Holocaust and Genocide Studies - recent issues

Allied Intelligence Agencies and the Holocaust: Information Acquired from German Prisoners of War

Tyas, S. — 2008-04-09

In the early days of World War II, British intelligence agencies began secretly recording conversations between German prisoners of war in the hope of acquiring information on technical advances. The information gathered was to be used in the war effort against Germany. Transcripts of these conversations, now declassified, represent a previously unknown or overlooked source of information about the Holocaust, providing evidence of individual German officers' participation in and knowledge of war crimes. The fact that the transcripts of and reports on the monitored conversations were locked away for over thirty years after the end of the war supports the view that intelligence agencies placed a higher priority on maintaining the secrecy of their methods than on aiding the prosecution of war criminals.

Far from Oblivion: The Nanking Massacre in Japanese Historical Writing for Children and Young Adults

Penney, M. — 2008-04-09

The Nanking Massacre of 1937 frequently has been described as a forgotten genocidal act or "Holocaust." Concentrating on atrocity as reflected in Japanese popular historical writing for children and adolescents since the 1960s, this essay argues that such war crimes are far from ignored. Representations of the Nanking Massacre in particular, and of Japanese World War II atrocities in general, have been widely mobilized in Japan to inculcate an anti-war philosophy.

The Use and Abuse of the Holocaust: Historiography and Politics in Moldova

Dumitru, D. — 2008-04-09

Since the collapse of the USSR the historical profession in Moldova has changed to reflect new political circumstances and interests. This revolution profoundly influences writing about World War II, Romania and the Antonescu dictatorship, the experience of Bessarabia in the 1940s, and the destruction of Romania's Jews and Roma. Certain nationalist historians minimize the crimes of the Antonescu regime and its supporters, while the present Communist Party, its supporters, and others stress them. How the study of the Holocaust fares in this politicized atmosphere forms the subject of the present study.

Conspiracy of Silence: How the "Old Boys" of American Intelligence Shielded SS General Karl Wolff from Prosecution

von Lingen, K. — 2008-04-09

This article examines the circumstances surrounding the escape from prosecution of SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, one of the central SS figures in the Mediterranean Theater during World War II. Key to his evasion of justice was his role in "Operation Sunrise"—negotiations conducted by high-ranking American, Swiss, and British officials in violation of the Western Allies' agreements with the Soviet Union—for the surrender of German forces in Italy. After 1945, these officials, including most notably Allen W. Dulles, shielded Wolff from prosecution in order to prevent information about the negotiations from coming out. The details had to be kept secret, they believed, in order to avoid a confrontation with Stalin as the Cold War took shape. New evidence suggests that the Western Allies not only failed to ensure cooperation between their respective national war crimes prosecution organizations, but in certain cases even obstructed justice by withholding evidence.

Using and Abusing the Holocaust, Lawrence L. Langer (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006), xix + 165 pp., $29.95

Jones, D. H. — 2008-04-09

A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility, Taner Akcam (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006), xii + 467 pp., $30.00

Melson, R. — 2008-04-09

The Holocaust in Hungary: Sixty Years Later, Randolph L. Braham and Brewster S Chamberlin, eds. (New York: The Rosenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, Graduate Center of The City University of New York; Boulder, CO: Social Science Monographs in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2006), xxix + 390 pp., $50.00

Deak, I. — 2008-04-09

In Defense of Christian Hungary: Religion, Nationalism, and Antisemitism, 1890-1944, Paul A. Hanebrink (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006) x + 255 pp., $39.95

Cole, T. — 2008-04-09

In the Shadows of the Holocaust and Communism: Czech and Slovak Jews Since 1945, Alena Heitlinger (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2006), xiii + 238 pp., $39.95

Rapaport, L. — 2008-04-09

The Gypsies during the Second World War. Volume 3. The Final Chapter. Donald Kenrick, ed. (Hatfield: The University of Hertfordshire Press, 2006), xviii + 264 pp., pbk., $29.95

Crowe, D. — 2008-04-09

Halbmond und Hakenkreuz: Das Dritte Reich, die Araber und Palastina, Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Martin Cuppers (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2006), 287 pp., {euro}56.85

Nicosia, F. R. — 2008-04-09

The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality, Wette Wolfram (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), xix + 372 pp., cloth $29.95, pbk. $17.95

Fritz, S. G. — 2008-04-09

The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial, 1963-1965: Genocide, History, and the Limits of the Law, Devin O. Pendas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), xx + 340 pp., cloth $95.00

