Christopher R. Browning

The shocking account of how a unit of average middle-aged Germans became the cold-blooded murderers of tens of thousands of Jews.

Ordinary Men

An authoritative and compelling account of the evolution of Nazi Jewish policy between 1939 and 1942.

Essays on Launching the Final Solution

The Path to Genocide

An Atlantic Monthly "Book of the Year" for 2004. History Book Club Main Selection, Book-of-the-Month Club Selection, Military Book Club Selection. The Origins of the Final Solution is the most detailed, careful, and comprehensive analysis of the evolution of Nazi policy from the persecution and "ethnic cleansing" of Jews in 1939 to the Final Solution of the Holocaust in 1942. Focusing on the months between the German conquest of Poland in September 1939, which brought nearly two million additional Jews under Nazi control, and the beginning of the deportation of Jews to the death camps in the spring of 1942, Christopher R. Browning describes how Poland became a laboratory for experiments in racial policies. He reveals how the subsequent attack on the Soviet Union opened the door for an immense radicalization of Nazi Jewish policy and marked the beginning of the Final Solution. Meticulously documenting the process that led to this fatal development, Browning shows that Adolf Hitler was the key decision maker throughout, approving major escalations in Nazi persecution of the Jews at victory-induced moments of euphoria. Thoroughly researched and lucidly written, this groundbreaking work exposes a critical chapter in the history of the Holocaust.

The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942

The Origins of the Final Solution

Jürgen Matthäus

In 1939, the Nazi regime's plans for redrawing the demographic map of Eastern Europe entailed the expulsion of millions of Jews. By the fall of 1941, these plans had shifted from expulsion to systematic and total mass murder of all Jews within the Nazi grasp. This book is the most detailed and comprehensive analysis ever written of what took place during this crucial period--of how, precisely, the Nazis' racial policies evolved from persecution and "ethnic cleansing" to the Final Solution of the Holocaust. Meticulously documenting the process that led to this fatal development, Browning shows that Adolf Hitler was the key decision-maker throughout, approving major escalations in Nazi persecution of the Jews at victory-induced moments of euphoria.

101. Rezerwowy Batalion Policji i "ostateczne rozwiązanie" w Polsce

Zwykli ludzie

policia tedesca e "soluzione finale" in Polonia

Uomini comuni

"The definitive story of the development of the Nazi's anti- Semitic policies, from the beginnings to the heyday of Auschwitz, by the acclaimed author of ORDINARY MEN." "This is a book of exceptional quality- The work of a historian at the peak of his powers, a magisterial study, a profound analysis of how the darkest chapter in human history could come about.' Ian Kershaw, bestselling author of Hitler he Origins of the Final Solution is the most detailed, careful, and comprehensive analysis to date of the descent of the Nazi persecution of the Jews into mass murder. Arguing that genocide was not a preconceived plan but rather a discovered possibility, Christopher Browning explains how the decision to murder the Jews en masse emerged in stages and by a process of elimination that gradually foreclosed plans for their expulsion from Europe. Only in the interval between late September and late October 1941 did the desire to 'remove' the Jews intersect with the discovery of acceptable means of killing them on a large scale and with the euphoria of expected victory in Russia, all of which followed on from two years of 'race war' and 'racial imperialism' in eastern Europe that prepared 'ordinary Germans' for this fateful task. uthor Bio- - Christopher Browning is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His previous

Christopher Robert Browning (historicus)

This volume uses new evidence to shed light on controversial issues in current Holocaust scholarship.

Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers, German Killers

Susannah Heschel

Michael R. Marrus

Milton Shain

Leading international Holocaust scholars reflect upon their personal experiences and professional trajectories over many decades of immersion in the field. Changes are examined within the context of individual odysseys, including shifting cultural milieus and robust academic conflicts.

