The Final Solution: A Genocide

423 Pages·2009·3.95 MB·English

by  Donald Bloxham

SERIES ADVISERS
GeoffEley,UniversityofMichigan
Lyndal Roper,UniversityofOxford
PraiseforTheFinalSolution:AGenocide
‘Genuinelyilluminating...wouldseemtoprovideafruitfulwayofrescuingthe
Holocaustfromencyclopedism,ontheonehand,andlocalismontheother.’
MarkMazower,TimesLiterarySupplement
‘TheFinalSolution:agenociderepresentsthestateoftheartinbothHolocaust
andgenocidefields.’
A.DirkMoses,TheHistoricalJournal 54:2(2011)
‘Thisisachallengingbookwithfar-reachingimplicationsforourunderstandingof
theHolocaustanditsplaceinthehistoryofthetwentiethcentury.’
LarryEugeneJones,EnglishHistoricalReview
‘[P]rovidesaspreciseandinsightfulacomparativeframeworkforbetter
understandinggenocideingeneralandtheHolocaustinparticularascanbe
constructedbasedonthestudyofprimarysourcesandcutting-edgescholarship.’
Ju¨rgenMattha¨us,JournalofGenocideResearch13/1-2(2011)
‘DonaldBloxham’snewbookconcludesaseriesofthreevolumes...whichpresent
themostinnovativeofallrecentcontributionstogenocideresearch.’
MartinShaw,JournalofGenocideResearch13/1-2(2011)
‘[A]provocativeandessentialstudyoftheNazigenocide.’
JewishBookWorld
‘Bloxhamdoesagreatjob[of]relatingthemassmurderofpeoplewithdisabilities,
SovietPOWs,Roma,Polishelites,andSerbstothatofJews...Amasterful
attemptatcontextualization,Bloxham’sbookshouldbeonalistofrequired
readingforanyuniversitycourseongenocide/massviolence.’
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‘sophisticated’
DavidCesarani,HistoryToday
Donald BloxhamisProfessorofModernHistoryat EdinburghUni-
versity. An expert in the history of genocide and the punishment of
genocide,heis theauthor of Genocideon Trial (2001), TheHolocaust:
Critical Historical Approaches (with Tony Kushner, 2005), and The
Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism, and the Destruction
oftheOttomanArmenians(2005),whichwonthe2007RaphaelLemkin
AwardforGenocideScholarship.Heisalsoco-editoroftheforthcoming
OxfordHandbookofGenocideStudies (2009)andthemonographseries
ZonesofViolence.
The Final Solution
A GENOCIDE
DONALD BLOXHAM
1
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ISBN978–0–19–955034–0(pbk.)—ISBN978–0–19–955033–3(hardback)
1.Genocide—Germany—History—20thcentury.2.Holocaust,Jewish(1939–1945)—Causes.
3.Jews—Governmentpolicy—Germany—History—20thcentury.4.Genocide—Politicalaspects.
5.Genocide—Sociologicalaspects.6.Germany—Ethnicrelations—History—20thcentury.
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PREFACE
Afewyearsago,IwroteabookwithTonyKushnercalledTheHolocaust:
CriticalHistoricalApproaches.In‘my’halfofthebookIsetoutaseries
of critiques of the historiography of the perpetrators and perpetration
of Nazi genocide, and tried to suggest some new avenues of enquiry.
This book is an attempt to take up my own challenge, and write a
history of the murder of the Jews in the light not just of other Nazi
population policies, but of a modern European history of violence,
and an increasingly sophisticated scholarship on genocide in human
history.Thosewhohavereadmy2005monographTheGreatGameof
Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism, and theDestructionoftheOttoman
Armenians will see certain continuities of analysis, particularly in my
attempt to link broad geopolitics with cultural specificities and with
the detail of historicalcontingencyin the explanation of genocideand
relatedformsofviolence.IammostgratefultoChristopherWheelerof
Oxford University Press for suggesting that I contemplate the project,
and for his support and advice, and to Geoff Eley, oneof theadvisory
editorstotheOxfordHistories,forhisencouragement.
The book was written almost entirely during the academic year
2007–8, which I spent at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies
at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in
Washington, DC. I was fortunate enough to be invited as the J. B.
and Maurice C. Shapiro Senior Scholar-in-Residencefor that year, for
which privilege I thank the Shapiro family and Foundation, and the
PREFACE
USHMM.Theresourcesoftheinstitutionandthehelpofitsstaffwere
vitalinensuringtheproject’scompletion.
Ju¨rgen Mattha¨us issenior applied research scholar at theUSHMM,
andduringthetimeIwasthere,hewasincrediblygenerouswithhistime
as interlocutor, reference-source, proofreader, and constructive critic,
not to mention companion and host. He has read the entire book in