Bryant, M. S. — 2008-04-09

Case Closed: Holocaust Survivors in Postwar America, Beth B. Cohen. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2007), 224 pp., cloth $44.95

Helmreich, W. B. — 2008-04-09

Second-Generation Holocaust Literature: Legacies of Survival and Perpetration, Erin McGlothlin (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2006), xviii + 254 pp., cloth $75.00

Baer, E. R. — 2008-04-09

Sounds of Defiance: The Holocaust, Multilingualism, and the Problem of English, Alan Rosen (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005), xiv + 248 pp., cloth $45.00

Alexander, J. M. — 2008-04-09

America and the Return of Nazi Contraband: The Recovery of Europe's Cultural Treasures, Michael J. Kurtz (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 288 pp., $75.00

Waite, R. G. — 2008-04-09

Recently Published Works in Holocaust and Genocide Studies

2008-04-09

Erratum

2008-04-09

Obituary

James, H. — 2008-04-09

Biographies of Contributors

2008-04-09

Editorial Note

2007-12-11

The Vatican and the Custody of Jewish Child Survivors after the Holocaust

Marrus, M. R. — 2007-12-11

This article focuses on the interaction between Jewish leaders and the Vatican on a highly emotional issue: the post-Holocaust custody of Jewish children rescued by Catholic families or institutions—particularly those cases in which the children had been baptized during the war. The recent discovery of several new documents has occasioned intense controversy and polemics on the subject. Drawing upon hitherto unexamined Jewish sources, the author enters the debate from an entirely new angle: the vantage point of three high-ranking Jewish officials who intervened with the Vatican on this vital matter.

Shaping the Holocaust: The Influence of Christian Discourse on Perceptions of the European Jewish Tragedy

Lawson, T. — 2007-12-11

Christianity's role in shaping the memory of the Holocaust has received little scholarly attention. Through an analysis of various renderings and representations of the Holocaust, this article demonstrates that the murder of Europe's Jews frequently has been described in Christian terms and imagery. The author argues that this tendency has general implications for our understanding of the complexities of Holocaust memory—including the rhetorical claims that the Shoah was transformative. This article demonstrates that comprehending the Holocaust has not required a new language or vocabulary; on the contrary, the image of the Holocaust has been shaped by a traditional discourse—one that renders the murder of Europe's Jews "safe" for Christians and the Christian imagination.

"Helping the Jews is not an easy thing to do." Vatican Holocaust Policy: Continuity or Change?

Phayer, M. — 2007-12-11

The response of Pope Pius XII to the Holocaust has been discussed since the Holocaust itself. A crucial episode was the events of October 16, 1943, when the SS seized more than one thousand Roman Jews and the Pope did little about it. The historiography has highlighted this "Under His Very Windows" drama. This article suggests that a number of issues weighing heavily on Pius at that time inhibited his response.

Paul Braune Confronts the National Socialists' "Euthanasia" Program

Walters, L. — 2007-12-11

On July 9, 1940, asylum director Paul Braune completed a twelve-page memorandum, or Denkschrift, on the National Socialists' T-4 "euthanasia" program. The memorandum identified three killing centers within a carefully planned, Reich-wide program and summarized what Braune's research had uncovered about the fate of asylum patients at various T-4 facilities. Braune estimated that several thousand disabled people had been murdered between February and June 1940. After Protestant church leaders formally submitted Braune's memorandum to the Reich Chancellery, Braune was arrested by the Gestapo—pursuant to a direct order by Reinhard Heydrich—for having "sabotaged measures of the state in an irresponsible way." Despite Braune's protest, the killing of German asylum patients continued unabated. This article shows what a determined German citizen, assisted by an extensive network of information sources, was able to learn about the "euthanasia" program during the first six months of its implementation, and reveals the formidable difficulties that opponents of the program faced in their efforts to stop the killing of disabled people.

