DOC Auschwitz by Debórah Dwork; Robert Jan van Pelt in History

Review

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Amazing!By genieI commend the authors for taking on this challenge. After reading "Auschwitz" I began to understand why the Nazis chose a place inside Poland for this horrific concentration camp. It wasn't a whim; and practically an accident! How Auschwitz's plans went from building a model German town to a concentration camp is what many don't know. And how a plan to better one's country (in the minds of the Nazis) slowly developed into something so horrendous; it makes you wonder if it could happen elsewhere. It isn't a novel; so it isn't an easy read. But I found it to be compelling. I wanted to turn the page to learn "what next?"0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy JulianaGreat packaging. Book without any problem.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Beyond Auschwitz Itself: A Good Historical Overview of German OspolitikBy Jan PeczkisInstead of repeating other reviewers; let's focus on undeveloped content. To begin with; it is interesting to note that the post-WWII Odra-Nysa (Oder-Neisse) boundary coincided with the east-most deployment of Germans before the year 1200 A.D. (p. 24)."Nationalism" nowadays is often a dirty word. In actuality; there are different kinds of nationalism; only some of which are repulsive. While discussing the 19th-century German rule over western Poles; Dwork and van Pelt comment: "What had been a domain of encounter became a battlefield where the imperial and integral nationalism of the Germans faced the functional and emancipatory nationalism of the Poles." (p. 48).Contrary to those who misrepresent the Germans as voting Hitler into power merely in order to avenge and rectify the "injustices" of Versailles; the authors recognize the fact that Hitler plainly wrote in MEIN KAMPF about his plans for a massive war for lebensraum against the Slavic east. What's more; this was not only well known to Germans in general; but enthusiastically supported by them. (pp. 82-83). (While it is technically true that Hitler didn't win an absolute majority; it begs the question why the Nationalist and Catholic deputies deliberately chose to push him over the top (p. 96); giving him totalitarian rule.)Dwork and van Pelt realize that the Auschwitz camp was created for Poles. (p. 168; 173; 181). Its conversion into an extermination camp for Jews came much later. Nor was the latter a foregone conclusion. In fact; the Final Solution first envisioned the mass resettlement of Europe's Jews to the Lublin-area; then Madagascar; then to German-ruled Russia--the latter similar to the planned eastward mass-resettlement of Poles (Generalplan Ost). The decision to systematically exterminate the Jews was made only after the Red Army had failed to collapse as expected; and the region for planned resettlement of Jews remained under Soviet control. (p. 287; 293).Much has been said (e. g.; by Jan T. Gross) about Polish "greed" in acquiring post-Jewish properties; and Polish hostility to Jewish survivors showing up to reclaim their properties. Inadvertently; the authors correct these misconceptions while discussing postwar Auschwitz: "Practical and theoretical considerations prompted the severance of the stucco barracks from the memorial camp. THERE WAS A CRIPPLING LACK OF HOUSING IN POLAND IN 1945; and these structures were spacious; well-built; intact; and available for immediate occupancy." (p. 360; emphasis added).The authors touch on the postwar history of Auschwitz-Birkenau; and; while discussing the controversy about the Carmelite convent and the crosses; they refer to the Christian symbols as expressing triumphalism over the Jewish victims. Using the same reasoning; shouldn't the Stars of David be considered a form of triumphalism over the Christian victims of this camp?