Perpetrators Victims Bystanders: The Jewish Catastrophe 1933-1945

by Raul Hilberg

The man the New York Times has called "the preeminent scholar of the Holocaust" tells the stories of those who caused, experienced, and witnessed the great human catastrophe.

Genres: History, Holocaust, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Jewish

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Raul Hilberg was an Austrian-born American political scientist and historian. He was widely considered to be the world's preeminent scholar of the Holocaust, and his three-volume, 1,273-page magnum opus, The Destruction of the European Jews, is regarded as a seminal study of the Nazi Final Solution.

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great overview of the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis, viewed from different angles. Captivating and horrifying, of course, but a bit unbalanced.

[Terri Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe this is used as a textbook. It is so clearly written, full of interesting information, and easy to read and understand. It approaches the Holocaust in three sections- the story of the perpetrators which means Hitler, the Nazis and the Germans including the government, the story of the victims which are mostly Jews and their response to German actions and their lives, and the story of the bystanders who are the governments who helped the Nazis round up and kill Jews, the countries that received Jews (Sweden), and the countries that helped Jews (Denmark put their Jews on boats and carried them to Sweden) as well as righteous people who hid and protected Jews as well as people who benefited from what happened to the Jews and more.

This is a unique approach to the Holocaust and I really enjoyed this book.

[Kris Sellgren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't find this enthralling because much of Raul Hilberg's material I had already seen in his amazing history, The Destruction of the European Jews, which is centered on the politics. Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders is organized around groups of people, which clarifies what different groups did during the Holocaust, but doesn't explain as clearly why the Holocaust happened. There is an interesting chapter on the effect of gender on outcome. Within the ghettos, women fared better (less hard labor, so slower to die of hunger). But at the death camps, few women survived. A third of the Auschwitz survivors were women; two of the six death camps had zero women survivors. Another chapter discusses the higher survival rates for the rich -- they could buy better black market food in the ghettos, and many of them were able to escape Europe altogether while it was still possible.

[Johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enlightening. This is a book that stays with you and alters your perspective on the Holocaust.

[Dolores Jefferson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Raul Hilberg while watching a documentary on Stanley Kubrick. Hilberg wrote a book called , The European Destruction of the Jews, a monumental work of 3 volumes which is on my wish list to buy. Kubrick was going to make a movie of that book called, The Aryan Paper's. He died before he could accomplish that work. So, since I knew that Kubrick was a great reader I checked out Hilberg and read his memoir (can't remember title) of writing the history of the planned destruction of the European Jews and the grief he had to suffer because of said writing. He was criticized by his own because details in the book implicated perpetrators, victims and bystanders some of whom were his own people. Of course the Jewish people were chief victims of the hate. Hilberg didn't blame his people but he put the facts before everyone in his book. Arendt and other Jewish writers and thinkers whose names I can't recall borrowed most of their research from him (uncredited I might add) but denied him plausibility. His research is deep; he translated records from the German archives himself over years. Perpetrators Victims Bystanders, goes into detail about each segment of the Aryan movement known as the Nazi party; government officials, soldiers, police, common people, laws and rules and the effect of such on Europe and Germany particularly. It is not easy reading partly because Hilberg is so rational and seemingly dispassionate about it all. The book carries emotional energy because Hilberg is so serious in his intent to deconstruct the Third Reich from a practical viewpoint that thrills with the truth. Highly recommended if you want an outside telling from a man with clear vision and a heart even though it isn't worn on his sleeve.

[Willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hillberg breaks down what it means to be a perpetrator, bystander, and victim. The book offers insight into how people could have behaved in the manner in which they did. Hillberg is also the top Holocaust scholar and possibly the person who invented the study. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning.

[Lukas Prytikin · Rating 5 out of 5]

RAUL HILBERG "REVEALS, METHODICALLY, FULLY AND CLEARLY, THE DEVELOPMENT OF BOTH THE TECHNICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS, THE MACHINERY AND MENTALITY WHEREBY ONE WHOLE SOCIETY SOUGHT TO ISOLATE AND DESTROY ANOTHER, WHICH, FOR CENTURIES, HAD LIVED IN ITS MIDST." (HISTORIAN HUGH TREVOR-ROPER)

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was touched and moved by this book that I read for a class in college. It can't even express how much this book changed my perspectives on the Holocaust.