Churches and the Holocaust: Unholy Teaching, Good Samaritans, and Reconciliation, Mordecai Paldiel (Jersey City, New Jersey: KTAV, 2006). 443 pp., $39.50

Conway, J. S. — 2007-12-11

The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Post-Communist Poland, Genevieve Zubrzycki (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), xx + 280 pp., cloth $67.50, pbk. $27.50

Pawlikowski, J. T. — 2007-12-11

Aus Feldpostbriefen junger Christen 1939 1945: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Katholischen Jugend im Felde, Karl-Theodor Schleicher and Heinrich Walle, eds. (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2005), 413 pp., {euro}32,00

Spicer, K. P. — 2007-12-11

Mit Blick auf die Tater: Fragen an die deutsche Theologie nach 1945, Bjorn Krondorfer Katharina von Kellenbach and Norbert Reck (Gutersloh: Gutersloher Verlagshaus, 2006), 317 pp., {euro}29.95

Diephouse, D. J. — 2007-12-11

Beyond Anne Frank: Hidden Children and Postwar Families in Holland, Diane L. Wolf (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), xiii + 391 pp., $55.00 cloth, $21.95 pbk

Moore, B. — 2007-12-11

Chretiens et juifs sous Vichy (1940 1944): Sauvetage et desobeissance civile, Limore Yagil (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 2005), 765 pp., {euro}59

van der Zanden, C. S. — 2007-12-11

Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands, Robert Satloff (New York: Public Affairs, 2006), 251 pp., cloth $26.00, pbk. $14.95

Stein, L. — 2007-12-11

Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present, Joanna Beata Michlic (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006), 386 pp., cloth $59.95

Kenney, P. — 2007-12-11

Jewish Forced Labor Under the Nazis: Economic Needs and Racial Aims, 1938 1944, Wolf Gruner (New York: Cambridge University Press in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2006), xxiv + 322 pp., cloth $75.00

Browning, C. R. — 2007-12-11

Genesis des Genozids: Polen 1939 1941, Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Bogdan Musial eds. (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2004), 240 pp., {euro}49.90

Epstein, C. — 2007-12-11

Nazi Medicine and the Nuremberg Trials: From Medical War Crimes to Informed Consent, Paul Julian Weindling (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 496 pp., cloth $90.00, pbk. $29.95

Pendas, D. O. — 2007-12-11

Hitler's African Victims: The German Army Massacres of Black French Soldiers in 1940, Raffael Scheck (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), xiii + 202 pp., $65.00

McKale, D. — 2007-12-11

The Holocaust and the Postmodern, Robert Eaglestone (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). 369 pp., cloth $115.00, pbk. forthcoming (2008)

Pendas, D. O. — 2007-12-11

The Holocaust and Memory in the Global Age, Daniel Levy and Natan Sznaider (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006), 240 pp., cloth $76.50, pbk. $25.95

Rosenfeld, G. D. — 2007-12-11

Recently Published Works in Holocaust and Genocide Studies

2007-12-11

Research Archives with an Emphasison the Holocaust

2007-12-11

Obituary

Matthaus, J. — 2007-12-11

Erratum

Fallace, T. — 2007-12-11

Biographies of Contributors

2007-12-11

Writing Madagascar Back into the Madagascar Plan

Jennings, E. T. — 2007-08-09

For all that is known of the infamous "Madagascar Plan" to send European Jews to the Indian Ocean, both its origins and its dénouement remain shrouded in mystery. On the basis of primary research in archives and libraries in Madagascar, the author of this article suggests that the Madagascar Plan rested upon a widely held belief that the Malagasy claimed a distant Jewish ancestry. He then shows how local authorities, contexts, and actors contributed to the demise of the project in the 1930s.

Controlled Escalation: Himmler's Men in the Summer of 1941 and the Holocaust in the Occupied Soviet Territories

Matthaus, J. — 2007-08-09

Most scholars who study Holocaust perpetrators have invested more energy in discussing the role of the leadership in the centers of executive power than in investigating the actions of the killers in the field. Research on the latter has focused on identifying personal motives and collective attitudes; comparatively few insights are offered into the synergies between units and agencies or between center and periphery at a specific time. This article explores this interaction for the critical phase of Operation Barbarossa, during which German units, and especially Himmler's SS- and policemen, crossed the line from persecution to the murder of Jewish men, women, and children en masse. The author examines the leadership's expectations and concerns prior to Operation Barbarossa, and analyzes Himmler's response to and interference in his men's actions in the East.

