Approaches to Auschwitz: The Legacy of the Holocaust

Examines the process by which the Jewish people came to be defined as an unwanted and surplus population, and were subjected to the radical solution of systematic, state-sponsored annihilation. Pt. 1 (pp. 21-89), "Early Historical Roots", focuses on the background to the Jews' pariah status in society, describing ancient anti-Judaism, the reasons for the anti-Jewish teachings of the Church, Luther's attacks on the Jews, and the rise of modern antisemitism, especially in France, since the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Pt. 2 (pp. 91-196), "The Nazis in Power", discusses Nazi antisemitic ideology and policy, the Final Solution, Jewish responses and resistance, and the experience of survivors. Pt. 3 (pp. 197-336), "Responses to the Holocaust", is devoted to immediate reactions (or failure to react) to Nazism and the Holocaust, especially by the Christian Churches and Western governments, and the complicity of members of academic disciplines, professions, and industry in Nazi crimes. Emphasizes that these responses were often rational in terms of power politics and cost-effective economics. also discusses literary responses and the challenge to traditional religious and moral norms posed by the Holocaust. Pt. 4 (pp. 337-364), "The Aftermath and the Future", considers the implications of the legacy of the Holocaust for the future. Revises his previous view that God is dead in the post-Holocaust world.