Personal Trajectories and Professional Interpretations

Holocaust Scholarship

Abteilung Deutschland came about as a department of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 1940, following a reorganization of the Referat Deutschland. The latter was established in 1933, and its first task was justifying German anti-Jewish policies to the outside world. Later its functions expanded, and in 1938-39 Referat Deutschland was instrumental in the policy of "forced emigration" of Jews, launched by the SS. The Referat D III was a desk in the Abteilung Deutschland dealing with Jewish matters. Dwells on the personalities of the chief of the department, Martin Luther; the Referat D III's chief, Franz Rademacher; and its leading "Jewish experts", e.g. Karl Otto Klingenfuss, Herbert Müller, and Fritz-Gebhardt Hahn. In 1940-41 the Referat D III prepared Nazi projects for resettlement of European Jews (e.g. the Madagascar project) and helped the Nazi satellite states (and exerted pressure on them) to introduce anti-Jewish legislation and implement their own anti-Jewish policies. Luther coordinated the Abteilung Deutschland's policies with every turn of the Final Solution. With the start of the deportations and mass murders of Jews, the Abteilung Deutschland became involved in deportations of Jews from satellite and neutral countries. However, the department remained a junior partner of the SS, since the latter did not always consult with the Foreign Office in carrying out its anti-Jewish actions. In March 1943 Abteilung Deutschland was dissolved, following a personal conflict between Luther and Ribbentrop, and its functions passed to the Inland II A department.

A Study of Referat D III of Abteilung Deutschland, 1940-43

The Final Solution and the German Foreign Office

"An important, revealing story, exceptionally well told."—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Employing the rich testimony of almost three hundred survivors of the slave-labor camps of Starachowice, Poland, Christopher R. Browning draws the experiences of the Jewish prisoners, the Nazi authorities, and the neighboring Poles together into a chilling history of a little-known dimension of the Holocaust. Brutal and deadly in their living and work conditions, these camps represented the only chance of survival for local Jews after the ghetto liquidations of 1942. There they produced munitions for the German war effort while scrambling to survive murderous and corrupt camp regimes and desperately trying to protect children, spouses, parents, and neighbors. When the labor camps closed in the summer of 1944, the surviving Starachowice Jews still had to confront Auschwitz and then the reprisals of anti-Semitic Polish neighbors. Combining harrowing detail and insightful analysis, Browning's history is indispensable scholarship and an unforgettable story of survival.

Remembering Survival: Inside a Nazi Slave-Labor Camp

An important concern in understanding the "machinery" of the Holocaust is the timing of the decision to put into effect the Final Solution, the systematic murder of the European Jews. This book explores the crucial first steps in implementing the mass murder, including Hitler's role in the decision-making process. The participation of middle and lower middle echelon Germans, and the development of the technology of destruction, in particular, the gas van for use in the death camps. Looking at events from summer 1941 to Spring 1942, Christopher Browning sheds important new light on the historians' debate about how the policy of systematic mass murder emerged.

Essays on the Emergence of the Final Solution

Fateful Months

Uomini comuni. Polizia tedesca e «soluzione finale» in Polonia

Christopher R. Browning addresses some of the most heated controversies that have arisen from the use of postwar testimony: Hannah Arendt’s uncritical acceptance of Adolf Eichmann’s self-portrayal in Jerusalem; the conviction of Ivan Demjanuk (accused of being Treblinka death camp guard "Ivan the Terrible") on the basis of survivor testimony and its subsequent reversal by the Israeli Supreme Court; the debate in Poland sparked by Jan Gross’s use of both survivor and communist courtroom testimony in his book Neighbors; and the conflict between Browning himself and Daniel Goldhagen, author of Hitler’s Willing Executioners, regarding methodology and interpretation in the use of pre-trial testimony. Despite these controversies and challenges, Browning delineates the ways in which the critical use of such problematic sources can provide telling evidence for writing Holocaust history. He examines and discusses two starkly different sets of "collected memories"—the voluminous testimonies of notorious Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann and the testimonies of 175 survivors of an obscure complex of factory slave labor camps in the Polish town of Starachowice.

Christopher R. Browning

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