Beginnings, mass murder, and aftermath of the Holocaust : where history and psychology intersect

A study based on lectures delivered by Solkoff, a psychologist, in the 1970s-80s, together with a historian, William Sheridan Allen, at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Focuses on psychological factors, but also discusses the complex ways politics, economics, culture, and social forces interacted with individual motivations in Germany to produce the Holocaust. Emphasizes the role of behavioral reinforcement of violence against the Jews. Views antisemitism as having been a necessary but not sufficient cause of the Holocaust. Among other relevant factors in Nazi Germany were: authoritarianism, lack of resistance, a gradual breakdown of inhibitions against violence, the practice of euthanasia, Hitler's personality, and support for Hitler by Nazi leaders. also discusses Jewish resistance, the Judenräte, questions of Jewish survival, the rescuers, and non-rescuers or bystanders. Stresses that, contrary to a common view, many survivors were not psychologically destroyed or deformed by their suffering. Concludes with a consideration of the possibility of another genocide, and how it might be avoided. Includes bibliographical references (pages 319-340) and index. 359 pages ; 22 cm