Holocaust Studies: Critical Reflections

372 Pages·2019·2.672 MB·English

by  Steven T. Katz

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VARIORUM COLLECTED STUDIES SERIES
Holocaust Studies: Critical Reflections

Steven T. Katz
Holocaust Studies
Critical Reflections
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informal business
© 2019 Steven T. Katz
The right of Steven T. Katz to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Katz, Steven T., 1944– author.
Title: Holocaust studies : critical reflections / Steven T. Katz.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Series:
Variorum collected studies series ; CS1075 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018054360 (print) | LCCN 2018058702 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780429018701 (ebook mobi) | ISBN 9780429018718 (ebook
epub) | ISBN 9780429018725 (ebook adobe) | ISBN 9781138579606
(hardback) | ISBN 9780429507908 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Study and teaching. |
Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Historiography.
Classification: LCC D804.33 (ebook) | LCC D804.33 .K38 2019 (print) |
DDC 940.53/18072—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018054360
ISBN: 978-1-138-57960-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-50790-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
VARIORUM COLLECTED STUDIES SERIES CS1075
To a wonderful daughter
Tamar Chaya Zippora
a nd her very special family:
husband Eitan, and children
Abraham, Aaron, Meira, Efraim, and Gabriella

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
1 On the Holocaust and comparative history 1
2 Mass death under Communist rule and the limits
of “otherness” 27
3 Auschwitz and the G ulag : A study in dissimilarity 57
4 Children in Auschwitz and the G ulag : Alternative realities 73
5 On the definition of genocide and the issue of
uniqueness 90
6 Exploring the Holocaust and comparative history 110
7 Extermination trumps production: On the issue of Jews
as slave laborers 121
8 The murder of Jewish children during the Holocaust 150
9 Thoughts on the intersection of rape and R assenschande
during the Holocaust 171
10 Irving Greenberg on history and Halakha : The implications
of the Holocaust 201
11 Exploring the concept of K ol Yisrael Arevim Zeh L’Zeh 215
ix