Eichmann's Men

by Hans Safrian, Ute Stargardt (Translator)

Overview

More than sixty years after the advent of the National Socialist genocides, the question still remains: how could a state-sponsored terror that took the lives of millions of men, women, and children, persecuted as Jews or Gypsies, happen? Now available in English, Hans Safrian’s path-breaking work on Adolf Eichmann and his Nazi helpers chronicles the escalation of Nazi anti-Semitic policies beginning in 1933 and during World War II to the “final solution.” This book examines a central group of National Socialist perpetrators who expelled German, Austrian, and Czech Jews from their homelands and deported massive numbers of them to the ghettos, concentration camps, and killing centers of occupied Eastern Europe. Safrian reconstructs the “careers” of Eichmann and his men in connection with the implementation of racial policies, particularly the gradual marginalization of their victims and the escalation from stigmatization, divestment, and segregation to deportation, forced labor, and, finally, mass murder.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521617260
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/21/2009
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Hans Safrian lectures in history at the Institute für Zeitgeschichte at the University of Vienna. He was also a Pearl Resnick Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Research Team Leader for the Independent Commission of Experts - Switzerland - Second World War, and a research historian for the Historic Commission of the Republic of Austria. He is the author of numerous works on World War II and Nazi war crimes.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Eichmann and the development of the Vienna model; 2. An unsuccessful start: the deportations to Nisko on the River San; 3. The development and initial activities of Referat IV D 4; 4. 1941: from expulsion to mass murder; 5. 1941: controversies over the deportations to the occupied areas of the Soviet Union; 6. 1942: the establishment of the genocide program; 7. 1942: collaboration and deportations; 8. The destruction of the Jewish community of Salonika: the cooperation of the SS and Wehrmacht; 9. 1943–4: manhunts in France and Greece; 10. 1944–5: manhunts in Hungary and Slovakia; 11. The post-war era.

Editorial Reviews

Eichmann’s Men is a breakthrough in the study of Eichmann, his office, and the men who implemented anti-Jewish policy in the Third Reich – culminating in the grotesquely efficient management of genocide. It is the standard work on the subject; it deserves to become a classic.” –David Cesarani, Research Professor in History, Royal Holloway, University of London

“Hans Safrian provides readers with excellent insight into how Adolf Eichmann and a small group of men around him were able to coordinate and manage a major portion of the Final Solution. He demonstrates that the ‘desk murderers,’ rather than simply shuffling papers, played a tremendously important role in coordinating and carrying out the murder of millions of European Jews. They were creative, pro-active, energetic, and completely devoted to their work.” – Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University

"Thoroughly documented and well translated, Safrian's study offers valuable insights into a particular subset of perpetrators...students of historiography will appreciate Eichmann's Men for its significant contributions." - George C. Browder, Holocaust and Genocide Studies

From the Publisher