Traces the background of Nazi antiSemitism, outlines the events of the Holocaust, and examines the responses of Gentiles

The Holocaust in historical perspective (Samuel and Althea Stroum lectures in Jewish studies)

Bauer, Yehuda

University of Washington Press

The Holocaust in Historical Perspective

History

World

Univ of Washington Pr

Bauer (Holocaust studies, Hebrew U. of Jerusalem) examines attempts to negotiate with the Nazis for the release of Jewish prisoners in exchange for money, goods, and political benefits, between 1942 and 1945. He describes the participants involved in various efforts and their motives, frustrations, and few successes, and analyzes the moral issues raised by the negotiations. Bauer recounts success stories such as that of a journalist paying Nazi officials $1,500 per person to save a trainload of Hungarian Jews. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Jews for Sale?: Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945

Europe

Yale University Press

The world has recently learned of Oskar Schindler's efforts to save the lives of Jewish workers in his factory in Poland by bribing Nazi officials. Not as well known, however, are many other equally dramatic attempts to negotiate with the Nazis for the release of Jews in exchange for money, goods, or political benefits. In this riveting book, a leading Holocaust scholar examines these attempts, describing the cast of characters, the motives of the participants, the frustrations and few successes, and the moral issues raised by the negotiations. Drawing on a wealth of previously unexamined sources, Yehuda Bauer deals with the fact that before the war Hitler himself was willing to permit the total emigration of Jews from Germany in order to be rid of them. In the end, however, there were not enough funds for the Jews to buy their way out, there was no welcome for them abroad, and there was too little time before war began. Bauer then concentrates on the negotiations that took place between 1942 and 1945 as Himmler tried to keep open options for a separate peace with the Western powers. In fascinating detail Bauer portrays the dramatic intrigues that took place: a group of Jewish leaders bribed a Nazi official to stop the deportation of Slovakian Jews; a Czech Jew known as Dogwood tried to create an alliance between American leaders and conservative German anti-Nazis; Adolf Eichmann's famous "trucks for blood" proposal to exchange one million Jews for trucks to use against the Soviets failed because of Western reluctance; and much more. Tormenting questions arise throughout Bauer's discussion. If the Nazis were actually willing to surrender more Jews, should the Allies have acted on the offer? Did the efforts to exchange lives for money constitute collaboration with the enemy or heroism? In answering these questions, Bauer's book―engrossing, profound, and deeply moving―adds a new dimension to Holocaust studies.

In this work, historian Bauer, former director of the International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, and now its academic advisor, does not intend to write another history of the Holocaust, but rather seeks to "rethink categories and issues that arise out of the contemplation of that watershed event in human history" (from his introduction). He looks at the causes of the Holocaust, compares it with other genocides, looks at various overall interpretations, and discusses such topics as Jewish resistance, the problem of gender, rescue attempts, and the state of Israel. His 1998 speech to the Bundestag is appended. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Rethinking the Holocaust

Yehuda Bauer, one of the world’s premier historians of the Holocaust, here presents an insightful overview and reconsideration of its history and meaning. Drawing on research he and other historians have done in recent years, he offers fresh opinions on such basic issues as how to define and explain the Holocaust; whether it can be compared with other genocides; how Jews reacted to the murder campaign against them; and what the relationship is between the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel. The Holocaust says something terribly important about humanity, says Bauer. He analyzes explanations of the Holocaust by Zygmunt Bauman, Jeffrey Herf, Goetz Aly, Daniel Goldhagen, John Weiss, and Saul Friedländer and then offers his own interpretation of how the Holocaust could occur. Providing fascinating narratives as examples, he deals with reactions of Jewish men and women during the Holocaust and tells of several attempts at rescue operations. He also explores Jewish theology of the Holocaust, arguing that our view of the Holocaust should not be clouded by mysticism: it was an action by humans against other humans and is therefore an explicable event that we can prevent from recurring.

Historical Study & Educational Resources

In this book, Yehuda Bauer, an internationally acclaimed Holocaust historian, describes the destruction of small Jewish townships, the shtetls, in what was the eastern part of Poland by the Nazis in 1941–1942. Bauer brings together all available documents, testimonies, and scholarship, including previously unpublished material from the Yad Vashem archives, pertaining to nine representative shtetls. In line with his belief that “history is the story of real people in real situations,” Bauer tells moving stories about what happened to individual Jews and their communities.
Over a million people, approximately a quarter of all victims of the Holocaust, came from the shtetls. Bauer writes of the relations between Jews and non-Jews (including the actions of rescuers); he also describes attempts to create underground resistance groups, efforts to escape to the forests, and Jewish participation in the Soviet partisan movement. Bauer’s book is a definitive examination of the demise of the shtetls, a topic of vast importance to the history of the Holocaust.

The Death of the Shtetl

In this book, Yehuda Bauer, an internationally acclaimed Holocaust historian, describes the destruction of small Jewish townships, the shtetls, in what was the eastern part of Poland by the Nazis in 1941–1942. Bauer brings together all available documents, testimonies, and scholarship, including previously unpublished material from the Yad Vashem archives, pertaining to nine representative shtetls. In line with his belief that “history is the story of real people in real situations,” Bauer tells moving stories about what happened to individual Jews and their communities. 
Over a million people, approximately a quarter of all victims of the Holocaust, came from the shtetls. Bauer writes of the relations between Jews and non-Jews (including the actions of rescuers); he also describes attempts to create underground resistance groups, efforts to escape to the forests, and Jewish participation in the Soviet partisan movement. Bauer’s book is a definitive examination of the demise of the shtetls, a topic of vast importance to the history of the Holocaust.

The theme of this book is the gradual emergence of the Jewish people from total political powerlessness - a development stretching over nearly 100 years and culminating in the consolidation in the State of Israel. Ironically, Professor Bauer demonstrates, events during this period stemmed in part from a belief in the power of the international Jewish community that never existed - but that motivated both the Germans and, after the war, the British.This is a brief but absorbing study by one of the world's great experts on the Holocaust, who has drawn on a huge body of material to depict one of the unforgettable events in recent history from an arresting and unfamiliar point of view.

The Jewish Emergence from Powerlessness

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

A History of the Holocaust

The author traces the roots of anti-Semitism that burgeoned through the ages and provides a comprehensive description of how and why the Holocaust occurred.

Military

Franklin Watts

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Books by Bauer, Yehuda

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bauer, Yehuda. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Holocaust in historical perspective (Samuel and Althea Stroum lectures in Jewish studies)

The Holocaust in Historical Perspective

Jews for Sale?: Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945

Jews for Sale?: Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945

Rethinking the Holocaust

Rethinking the Holocaust

The Death of the Shtetl

The Death of the Shtetl

The Jewish Emergence from Powerlessness

A History of the Holocaust