Summary of Doris L. Bergen's War and Genocide

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The Holocaust was a complex process that developed over time. It required dry timber, a spark that ignites it, and favorable weather. Antisemitism was a factor, but it cannot explain everything about the Holocaust.

#2 The Holocaust was a complex process that developed over time. It required dry timber, a spark that ignites it, and favorable weather. Antisemitism was a factor, but it cannot explain everything about the Holocaust.

#3 The term antisemitism was coined in the 1870s by a German journalist who wanted to contrast his supposedly scientific antipathy toward Jews with religious forms of anti-Judaism. In reality, antisemitism refers only to hostility toward Jews.

#4 The term antisemitism was coined in the 1870s by a German journalist who wanted to contrast his supposedly scientific antipathy toward Jews with religious forms of anti-Judaism. In reality, antisemitism refers only to hostility toward Jews.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Sep 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798350024920

IRB Media

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Insights on Doris L. Bergen's War and Genocide

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The question of how the Holocaust happened is complex. It draws attention to the problem of determining causality. While it is difficult to determine which factors are most causally determinant, it is clear that the Holocaust was not a single event, but a complex process that developed over time.

#2

The third question is about time and place. Why did the Holocaust happen where and when it did. Why did it originate in Germany and wreak its most intense destruction in eastern Europe.

#3

Antisemitism is the hatred of Jews, and it has been present in Europe for a very long time. It was only in the 1800s that the term antisemitism was coined to contrast it with religious forms of anti-Judaism.

#4

The Middle Ages were a difficult time for Jews in Europe. They were often accused of causing outbreaks of plague, and were often the targets of pogroms.

#5

The Protestant Reformation did not improve Christian treatment of European Jews. In 1542, the German monk Martin Luther wrote a pamphlet called Against the Jews and Their Lies, which would be widely quoted in Hitler’s Germany.

#6

Antisemitism was a product of many different prejudices, and it was constantly adapted to fit the needs and anxieties of a variety of people.

#7

There were and are many different types of Jews in Europe. Some were highly acculturated, and some were not at all. Some maintained a strong sense of Jewish identity, while others did not at all.

#8

There were many strands of European Judaism by the twentieth century. Some Jews were strictly Orthodox, while others were Reform, and some were Hasidic.

#9

There were wealthy Jews in Europe in 1930, as well as middle-class and very poor Jews. The Nazis would create the category of the Jew, a composite based on myths and stereotypes. Nazi persecution then reified that generalization.

#10

The life of Peter Gay, a German-Jewish historian, was completely different from that of Jack Pomerantz, a Jewish boy from Poland. Pomerantz was very conscious of being a Jew, and he experienced aggression from non-Jews around him.

#11

Sara Ginaite, who was from Lithuania, survived the war by hiding with a gentile family. She earned advanced degrees in economics in the Soviet Union and became a professor at Vilnius University.

#12

The picture of the Virovichius family at the train station is a reminder of the value of images not only as documents and weapons of destruction, but as records of life.

#13

The Nazis did not invent antisemitism, nor were they the first to attack Sinti and Roma or people considered disabled. Their hostilities toward Europeans of African descent, Poles, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexual men were not new either.

#14

The first category of people targeted for mass killing were those who were institutionalized, which was a segment of the population that was already isolated from the rest of society.

#15

Eugenics became popular in Europe and North America in the early