draft form and if it has any merit, a large portion is his. This should
not,ofcourse,betakentoindicatethatheagreeswithallIhavetosay.
Mark Roseman became another good friend in the time we spent
together at the USHMM, and offered much useful advice. Jennifer
Cazenave, Martin Conway, Emil Kerenji, Tom Lawson, Dirk Moses,
Devin Pendas, Jill Stephenson, and Scott Straus all looked at parts of
the manuscript and provided welcome criticism. For their compan-
ionship and help during the period in which the book was written,
I also thank Michal Aharony, Pertti Ahonen, Michlean Amir, Ferzina
Banaji, Peter Black, Richard Breitman, David Brown, Suzanne Brown
Fleming,TraceyBrown,MichaelBryant,DouglasCairns,HollyCase,
Andy Charlesworth, Frank Cogliano, Ron Coleman, Martin Dean,
Enda Delaney, Robert Ehrenreich, Michael Gelb, Jennifer Hansen,
Patricia Heberer, Fabian Hilfrich, Emil Kerenji, Tony Kushner, Mark
Levene,GeoffreyMcGargee,JimMcMillan,ChristopherProbst,Colin
Richmond, Traci Rucker, Julius Ruiz, Paul Shapiro, Martin Shuster,
Vincent Slatt, Seumas Spark, Eric Steinhart,Alexa Stiller, NickTerry,
Paul Vincent, Caroline Waddell, and Joe White. To Cordelia Beattie
gonotonlymythanksbutalsomylove.Hans-LukasKiser,ZiyaMer-
al, and Vladimir Solonari pushed relevant references in my direction.
SpecialmentionshouldgotoLisaYavnai,headofthevisitingscholars
programme at the USHMM, who is a staunch friend and took great
care of me in Washington. Without her support the year would have
beenmuchlessenjoyablethanitwas.
Finally, I am once again in the debt of the Leverhulme Trust. The
leave permitting me to go to Washington was founded by receipt of a
Philip Leverhulme Prize. I hope that this book represents a reasonable
partreturnontheTrust’sinvestmentofmoneyandfaith.
vi
CONTENTS
ListofMapsandIllustrations viii
GlossaryandAbbreviations ix
Introduction 1
DocumentaryTraces 15
I. AEuropeanHistoryofViolence 33
1. EuropeontheBrink 35
2. TheFirstWorldWarEra 70
3. Ethnopolitics,Geopolitics,andtheReturntoWar 92
II. GermanyandtheFinalSolution 131
4. NazismandGermany 133
5. GenocideinGermany’sEasternEmpire 170
6. ThePatternsandLimitsoftheEuropeanGenocide 212
III. PerpetratorsandtheirEnvironment 259
7. WhyDidTheyKill? 261
IV. CivilizationandtheHolocaust 301
8. LocatingGenocideintheHumanPast 303
Endnotes 335
SelectBibliography 385
Index 397
LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Maps
1. TheBalkans 64
2. Europe 172–3
Illustrations
1. Romanianposter. 16
2. PosteronJewsandFreemasonswithamapofrevolutions. 19
3. PosterontheNuremberglawfortheprotectionofblood
andhonouronastylizedmapofGermany. 21
4. ImperialWarMuseumphoto(of‘finalsolution’
exhibition). 26
5. VandalizedJewishgoodsstore(Eckstein)inBratislava. 102
6. SerbsandGypsiesroundedupforinternment
(Jasenovac,Croatia). 120
7. Entranceto‘eternalJew’exhibition,Vienna. 167
8. JewishrefugeesferriedoutofDenmark. 242
9. TwoSSsurvivorsoftheHadamar‘euthanasia’Institute
sittingonabed. 256
10. GroupportraitofethnicGermanguardsatBełz˙ec
concentrationcamp. 282
11. FemaleSSauxiliariesonafencebeingpassedblueberries. 287
Allimages©UnitedStatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum,
Washington,DC,apartfromillustration4,©ImperialWar
Museum,London.
GLOSSARY AND ABBREVIATIONS
AktionReinhard ‘OperationReinhard’:thecodenameforthemurderof
theJewsoftheGeneralgouvernement
CDR Coalition pour la De´fence de la Republique: Rwandan political
party
Cheka [Vserossijskaya] Chrezvychajnaya Komissiya: The All-Russian
Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-revolution and
Sabotage
CUP Ittihad ve Terraki Cemiyeti: Committee of Union and Progress,
rulingfactionintheOttomanEmpire,1908–18
Eichmann, Adolf Expert on ‘Jewish affairs’ within the SD and then,
from 1939, within the Gestapo after it had been incorporated in the
RSHA
Einsatzgruppen Special task forces of the Sicherheitspolizei (Security
Police)andtheSD
Gauleiter Naziregionalpartyleader
Generalgouvernement TheareaofcentralPolandoccupiedbyGermany
from1939 butnotannexed to theReich;itexpanded inlate1941 to
includeeasternGalicia
Generalkommissariat Weissruthenien German administrative unit for
theBelarussianterritorieswithintheReichskommissariatOstland
Generalplan Ost Design for the ethnic-racial ‘re-ordering’ of Germany’
easternterritories,andforthesettlementthereofGermans
Gestapo GeheimeStaatspolizei:SecretStatePolice
Gleichschaltung ‘Coordination’ofthestatewithNazipersonnel