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450 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. ix (1980)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0450 and id is 1 raw text is: PREFACE

Since the first confirmed reports were circulated 35 years ago, scholars,
theologians, statesmen, and survivors, as well as many others, have asked,
Why? Why did a heinous crime of the mass of the Holocaust take place
in this, the most civilized century, and in Germany, the most advanced country
in Europe? Others have queried, How? How was it possible for Nazis, in less
than 12 years to isolate, dehumanize, expropriate, enslave, and murder six
million Jews? Some have also asked, What? What did happen? Are ac-
counts of inhumane acts perpetrated by the Nazis and their followers
against men, women, and children true? And some have wondered, Why
did not various world organizations and nations, appraised of the barbarous
acts, attempt to stop them? Why did they deny the helpless a place of refuge?
Since 1945, a worldwide community of scholars has attempted to answer
these questions. Especially since 1975, the interest in the Holocaust and
its results has stimulated increased research and questions. Scholars repre-
senting a wide variety of professions and disciplines continue to examine
the Holocaust and to seek to comprehend the historical forces which pro-
voked it as well as to interpret its impact upon contemporary civilization.
In an attempt to answer these questions, we have invited authors from
Canada, West Germany, Israel, and the United States and from a cross
section of disciplines. This company of scholars addresses itself to the
perplexing and often painful questions associated with the Holocaust and
deals with both the preceding questions and the new ones that have pre-
sented themselves. Among the latter are: What did-or did not-the
churches do? How has the German nation attempted to rehabilitate
itself? What are the implications for public and professional morality? And
how should the Holocaust be taught?
This volume, divided by sections exploring the antecedents, the Holo-
caust, the meanings, and the lessons, confronts these questions. All sec-
tions receive fresh treatment. For now, after three decades, new views of
the Holocaust and its impact, as well as new sources, supplement earlier
scholarship.
In the antecedents section, the authors seek to reveal the multiple and
deep-rooted causes of antisemitism. It is their view that the political, eco-
nomic, and social crises in the late nineteenth century and the first part of the
twentieth century created the conditions. The selection of the Jews as the
scapegoat for the ills of Europe was relatively easy because of the latent
antisemitism that existed in every part of Christendom. The Holocaust
section presents the what, why, and how of the event. The defense used
by Ohlendorf, leader of the Einsatzgruppen -the first stage of the murder
machine-at the Nuremberg trials provides insight into the way the Nazis
regarded their mission. The use of Jews in the factories and on the experi-
mentation tables is described. The failure of Great Britain and the United
States, especially the British Foreign Office and the American State Depart-
ment, to aid the Jews in Hitler's Europe is analyzed. Papers describing
those organizations and individuals that aided Jews reveal new and im-
portant data. German, Israeli, and American papers describe persons and
organizations and their work. The section concerning the meanings reflects

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