Eichmann's Men

Description

More than sixty years after the advent of the National Socialist genocides, the question still remains: how could a state-sponsored terror that took the lives of millions of men, women, and children, persecuted as Jews or Gypsies, happen? Now available in English, Hans Safrian's path-breaking work on Adolf Eichmann and his Nazi helpers chronicles the escalation of Nazi anti-Semitic policies beginning in 1933 and during World War II to the 'final solution'. This book examines a central group of National Socialist perpetrators who expelled German, Austrian, and Czech Jews from their homelands and deported massive numbers of them to the ghettos, concentration camps, and killing centers of occupied Eastern Europe. Safrian reconstructs the 'careers' of Eichmann and his men in connection with the implementation of racial policies, particularly the gradual marginalization of their victims and the escalation from stigmatization, divestment, and segregation to deportation, forced labor, and, finally, mass murder.

Hans Safrian lectures in history at the Institute fur Zeitgeschichte at the University of Vienna. He was also a Pearl Resnick Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Research Team Leader for the Independent Commission of Experts - Switzerland - Second World War, and a research historian for the Historic Commission of the Republic of Austria. He is the author of numerous works on World War II and Nazi war crimes.

'Eichmann's Men is a breakthrough in the study of Eichmann, his office, and the men who implemented anti-Jewish policy in the Third Reich - culminating in the grotesquely efficient management of genocide. It is the standard work on the subject; it deserves to become a classic.' David Cesarani, Research Professor in History, Royal Holloway, University of London 'Hans Safrian provides readers with excellent insight into how Adolf Eichmann and a small group of men around him were able to coordinate and manage a major portion of the Final Solution. He demonstrates that the 'desk murderers,' rather than simply shuffling papers, played a tremendously important role in coordinating and carrying out the murder of millions of European Jews. They were creative, pro-active, energetic, and completely devoted to their work.' Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University 'This edition contains a detailed and thorough listing of citations, with extra commentary threading from the test to generously annotated endnotes. In addition to the copious citations, to the pleasure and convenience of researchers and those who would like to pursue the subject in further readings, Safrian provides an impressive, accessible bibliography listing both primary and secondary sources.' The Journal of Central European History