Abstract

This article shows that German government offices and private diarists and correspondents kept widely scattered but extensive records of the unfolding of the 'Final Solution'. Anti-Jewish legislation ensured that the paper trails of persecution ran to the far corners of the German bureaucracy. Moreover, the perpetrators of anti-Jewish actions at the local and national level commemorated their deeds, in effect preparing initial drafts for a victorious history of the destruction of Jewish life. Private diaries and letters not only confirm the widespread knowledge that Germans came to share about the 'Final Solution', but also the process by which many of them came to endorse cruelty toward Jews.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationThe Oxford Handbook of Holocaust Studies
PublisherOxford University Press
ISBN (Electronic)9780191594724
ISBN (Print)9780199211869
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 25 2010

Keywords

  • Diarists
  • Final solution
  • Jews
  • Persecution
  • Records

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Arts and Humanities

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