Steve Hochstadt, ed. Sources of the Holocaust. Houndsmill: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. xv + 319 pp. $23.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-333-96345-6; $79.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-333-96344-9.

Reviewed by William Tannenbaum (Southern Missouri State University)
Published on H-German (May, 2006)

Although there is no shortage of published document collections on National Socialist Germany or the Holocaust, Steve Hochstadt's Sources of the Holocaust stands out for its suitability for scholarly or class use. It is particularly remarkable not only in the comprehensive nature of the sources included, but also in the commentaries and notations that appear throughout the collection. Through the breadth of sources that he has included, Hochstadt makes a convincing case for the deep historical origins of the Holocaust in the history of Christianity and in the history of Germany--and by extension, the larger Western world. Hochstadt traces antisemitism back to at least the Crusades and the Reformation; this built on an even older tradition of what Peter Schäfer called Judeophobia that originated in antiquity.[1] Hochstadt's focus remains, as it should, however, on the development of the National Socialist government's policy of dehumanizing and destroying the Jews of Europe.

Hochstadt provides a useful, if brief, introduction, followed by two sections on the tradition of antisemitism and the origins of the Holocaust, beginning with excerpts from the New Testament, followed by accounts of massacres of Jews during the Crusades, selections from writings published by Martin Luther and the Catholic Church during the Reformation, and examples of popular and "refined" antisemitism in anti-Jewish petitions from the nineteenth century and an apt selection from the writings of Heinrich Treitschke. In this, Hochstadt makes clear both the larger European and the more specific German contexts of the development of the tradition of demonization of the Jews that culminated in the Holocaust.

This more general background material is followed by a wide range of Nazi party and German government documents that systematically exhibit the trajectory of Nazi policies of dehumanization of Jews (and others) that ended in a policy of theft and mass murder under cover of law. These policies include: the formulation of legal and administrative structures; propaganda presenting an image of Jews as subhuman; the creation of the ghettos; and, finally, the establishment of a system of industrialized mass murder in the concentration camps and death camps. The volume and variety of sources--from examples of Nazi laws, such as the Nuremberg Laws that are a standard (but essential) part of document collections of this type, to lesser-known documents such as police, diplomatic, and military reports--together emphasize the enormity of the enterprise of murdering Europe's Jews. Particularly useful is Hochstadt's inclusion of excerpts from the numerous memoirs and other forms of testimony by survivors and perpetrators, providing a human face to both victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust. Hochstadt concludes his collection of sources by including documents related to the postwar trials of perpetrators and statements of Christian religious authorities and various governments concerning their role in making the Holocaust possible, as well as examples of contemporary antisemitism, such as Arab statements praising the Holocaust.

In his emphasis on German sources, however, Hochstadt tends to understate the role played by non-German collaborators in the Holocaust. It is undeniably true that the Holocaust was initiated and propelled by the German government as a matter of official policy. Had it not been for that policy--and the presence of German officials throughout Europe to execute that policy--the Holocaust would surely not have taken place when and how it did. But equally so it can be asserted that without the very active support of members of the local population, who eagerly informed, stole and murdered, the Holocaust could not have taken place to the extent that it did.[2] Unfortunately, Hochstadt largely overlooks the issue of the essential role played by local non-Jewish populations in carrying out the Holocaust. He also might have included examples of efforts by non-Jews to hinder the Holocaust through rescue, hiding, food smuggling and other acts of subversion.

These quibbles aside, however, it can be said that Hochstadt has produced an excellent volume that is comprehensive but sufficiently concise to be useful in advanced undergraduate classes on the Holocaust and the history of modern Germany, and for graduate students and scholars looking for a wide range of sources in a single volume.

Notes

[1]. Peter Schäfer, Judeophobia (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998).

[2]. For example, Jan T. Gross, Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2001).

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Citation: William Tannenbaum. Review of Hochstadt, Steve, ed., Sources of the Holocaust. H-German, H-Net Reviews. May, 2006.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11792

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