust. . . . Dawidowicz has produced a work of high scholarship and profound moral impact."--Irving Howe, front page review in The New York Times Book Review Here is the unparalleled account of the most awesome and awful chapter in the moral history of humanity. Lucid, chilling and comprehensive,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 055334532X
• ISBN13: 9780553345322
• Release Date: March 1986
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

One of the most important books written about the Holocaust

This work is still considered by many to be one of the best books written about the 'Holocaust.' It goes into great detail explaining the roots of the Nazi, and specifically Hitler's determination to destroy the Jewish people. It shows how the program to destroy the Jews went hand-in- hand with the Third Reich''s overall effort to conquer Europe. It also goes into great detail describing the destructions and terrible suffering the Jews went through in various communities in Europe. It in short describes the roots and execution of what is arguably the greatest crime in human history, the deliberate Nazi effort to destroy an entire people, wherever they were on earth.

Important History

Hitler. The very name seems to invoke black and white images of a charasmatic madman pushing his country to global domination. But the story goes much deeper than that. His intense hatred of the Jews pushed him to implement his "Final Solution". To exploit and then kill every Jew in Europe before they, in his twisted mind, did the same to every one else. Thankfully, his "appointed" task was never completed. But not before nearly six million Jews and countless others who either resisted or simply didn't conform to his Ideas of the perfect human were destroyed. This is the story of those Jews who died and those survived the largest mass murder in recorded history. These are the things they didn't show or talk about in Public School. This book shows the strength and weakness of a people on the edge of anihalation. It doesn't show the Jews as a strong race overcoming their problems, or as a weak race sniveling and grovelling, waiting to die. It shows them as any other group of humans reacting to their circumstances in a wide variety of ways. This is probably the longest time I have ever spent reading a book. After reading a page or two (especially in the second half of the book), I would generally have to put it down for a few days to read some lighter material. Overall I think it took me about nine to ten months to read. But I would definatly put it in the best books I have read. So, if you are looking to understand what was happening to the Jews during WW2, or if you are just looking to fill in some of the gaps from history class, then I would heartily recomend this brilliant work.

The Holocaust book by which others are measured

Although an ocean of material has been written about the Holocaust, this book stands alone. The author has chosen the best way to present the material; by simple factual recitation. No amount of pejoratives would suffice, and even one would cheapen the book. Salut!!!!!!!!Davidowicz examines the underpinnings of pan-European anti-Semitism, its "legitimization" by the Third Reich, its consequences on the victims, and the awful results masterfully. Especially excellent are the sections on why so little resistance was offered until the end, when resistance was a gesture, not a viable tactic. You will never forget the first mayor of the Warsaw ghetto, Adam Czerniakow. This book is unforgettable, and earns the highest rating possible.

A Good Discription of Why it Happened

This book provides a good detail of how the German leadership convinced itself that genocide was not only correct and legal, but a necessity for their survival. I thought the book was going to be a description of one atrocity after another, but it provides the reader with more of the details of why it was happening. Don't get me wrong, there is enough of the horror represented here. I would have liked a larger review of all of the holocaust crimes across Europe, but there are limits to the size of any one book. This book is a good start to find out why it happened.

For every student of the 20th century

Ms. Dawidowiczs managed to hold me through the grim realities of the shoa as no other author has. I believe it to be the definative text on the development of European, and particularly German anti-semitism. I wish I had read it twenty years ago. She explains how the enlightenment notions of individual autonomy challanged the notions of the clan and ethnic nationalism held so tightly by the Nazis. Hitler reject his own Catholic background, from which the enlightenment had arisen. He replaced the God of the Jews and Christians with the Gods of Nordic mythology. Individuals were of no importance in Hitler's world view only the tribe mattered. Dawidowiczs explains how Hitler found fertile territory for his avowed hatred of Jewry in Europes long history of anti-semitism. She explains in frightening detail how Hitler took anti-semitism into the land of terror. Hitler, as she explains, used the ideals of ethnicity and tribalism to convince Germans that they were under attack from within by a virus called Judaism that would destroy them if they did not destroy the Jews first. Hence "the final solution". Dawidowiczs style is reader friendly. She manages to pull the reader along through horrible subject matter with clear and precise prose. The use of charts and graphs to show the decline in pre and post war Jewry is staggering and a great illustration of the ferocity of Natzi hatred and fear. How ironic that the Nazi motive for the murder of Jews was that they were afraid of them. Nordic supermen notwithstanding, their pathological fear lead to slaughter. All serious students of the 20th century should read this book.