The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews 1939-1945

TheenactmentoftheGermanexterminationpoliciesthatresultedinthemurderofsixmillionEuropeanJewsdependeduponmanyfactors,includingthecooperationoflocalauthoritiesandpolicedepartments,andthepassivityofthepopulations,primarilyoftheirpoliticalandspiritualelites.Necessaryalsowasthevictims'willingnesstosubmit,oftenwiththehopeofsurvivinglongenoughtoescapetheGermanvise.TheYearsofExtermination,thecompletionofSaulFriedl?nder'smajorhistoricalopusonNaziGermanyandtheJews,explorestheconvergenceofthevariousaspectsofthismostsystematicandsustainedofmoderngenocides.Inthisunparalleledwork—basedonavastarrayofdocumentsandanoverwhelmingchoirofvoicesfromdiaries,letters,andmemoirs—thehistoryoftheHolocausthasfounditsdefinitiverepresentation.