[Noel Cisneros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hindberg hace un panorama de las personas que causaron el holocausto, de quienes lo sufrieron y quienes lo atestiguaron. Empieza con el mismo Hitler para mostrar a quienes desencadenaron la solución final (que no fue adquiriendo forma sino hasta empezada la guerra y cuya idea fue desarrollándose y desencadenándose a partir de los discursos del Führer y de las iniciativas de miles de funcionarios del tercer richt); sin por ello justificarlos, ni negar las atrocidades que cometieron. En cuanto a las víctimas no se limita a dar números, ofrece el nombre de muchas de ellas con lo que adquieren rostro quienes perecieron a lo largo de toda Europa desde que inició el régimen hasta que terminó la guerra.

[Steve Duffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raul Hilberg's approach to the material is meticulous and restrained; he considers in turn the perpetrators of the Holocaust, their victims and the reactions of those not directly affected. His method is to classify, to categorize; to systematize the relationships within each group and between groups. His genius is to add, at the end of each such classification, a single vivid detail drawn from eyewitness accounts, often shocking in its clarity and intensity, that adds a heartbreaking immediacy to the scholarly recounting of facts, and puts faces to the abstractions. Unreservedly recommended.

[Emiliano Dolinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro es una obra imprescindible para comprender el Holocausto judío desde una perspectiva única y profundamente reveladora. A través de sus páginas, el autor logra analizar las voces de los ejecutores, las víctimas y los testigos, ofreciendo un enfoque integral que permite captar las múltiples dimensiones de este capítulo oscuro de la historia. Esta combinación de perspectivas, cuidadosamente construida y desafía al lector a reflexionar sobre los límites de la humanidad y la responsabilidad moral.

Este libro es un "must" porque brinda una perspectiva de 360 grados sobre el Holocausto, permitiendo entender no solo los hechos, sino también las emociones, los dilemas y las complejidades humanas involucradas. La narrativa combina un rigor histórico impecable con una prosa poderosa y accesible, lo que convierte esta obra en un puente entre la investigación académica y el compromiso ético con la memoria histórica.

Recomiendo encarecidamente este libro a cualquiera que desee profundizar en la historia del Holocausto y en las lecciones universales que podemos extraer de él. Es un testimonio que no solo informa, sino que transforma, invitando al lector a reflexionar sobre el pasado para construir un futuro más consciente y humano.

[Melissa Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. For such a respected professor, and prolific author; even though I found some information I hadn't known before, there really wasn't anything I hadn't beforehand. I found he glossed over the early years in the Ghettos; he failed to mention the Velodrome Round-Up in France; and he only mentioned the Eastern European Jews, British Jews, and the American Jews. What about the Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand Jews, who all fought in WWII, against the Nazi Regime? (We all know that America didn't enter the war until after Pearl Harbour.) If he decided to group the British Commonwealth, with just being "British"; his statics would be skewed. Not to mention, he barely had a word to say about other 'abominations'...Romanies, Communists, (Ironic), people of African descent. If you didn't look "Aryan", or had different ideals; you could be in the chambers, or mass firing squads. I noticed that somebody made the remark on their review, that they, "couldn't believe it was used as a textbook." I wholeheartedly agree. But perhaps not for the same reason.

[Benoît Chauvineau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ce livre offre un large panorama des différents aspects de la shoah. Toutefois, le lecteur intéressé par la question reste sur sa faim car les multiples thèmes sont survolés rapidement et le livre prend l'aspect d'un inventaire à la Prévert. Bref, c'est très bien pour une première approche mais ce n'est pas satisfaisant pour un lecteur averti.

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is horrifying but not an unexpected read. His voice was easy to hear since I saw and heard him during my recent watching of Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah and he writes exactly as he sounded.
Particularly the last three chapters are the worst- The Allies, Neutral Countries, and The Churches.

[JaneJane)) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Navzdory pochmurnému tématu, dobře a čtivě zpracovaná publikace.

[Ann Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very large undertaking to summarize the different groups' involvement and reaction to the "Jewish problem" and done in an organized manner.

[Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was well written and a good philosophical take on the various aspects and contributors to the Holocaust.

[Sheila Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book. There's a lot of information and stats I haven't read in other books on the topic.

[Clinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilberg gave me a new perspective on the Nazis and how they did what they did. Although it delves into the scholarly minutia, which makes for a slow read and sometimes boring, it was worth the time to understand the capabilities of mass human behavior.

[Yu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite general. But great work.

[Jenna]

Another one for my WWII class

[Astrid Rondero · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear and impassioned panoramic sight of all parties. Between the lines you can get a frightful feeling of real unstoppable darkness descending. There wasn't a place to run to, nor for the Jewish people... nor for humanity.