The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution

by Henry Friedlander

Overview

Tracing the rise of racist and eugenic ideologies, Henry Friedlander explores in chilling detail how the Nazi program of secretly exterminating the handicapped and disabled evolved into the systematic destruction of Jews and Gypsies. He describes how the so-called euthanasia of the handicapped provided a practical model for the later mass murder, thereby initiating the Holocaust.
The Nazi regime pursued the extermination of Jews, Gypsies, and the handicapped based on a belief in the biological, and thus absolute, inferiority of those groups. To document the connection between the assault on the handicapped and the Final Solution, Friedlander shows how the legal restrictions and exclusionary policies of the 1930s, including mass sterilization, led to mass murder during the war. He also makes clear that the killing centers where the handicapped were gassed and cremated served as the models for the extermination camps.
Based on extensive archival research, the book also analyzes the involvement of the German bureaucracy and judiciary, the participation of physicians and scientists, and the nature of popular opposition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807861608
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	11/09/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	448
Lexile:	1620L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Henry Friedlander was professor of history in the department of Judaic studies at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and coeditor of the 26-volume Archives of the Holocaust Series.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction

Chapter 1. Prophets Without Honor: The Travails of the Southern Clergy, 1954-1960
Chapter 2. Going South: Northern Clergy and Direct-Action Protests, 1960-1962
Chapter 3. The Call to Battle: The Churches and Synagogues Enter the Civil Rights Struggle,1963
Chapter 4. Bringing Good News to the Oppressed: Clerical Organization in the North and South, 1964
Chapter 5. Flood Tide: Bearing Witness in Alabama, 1965
Chapter 6. Going Against the Grain: Clergy and the Antiwar Movement, 1963-1965
Chapter 7. A Voice for Moderation: Clergy and the Antiwar Movement, 1966-1967
Chapter 8. The Escalation of Dissent: The Antiwar Movement, 1967-1968
Chapter 9. The Costly Peace: The Antiwar Movement, 1968-1973
Epilogue

Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Well researched, remarkably balanced in its judgments, and full of fresh insights. It deserves the widest possible readership.” — Journal of Modern History


“Friedlander has written an excellent piece of historical research which establishes the similarities of the fates of three victim groups.” — Jewish History


“Is it possible to present novel views and materials on the origins of the German mass murder of the Jews? Henry Friedlander, a historian . . . and a survivor of Auschwitz . . . succeeds in doing so. . . . The book should be read by . . . medical students and doctors. It is a must for psychiatrists.” — Benno MÅller-Hill, Journal of the American Medical Association


“Indispensable for undergraduate and graduate students of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany.” — History: Reviews of New Books


“Well-researched and wide-ranging. . . . The most detailed scholarly inquiry into the management and mechanics of the euthanasia operation yet published. Ten or fifteen years ago, it was rare to see a historian drawing links between the Final Solution and the murder of Germany’s handicapped. . . . Friedlander’s elucidation of the important continuities of technique and personnel gives us valuable new insights into the inner workings of Nazi genocide.” — Robert N. Proctor, American Historical Review


“Admirably researched. . . . One of the distinguishing features of this study is the meticulous description of the administration of the euthanasia program.” — Gordon A. Craig, New York Review of Books


“A most valuable contribution to the history of Nazism and of the Holocaust.” — Kirkus Reviews


“Friedlander has written a book of great importance for understanding the Final Solution. . . . [He] breaks new ground in his examination of how the machinery of the euthanasia program was duplicated in death camps such as Auschwitz and Treblinka.” — CHOICE


“A book that is so fundamentally important that it forces us to reconsider our understanding of the origins of the Final Solution.” — Congress Monthly


“Friedlander’s book is soberly written. But it is meticulous in its documentation. Never is a speculation presented without masses of material to back it up. It is a substantial book, in keeping with the importance of the topic and the material amassed here for the first time.” — Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Editorial Reviews

A most valuable contribution to the history of Nazism and of the Holocaust.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Friedlander has written a book of great importance for understanding the Final Solution. . . . [He] breaks new ground in his examination of how the machinery of the euthanasia program was duplicated in death camps such as Auschwitz and Treblinka.” — CHOICE

“Admirably researched. . . . One of the distinguishing features of this study is the meticulous description of the administration of the euthanasia program.” — Gordon A. Craig, New York Review of Books

“Well-researched and wide-ranging. . . . The most detailed scholarly inquiry into the management and mechanics of the euthanasia operation yet published. Ten or fifteen years ago, it was rare to see a historian drawing links between the Final Solution and the murder of Germany’s handicapped. . . . Friedlander’s elucidation of the important continuities of technique and personnel gives us valuable new insights into the inner workings of Nazi genocide.” — Robert N. Proctor, American Historical Review

“Friedlander’s book is soberly written. But it is meticulous in its documentation. Never is a speculation presented without masses of material to back it up. It is a substantial book, in keeping with the importance of the topic and the material amassed here for the first time.” — Holocaust and Genocide Studies

“Is it possible to present novel views and materials on the origins of the German mass murder of the Jews? Henry Friedlander, a historian . . . and a survivor of Auschwitz . . . succeeds in doing so. . . . The book should be read by . . . medical students and doctors. It is a must for psychiatrists.” — Benno MÅller-Hill, Journal of the American Medical Association

“Well researched, remarkably balanced in its judgments, and full of fresh insights. It deserves the widest possible readership.” — Journal of Modern History

“This book should encourage a general rethinking of the issues involved and force a broadening of perspectives. On the basis of extraordinarily wide and successful digging in a vast array of archives . . . Friedlander has built both a case and an account which will be of enormous significance for decades to come. . . . This book will remain essential for an understanding of the internal structure and functioning of National Socialist Germany.” — Gerhard L. Weinberg, German Studies Review

“Friedlander has written an excellent piece of historical research which establishes the similarities of the fates of three victim groups.” — Jewish History

“Indispensable for undergraduate and graduate students of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany.” — History: Reviews of New Books

From the Publisher