Rethinking the Holocaust

by Yehuda Bauer

Overview

Yehuda Bauer, one of the world’s premier historians of the Holocaust, here presents an insightful overview and reconsideration of its history and meaning. Drawing on research he and other historians have done in recent years, he offers fresh opinions on such basic issues as how to define and explain the Holocaust; whether it can be compared with other genocides; how Jews reacted to the murder campaign against them; and what the relationship is between the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel.

The Holocaust says something terribly important about humanity, says Bauer. He analyzes explanations of the Holocaust by Zygmunt Bauman, Jeffrey Herf, Goetz Aly, Daniel Goldhagen, John Weiss, and Saul Friedländer and then offers his own interpretation of how the Holocaust could occur. Providing fascinating narratives as examples, he deals with reactions of Jewish men and women during the Holocaust and tells of several attempts at rescue operations. He also explores Jewish theology of the Holocaust, arguing that our view of the Holocaust should not be clouded by mysticism: it was an action by humans against other humans and is therefore an explicable event that we can prevent from recurring.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300093001
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	02/08/2002
Series:	Yale Nota Bene
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.75(h) x (d)

About the Author

Yehuda Bauer is director of the International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem. He is the author of many books, including Jews for Sale? publishedby Yale University Press.