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A rich and accessible introduction to the role of the German railway system in the Holocaust, a topic that remains understudied even today.
Renowned Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg considered the German railway system that delivered European Jews to ghettos and death camps in Eastern Europe to be not only an essential component of the “machinery of destruction” but also emblematic of the amoral bureaucracy that helped to implement the Jewish genocide.
German Railroads, Jewish Souls centers around Hilberg’s seminal essay of the same name, a landmark study of German railways in the Nazi era long unavailable in English. Supplemented with additional writings from Hilberg, primary source materials, and historical commentary from leading scholars Christopher Browning and Peter Hayes.
“This important book unites three prominent scholars tackling crucial questions about German railways and the Holocaust. Two essays from the late, renowned Raul Hilberg investigate their overlooked role in the extermination of the European Jews. They provide groundbreaking investigations into the German railway as the prototype of a bureaucracy and challenge its supposed banality. While Christopher Browning eloquently situates Hilberg’s essays within the historical literature, Peter Hayes makes a detailed critique of the common but false belief that the deportation and annihilation of the Jews were more of a priority for the Nazis than the war effort. This question, arising from Hilberg’s essays, demonstrates the continued significance of his work today.”—Wolf Gruner, author, The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia: Czech Initiatives, German Policies, Jewish Responses
Published in Association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“Overall, this slim volume will draw attention to the German railways’ participation in the Holocaust. Hilberg’s essays focus attention on how murder is bureaucratized; the historiographic essays by Browning and Hayes update Hilberg’s work and the selected documents will help readers better visualize the history from the perspective of both Jews and Germans.” • Holocaust and Genocide Studies
“This important book unites three prominent scholars tackling crucial questions about German railways and the Holocaust. Two essays from the late, renowned Raul Hilberg investigate their overlooked role in the extermination of the European Jews. They provide groundbreaking investigations into the German railway as the prototype of a bureaucracy and challenge its supposed banality. While Christopher Browning eloquently situates Hilberg’s essays within the historical literature, Peter Hayes makes a detailed critique of the common but false belief that the deportation and annihilation of the Jews were more of a priority for the Nazis than the war effort. This question, arising from Hilberg’s essays, demonstrates the continued significance of his work today.” • Wolf Gruner, author, The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia: Czech Initiatives, German Policies, Jewish Responses
Raul Hilberg (1926-2007) was the founding scholar of Holocaust studies in the United States and the author of numerous publications, including the classic The Destruction of the European Jews. He taught at the University of Vermont from 1955 to 1991.
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Christopher R. Browning and Peter Hayes
Chapter 1. The Bureaucracy of Annihilation
Raul Hilberg
Chapter 2. German Railroads/Jewish Souls
Raul Hilberg
Chapter 3. Document Section
Christopher R. Browning and Peter Hayes
Chapter 4. Raul Hilberg and Other Historians of the German Railway During the Nazi Era and the Holocaust
Christopher R. Browning
Chapter 5. Hilberg, the Railroads, and the Holocaust
Peter Hayes
Photos
Index