The Destruction of the European Jews is widely considered the landmark study of the Holocaust. First published in 1961, Raul Hilberg's comprehensiv...
read full description
reviews
Feb 25, 2010
FiveBooks
rated it: 
Hilberg had great difficulty getting this book published. At that time people did not feel that the Holocaust was a subject that there was a lot of interest in. But, once it did get published, people saw that it was a subject of enormous historic importance. Hilberg concentrated on the way the mass murder was organised by the German state, and he had an eye especially for the issues of bureaucracy and technology, which he thought were the decisive factors that made this a new kind of m More...
May 15, 2010
Zalman
rated it:
Essential reading. This is a meticulously referenced scholarly treatise, not a popular (or populist) history, Hilberg's deliberate historical style only occasionally leavened by an understated irony or outright sarcasm. Despite (or perhaps because of) the dryness of the language, the numerous organizational tables, the footnotes, and the statistics, the text is straightforward and not difficult to follow. The facts and events speak for themselves; particularly with the first two volumes, there a
More...
Feb 21, 2010
John
rated it:
This is the first of three volumes, comprising a thorough historical study of the Jewish Holocaust. The author's method places high emphasis on documentational evidence for his sources, but anectodal testimonials are not excluded.
Hilberg begins Volume I by explaining how a long European tradition of historical anti-semitism, social as well as legal, established a precedent and set the stage for the Nazi era.
He then proceeds to show us that creating the machinery of destr More...
Hilberg begins Volume I by explaining how a long European tradition of historical anti-semitism, social as well as legal, established a precedent and set the stage for the Nazi era.
He then proceeds to show us that creating the machinery of destr More...
Aug 29, 2009
Nick
rated it: 
So, this time last week I was like, "oh phatty phatty score, Hilberg's three volumes for an incredible $20!" Well ladies and gents, incredible gets its lineage for a reason, and this of course was not the full three volumes of mighty detail suitable for curling up with or, in darker times, burning for warmth or political purposes either, but some abridged piece of shit fit only for hurling at walls like a chimpanzee flinging its own hot messy turdclumps. Or so I thought in my initial a
More...
Dec 14, 2010
Paola
rated it:
L'opera maggiore per conoscere tutto sulla Soluzione Finale. Una ricerca completa e documentatissima sul genogidio degli ebrei. Da leggere assolutamente per sapere e mai più dimenticare.
Da questi due volumi ha preso spunto Lanzmann per il suo film Shoah. Nel film anche un'apparizione di Hilberg intervistato da Lanzmann.
Da questi due volumi ha preso spunto Lanzmann per il suo film Shoah. Nel film anche un'apparizione di Hilberg intervistato da Lanzmann.
Oct 02, 2010
*To read for: list of coded terms used to mask murder, i.e. "Sonderbehandlung," meaning Special Treatment in German, but code for immediate killing.
Nov 02, 2011
Güis
rated it:
Es una de esas obras que lees con pesar por lo que cuenta pero que lees hasta el final. Muy completa. casi definitiva sobre el tema.
Jun 29, 2011
Steve
rated it:
The broadest historical perspective I've come across about the holocaust. The most interesting part involved logistics of the ghettoization of Europe's Jews. This book is well written with little to no personal bias, although I wonder if this would simply be an overwhelming book to read when first learning of these atrocities. Highly recommended.
Jun 14, 2008
Denise
rated it:
The definite book about the destruction of the Jews during WWII. Hilberg deconstruct the Nazi machinery bolt by bolt and explains the steps taken to destroy the Jews in Europeit is nopw the recognized source for all the other books on the subject. I've read the French version in 3 volumes, updated a few years ago, after the opening of the russian archives.
Jun 29, 2009
Kara
rated it:
This is a textbook about the Holocaust. The prose is dry as dust, but somehow the horrible things Hilberg discusses have more impact because of the scholarly tone. Lots of facts, figures and quotes from primary sources. I admit to skimming some parts, but overall, it was a very interesting (and sad) book.
Dec 17, 2009
I heard about this book from the author's NYTimes obituary. On my recent roadtrip I listened to an audiobook set in pre-Nazi Munich. Many of the camps & gas chambers were located there. This sounds like a good book to follow on to that.
Oct 13, 2007
Courtney
rated it:
There have been a million books written on the history of the holocaust, but this remains the authoritative tomb. Must read for every liberally educated person. Must, must!
Apr 13, 2008
Leif
rated it:
Anxiously awaiting this text which may be the single most important study of the Holocaust ever written.
Feb 11, 2012
Feb 08, 2012
Feb 06, 2012
Feb 05, 2012
Jan 31, 2012
Jan 30, 2012
Jan 29, 2012
Jan 28, 2012
Jan 25, 2012
