Raul Hilberg\'s the Destruction of the European

Raul Hilberg's The Destruction of the European Jews is a classic in its field and a landmark historical text. First published in 1961, The Destruction of the European Jews was, and remains, one of the most comprehensive works of research on the Holocaust. The tome has been re-released in a three-volume set, revealing the level of complexity and comprehensiveness the author originally imparted. The Destruction of the European Jews therefore continues to have relevance today and is a must-have feature of scholarly bookshelves.

What makes The Destruction of the European Jews unique and indispensible is the fact that it focuses more on the German genocide project than on Jewish culture. This permits insight into the sociology, psychology, ethics, and politics of genocide: allowing scholars to apply Hilberg's analysis to other instances of genocide. The account is grim, eerie, and disturbing. For those who have not yet visited Auschwitz or any other concentration camp, Hilberg describes the processes of mass murder with enough detail to suffice as armchair travel.

Hilberg's book is also rational and even quantitative at times. The author provides ample data, facts, and figures in the forms of tables and charts. Hilberg provides information on the actual instruments used to annihilate the Jews. Human hands operated everything from rifles to crematory ovens to bone crushers. These modern instruments of torture are difficult to fathom. That is, until Hilberg manages to put it all into perspective. The author asserts that the German death machine was a product of evil genius: the creation of a highly organized and bureaucratic model that ensured efficiency and obedience. Nothing was left to chance. Each arm and leg of the Nazi organization was calculated, crafted, and finely honed. Policies were polished and perfected. Leaders and their subordinates had clearly defined roles and goals. Hilberg controversially contrasts the well-oiled German machine to the loose alignment of Jews scattered across Europe in the diaspora. Although The Destruction of the European Jews is unapologetically about the German Nazi mechanisms by which the Holocaust was able to happen, the author cannot avoid discussing the characteristics of the victim population that might have enhanced the success of the regime and its genocide. The author shows how in the diaspora, Jews were devoid of a strong central leadership the likes of which the Nazis clearly had. The Nazis also knew this, and exploited the lack of Jewish cohesion and organization. Whereas Germans united under the rubric of anti-Semitism and Nazi philosophy, the Jews were not even linked by language except in their regions. Centuries of anti-Semitic policy toward the Jews throughout Europe ensured that communities were dismantled every few generations, and prevented a cohesive European Jewry from developing systematically or organically. It would be preferable to supplement Hilberg's text with information about European Jewish culture, because Hilberg does not take much time addressing these issues.

The main purpose of The Destruction of the European Jews is to expose the precise ways the Germans operated. Hilberg addresses the subject from multiple levels: the mechanical level; the bureaucratic and organizational level; the political and policy level; the social and cultural level. One of the most important features of The Destruction of the European Jews is the way the author paints a picture of the German societies that supported or at least condoned the genocide. The Nazi machine could not operate without the express support of the people. Neighbors and former friends stood by and watched; the passivity of the Jews is nothing compared to the limp, spineless, immoral inaction exhibited by the majority of German citizens.

Hilberg does refer to the Judenrate, or Jewish Councils, which is a painful and controversial episode in Holocaust history. Forced by the Nazis to form the councils, the Jews wittingly or not aided and abetted the terrorists. The Jewish Councils represented on the one hand, a lack of awareness of the totality of the Nazi regime and what it had in store for the Jews. In some cases, the members of the Jewish Councils benefitted themselves and other Jews. There were some instances in which the Councils offered services to death camp inmates. Therefore, the members of the Jewish Councils cannot be dismissed out of hand as self-hating Jews or traitors. On the other hand, the Judenrate looms as an embarrassing fact of the Holocaust from the Jewish perspective. Hilberg takes an especially harsh view of the Jews, especially of those who participated in the Jewish Councils. Complicity with the Nazi regime indeed does seem like a way to selfishly save oneself and family at the expense of dignity and honor, not to mention lives. Yet there is more to the Judenrate: it was a deliberate means of psychological and sociological warfare that ties right into the Nazi policy of systematic and whole scale annihilation of the Jews. The Final Solution might have evolved more fluidly than Hilberg attests, but there is also ample evidence to suggest that Hitler and his colleagues thought such things through. The impact of the Judenrate on the individuals and communities cannot be underestimated. They healed to weaken resistance and prevented the formation of what could have been effective coalitions of rebellion. Hilberg is right to be at least a little critical, even though at times the author seems insensitive to the people who actually contended with the decision to cooperate with the Nazis. It is uncertain to what degree the Council members were aware of the grand plan and scheme; if they had been, would they have acted differently?