As the Holocaust passes out of living memory, future generations will no longer come face-to-face with Holocaust survivors. But the lessons of that terrible period in history are too important to let slip past. How Was It Possible?, edited and introduced by Peter Hayes, provides teachers and students with a comprehensive resource about the Nazi persecution of Jews. Deliberately resisting the reflexive urge to dismiss the topic as too horrible to be understood intellectually or emotionally, the anthology sets out to provide answers to questions that may otherwise defy comprehension.  This anthology is organized around key issues of the Holocaust, from the historical context for antisemitism to the impediments to escaping Nazi Germany, and from the logistics of the death camps and the carrying out of genocide to the subsequent struggles of the displaced survivors in the aftermath.  Prepared in cooperation with the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, this anthology includes contributions from such luminaries as Jean Ancel, Saul Friedlander, Tony Judt, Alan Kraut, Primo Levi, Robert Proctor, Richard Rhodes, Timothy Snyder, and Susan Zuccotti. Taken together, the selections make the ineffable fathomable and demystify the barbarism underlying the tragedy, inviting readers to learn precisely how the Holocaust was, in fact, possible.

Table of Contents:
List of IllustrationsForewordHarvey SchulweisIntroductionPeter HayesEditorial Note Chapter 1. The ContextIntroductionPeter Hayes[1.1] AntisemitismRobert S. Wistrich, from Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred[1.2] RacismMichael Burleigh and Wolfgang Wippermann, from The Racial State[1.3] Contradictions in Central EuropeAmos Elon, from The Pity of It All[1.4] Germany’s Turmoil, 1918–1933Klaus P. Fischer, from Nazi Germany: A New History[1.5] The Interwar Jewish HeartlandEzra Mendelsohn, from The Jews of East Central Europe Between the World Wars Chapter 2. Nazism in PowerIntroductionPeter Hayes[2.1] Elite CooperationEckart Conze et al., from Das Amt und die Vergangenheit [The Office and the Past][2.2] Street-Level CoercionSebastian Haffner, from Defying Hitler[2.3] The Claims of CommunityThomas KÜhne, from Belonging and Genocide[2.4] AryanizationAvraham Barkai, from From Boycott to Annihilation[2.5] Talk of “Annihilation”Ernst von WeizsÄcker’s Remarks to a Swiss Diplomat, November 15, 1938, from Documents Diplomatiques Suisses“Jews, What Now?” from Das Schwarze Korps, November 24, 1938Hitler’s Reichstag Speech, January 30, 1939, from Nazism 1939–1945 Chapter 3. Impediments to EscapeIntroductionPeter Hayes[3.1] The United States and Refugees, 1933–1940Richard Breitman and Alan M. Kraut, from American Refugee Policy and European Jewry, 1933–1945[3.2] France: From Hospitality to HostilityEugen Weber, from The Hollow Years[3.3] The Unreceptive British EmpireLouise London, from Whitehall and the Jews, 1933–1948[3.4] SwitzerlandIndependent Commission of Experts Switzerland-Second World War, from Switzerland, National Socialism, and the Second World War[3.5] PalestineRebecca Boehling and Uta Larkey, from Life and Loss in the Shadow of the Holocaust[3.6] Going and StayingMarion Kaplan, from Between Dignity and Despair Chapter 4. The New Order in EuropeIntroductionPeter Hayes[4.1] Culling the German VolkRobert N. Proctor, from Racial Hygiene[4.2] Rearranging PopulationsGÖtz Aly and Suzanne Heim, from Architects of Annihilation[4.3] Racial War in the EastTimothy Snyder, from Bloodlands[4.4] Plunder, Individual and GovernmentalGÖtz Aly, from Hitler’s Beneficiaries[4.5] Forced LaborUlrich Herbert, from Hitler’s Foreign Workers Chapter 5. Jews in the Nazi GripIntroductionPeter Hayes[5.1] Indirect RuleIsaiah Trunk, from Judenrat[5.2] Isolation and ImpoverishmentChaim Kaplan, from Scroll of Agony[5.3] Choiceless ChoicesGordon J. Horwitz, from Ghettostadt: LÓdz and the Making of a Nazi City[5.4] Leaving a RecordSamuel D. Kassow, from Who Will Write Our History?[5.5] Nothing to LoseYisrael Gutman, from The Jews of Warsaw, 1939–1943[5.6] Women Slave LaborersFelicja Karay, from Women in the Holocaust[5.7] Robbery in the NetherlandsMartin Dean, from Robbing the Jews Chapter 6. The German Killers and Their MethodsIntroductionPeter Hayes[6.1] Deciding to KillMark Roseman, from The Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution[6.2] Bringing Death to JewsRichard Rhodes, from Masters of Death[6.3] Bringing Jews to DeathRaul Hilberg, from The Destruction of the European Jews[6.4] Political SoldiersEdward B. Westermann, from Hitler’s Police Battalions[6.5] The Fates of GypsiesYehuda Bauer, from Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp[6.6] Camp LaborPrimo Levi, from If This Is a Man (Survival in Auschwitz)[6.7] The Final FrenzyDaniel Blatman, from The Death Marches Chapter 7. Collaboration and Its LimitsIntroductionPeter Hayes[7.1] Poland: The Blue PoliceJan Grabowski, from Hunt for the Jews[7.2] Romania: Annihilation AbortedJean Ancel, from The History of the Holocaust in Romania[7.3] Vichy France: “Our” Jews and the RestSaul FriedlÄnder, from The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945[7.4] The Italian ParadoxSusan Zuccotti, from The Italians and the Holocaust[7.5] The Hungarian ParoxysmRandolph L. Braham, from Studies on the Holocaust[7.6] Papal PrioritiesMichael Phayer, from The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930–1965[7.7] Self-Serving SwitzerlandIndependent Commission of Experts Switzerland-Second World War, from Switzerland, National Socialism, and the Second World War Chapter 8. Rescuing Jews-Means and ObstaclesIntroductionPeter Hayes[8.1] The Kovno ConnectionJonathan Goldstein, from Lessons and Legacies VI[8.2] The Good German of VilnaMichael Good, from The Search for Major Plagge[8.3] Collective Action in Vivarais-LignonPatrick Henry, from We Only Know Men[8.4] The Hidden Jews of WarsawGunnar S. Paulsson, from Secret City[8.5] Saving Jewish Children in BelgiumBob Moore, from Survivors[8.6] American InhibitionsRichard Breitman and Alan M. Kraut, from American Refugee Policy and European Jewry, 1933–1945[8.7] Sweden Expands AsylumPaul A. Levine, from From Indifference to Activism Chapter 9. AftermathIntroductionPeter Hayes[9.1] SurvivorsMark Wyman, from DPs: Europe’s Displaced Persons, 1945–51[9.2] Zion’s AmbivalenceTom Segev, from The Seventh Million[9.3] America’s IncomprehensionBeth B. Cohen, from Case Closed[9.4] The Great ReversalTony Judt, from Postwar[9.5] The Pathology of DenialRichard J. Evans, from Lying about Hitler[9.6] Restitution and Its DiscontentsMichael R. Marrus, from Some Measure of Justice[9.7] After Such KnowledgeEva Hoffman, from After Such Knowledge List of AbbreviationsSource AcknowledgmentsIndex