Europe Against the Jews

1880-1945

De: Gotz Aly

Narrado por: Sean Runnette

From the award-winning historian of the Holocaust, Europe Against the Jews, 1880-1945 is the first book to move beyond Germany's singular crime to the collaboration of Europe as a whole.

The Holocaust was perpetrated by the Germans, but it would not have been possible without the assistance of other countries. If we are to fully understand how and why the Holocaust happened, Götz Aly argues in this groundbreaking study, we must examine its prehistory throughout Europe. We must look at countries as far-flung as Romania and France, Russia and Greece, where, decades before the Nazis came to power, a deadly combination of envy, competition, nationalism, and social upheaval fueled a surge of anti-Semitism, creating the preconditions for the deportations and murder to come.

In the late 19th century, new opportunities for education and social advancement were opening up, and Jewish minorities took particular advantage of them, leading to widespread resentment. At the same time, newly created nation-states, especially in the east, were striving for ethnic homogeneity and national renewal, goals which they saw as inextricably linked. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, Aly traces the sequence of events that made persecution of Jews an increasingly acceptable European practice.

©2020 Götz Aly (P)2021 Tantor

Eye-opening

I highly recommend this important history. i have a much clearer understanding of the forces that led to the Holocaust. Having visited the US Holocaust museum in DC, Dachau, and Yad Vashem in Israel and having read several histories of the Shoah, I came to this book thinking I had pretty clear knowledge of what led up to the Shoah. However, I gained new insights from this book. Everyone should read it, particularly if you THINK you know the history of the Holocaust.

Highly Recommended

Aly's vital and challenging work successfully argues the connection between early German anti-semitic policies and the nationalist policies of various countries, political leaders, and parties. This includes population exchange policies, especially after WW1, and a growing anti-semitic emphasis generated by Jews' perceived economic and educational success, especially in Eastern European countries like Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, and Lithuania, but also visible in France and the Netherlands to some extent. Though never losing sight of Nazi Germany's responsibility for the Holocaust, Aly persuavily argues for coinciding goals of the much of the nationalist leadership and populist supporters of many of these nations in seeing the Jews excluded from the national circle of identity, if not outright eliminated. In some cases, this resulted in direct participation in the killings (notably in Romania and the Baltic States), in others, more or less voluntary assistance in locating, assembling and deporting Jews to their ultimate fate by extermination (as in Poland and France). Everywhere anti-semitism influenced local leaders and populations, Aly argues, this greatly assisted Nazi perpetrators, in contrast to the relatively few places (such as Denmark and parts of Italy, for example) where these sentiments did not exist in in powerful or popular circles. Aly further concludes that the rise of better educational opportunities and popularly elected governments actually provided new outlets for anti-semitism based on envy and resentment of Jewish (perceived) success or advantage. Democracy and dictatorship worked hand in hand in some cases to produce the Holocaust, with the obvious preconditions provided by war and social conflict. So too did Nazis often enroll or at least silence people and governments in occupied Europe by sharing the material and financial spoils of appropriating Jewish property and wealth. Once corrupted, few would speak out for the preservation of the Jews, also demonstrated in the often negative reception Jewish survivors received when they attempted to resettle in their pre-war homelands. A sobering and highly recommended work.

Authenticity

Truth of human suffering caused by fellow humans. How war gave nationalists the feeling of justice and the comnmoncitizens allow genocide on the scale the it did.

A Story that must be told.

This history told in a honest foward way. So much awfulness covered. A must read.

historical research

I learned so much from this book. impeccably researched abd and well presented. Fantastic narration.

this is on par with Bloodlands

was always curious why stalin exchanged ukrainian and polish populations, how Jews went from large percentage of population to non-existent in some european cities, how Jews came to dominate certain parts of society, etc. this book finally answered that for me

Great book, well written and informative

written very well. I learnt a lot and enjoyed the listen and narrative. I don't want to give a 15 word minimum. sod off amazon.