Bureaucratic Response to Human Tragedy: American Consuls and the Jewish Plight in Vienna, 1938 1941

Taylor, M. J. — 2007-08-09

In the period following the German annexation of Austria, the American consulate in Vienna found itself in the difficult position of responding to a refugee crisis while facing pressure from the Department of State to enforce restrictive immigration policies. Under the leadership of Consul General John Wiley, American consuls worked to maintain the letter of the law while providing as many qualified applicants as possible with immigration visas. Wiley's "middle ground" allowed consuls to fulfill their bureaucratic tasks and advance in their careers as Foreign Service officers while displaying compassion in their interactions with visa applicants. Despite frequent tensions between the Department of State and the Vienna consulate, and an institutional "mindset" that discouraged sensitivity to local conditions, American consuls consistently filled their visa quotas.

An Important New Document on the Romanian Policy of Ethnic Cleansing during World War II

Solonari, V. — 2007-08-09

A newly discovered plan approved by Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu in December 1942 anticipated massive population transfers on Romanian territory. The following reconstructs its context to show how it and other recently discovered plans related to the Antonescu regime's calculations on the outcome of World War II and priorities for postwar arrangements. The article argues that the existence of such population transfer proposals necessitates a substantive reinterpretation of the sources and dynamics of the Holocaust in Romania.

The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism, and the Destruction of the Ottoman Armenians, Donald Bloxham (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), xiv + 329 pp., cloth $39.95, pbk $26.95. * The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide, Guenter Lewy (Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 2005), xiii + 370 pp., cloth $24.95.

Naimark, N. M. — 2007-08-09

The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust, Jeffrey Herf (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), cloth $29.95.

Wiesen, S. J. — 2007-08-09

Wegbereiter der Shoah: Die Waffen-SS, der Kommandostab Reichsfuhrer-SS und die Judenvernichtung 1939 1945, Martin Cuppers (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2005), 464 pp., {euro}59.90.

Campbell, B. — 2007-08-09

Widerstand in der Rosenstra{beta}e: Die Fabrik-Aktion und die Verfolgung der "Mischehen" 1943, Wolf Gruner (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuchverlag, 2005), 224 pp., pbk {euro}12.95.

Bukey, E. B. — 2007-08-09

Confronting the "Good Death": Nazi Euthanasia on Trial, 1945-1953, Michael S. Bryant (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2005), x + 267 pp., $34.95.

Wittmann, R. — 2007-08-09

The Holocaust and Catholic Conscience: Cardinal Aloisius Muench and the Guilt Question in Germany, Suzanne Brown-Fleming (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2006), xvi + 240pp., cloth $45.00, pbk. $20.00.

Dietrich, D. J. — 2007-08-09

The Continuing Agony: From the Carmelite Convent to the Crosses at Auschwitz, Alan L. Berger, Harry James Cargas, and Susan E. Nowak, eds. (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2004), xx + 269 pp., pbk. $44.00.

Huener, J. — 2007-08-09

Estonia 1940 1945: Reports of the Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity (Tallinn: Estonian Foundation for Investigating Crimes Against Humanity, 2006), xxx + 1337 pp., cloth $127.00.

Kott, M. — 2007-08-09

Die "Judendeportationen" aus dem Deutschen Reich 1941-1945: Ein kommentierte Chronologie, Alfred Gottwaldt and Diana Schulle (Wiesbaden: Marixverlag, 2005), 509 pp., {euro}15.00.

Black, P. — 2007-08-09

The Pathology of Man: A Study of Human Evil, Steven James Bartlett (Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas, 2005), xv + 361 pp., cloth $73.95, pbk. $53.95.

Jones, D. H. — 2007-08-09

Holocaust Memoir Digest: A Digest of Published Survivor Memoirs with Study Guide and Maps., vols. 1 3, compiled and edited by Esther Goldberg, introduction and maps by Sir Martin Gilbert (Portland, OR: Vallentine Mitchell, 2004 2006), vol. 1 xviii + 126 pp., $19.50; vol. 2 xix + 140 pp. $19.50; vol. 3 xix + 120 pp. $19.50, all pbk.

Patterson, D. — 2007-08-09

American Dreams and Nazi Nightmares: Early Holocaust Consciousness and Liberal America, 1957-1965, Kirsten Fermaglich (Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2006), v + 252 pp., cloth $29.95, pbk. $26.95.

Thurber, T. — 2007-08-09

The "Jew" in Cinema: From The Golem to Don't Touch My Holocaust, Omer Bartov (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005), XV + 374 pp., cloth $65, pbk. $24.95.

Baron, L. — 2007-08-09

Recently Published Works in Holocaust and Genocide Studies

2007-08-09

Obituary

2007-08-09

Erratum

2007-08-09

Biographies of Contributors

2007-08-09