Europe Against the Jews

1880-1945

By: Gotz Aly

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

From the award-winning historian of the Holocaust, Europe Against the Jews, 1880-1945 is the first book to move beyond Germany's singular crime to the collaboration of Europe as a whole.

The Holocaust was perpetrated by the Germans, but it would not have been possible without the assistance of other countries. If we are to fully understand how and why the Holocaust happened, Götz Aly argues in this groundbreaking study, we must examine its prehistory throughout Europe. We must look at countries as far-flung as Romania and France, Russia and Greece, where, decades before the Nazis came to power, a deadly combination of envy, competition, nationalism, and social upheaval fueled a surge of anti-Semitism, creating the preconditions for the deportations and murder to come.

In the late 19th century, new opportunities for education and social advancement were opening up, and Jewish minorities took particular advantage of them, leading to widespread resentment. At the same time, newly created nation-states, especially in the east, were striving for ethnic homogeneity and national renewal, goals which they saw as inextricably linked. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, Aly traces the sequence of events that made persecution of Jews an increasingly acceptable European practice.

©2020 Götz Aly (P)2021 Tantor

Well researched but so sad, hard to listen to

I so appreciate the apparent work that went into this. The ugliness of humanity is so hard to bear here. Although not the aim, the horror is so hard to bear that I wish the author had given some hope by describing the acts of the Righteous.

Eye-opening

I highly recommend this important history. i have a much clearer understanding of the forces that led to the Holocaust. Having visited the US Holocaust museum in DC, Dachau, and Yad Vashem in Israel and having read several histories of the Shoah, I came to this book thinking I had pretty clear knowledge of what led up to the Shoah. However, I gained new insights from this book. Everyone should read it, particularly if you THINK you know the history of the Holocaust.

Comprehensive

While at times painful, even sickening to comprehend— the virulence and commonplace existence of antisemitism that lead up to the rise of Nazism, the author provides both the depth and breadth and incredible strength of how virtually all Europeans turned on the Jews. Unimaginable that so many could look the other way or knowingly choose to send their neighbors to their deaths so that they could benefit from their land, homes, furniture. Evil lives on.

Should be read in schools

In today’s world, the fervor of Jewish hatred is as wide spread as at any time from the past. There’s practically no difference in the tone and language, even in the media. Always blaming the Jews. It’s sick. People wonder why Israel proclaims “Never Again.” They’ve been through enough for well over 2,000 years. This book does a very good job covering the issue. Well researched and well presented.

Authenticity

Truth of human suffering caused by fellow humans. How war gave nationalists the feeling of justice and the comnmoncitizens allow genocide on the scale the it did.