EUROPE AGAINST THE JEWS 18801945

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This groundbreaking study by an award-winning historian shifts the focus from Germany's role in the Holocaust to the broader collaboration across Europe. While the genocide was orchestrated by the Germans, it relied heavily on the support of state officials, police, and civilians in various countries. To comprehend the Holocaust's origins, Götz Aly argues, we must explore its European prehistory, examining nations like Romania, France, Russia, and Greece. Decades before the Nazis rose to power, a toxic mix of envy, nationalism, and social upheaval fueled rampant anti-Semitism, laying the groundwork for future atrocities. In the late nineteenth century, as Jewish minorities began to seize new educational and social opportunities, resentment grew among non-Jewish populations. Concurrently, newly formed nation-states, particularly in Eastern Europe, pursued goals of ethnic homogeneity and national renewal, viewing these aims as interconnected. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished sources, Aly details how the persecution of Jews became increasingly normalized across Europe. He reveals that the architects of genocide found widespread support for the Final Solution in the countries they occupied or allied with, highlighting the shared responsibility of Europe in this dark chapter of history, while still acknowledging the primary guilt of the German perpetrators.