Books in Documentary History of the Holocaust series

The German invasion of Poland in 1939 gave the Nazis the opportunity to implement their master plan to eliminate Europe's Jews. Part of the plan encompassed confining the Jews in a restricted area of Warsaw to make their survival difficult, followed by mass transportation of survivors to concentration camps, where they were killed. The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto did not go quietly to their deaths but engaged in armed resistance. This riveting volume describes the ghetto's daily life--the people's extraordinary efforts to survive under horrendous circumstances--and the events that led to the uprising and the ghetto's 1943 destruction.

The Holocaust is an atrocity of such overwhelming magnitude and depravity that it must never be forgotten yet can scarcely be comprehended. The sheer horror of it can often make it seem unreal to contemporary eyes. The primary-source images, firsthand accounts, meticulous timeline, and transcripts of speeches and testimony associated with the Nuremberg Trials and the Nazi crimes they prosecuted are found here, grounding the horror in undeniable, irrefutable reality. Taken together, they help ensure for a new generation that the Holocaust will never be forgotten, never be denied, and never be repeated.

Adolf Hitler's henchmen Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, and Adolf Eichmann were involved in planning and implementing the Final Solution, the euphemism for the genocide of Jews and mass murder of other non-Germans across Europe during World War II. This cogent narrative provides readers with the background of the Nazis' poisonous ideology, their rise to power, the brutality of Hitler's dictatorship, and the architects of the Holocaust. The International Military Tribunal, convened in Nuremberg in 1945, and the final reckoning for those who carried out these unspeakable crimes and others who were guilty of "the banality of evil" are also considered.

Kristallnacht, or "Night of Broken Glass," was an event that was one of thousands of horrors inflicted on Jews throughout Germany and Austria in a single night and day, November 9-10, 1938. The Nazis destroyed Jewish businesses, synagogues, and personal property and killed nearly one hundred people. Although not the first instance of violence against Jews, it was the beginning of a campaign of savagery unequalled in modern history. This gripping narrative examines German anti-Semitism, the rise of the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler, the persecution of Jews, and the spark that began the blaze of the Holocaust.

Since 1953, the State of Israel has named non-Jews who risked their lives to help save Jews during the Holocaust as "Righteous Among the Nations." Known as "righteous gentiles," these individuals summoned the strength to put aside their own safety to oppose the Nazis. This engrossing volume educates readers about some of the noteworthy righteous gentiles and groups who stood to lose everything as they aided, hid, and fought for the Jews with words as well as weapons. Photographs and quotes from primary source documents pull the reader into the inimitable experiences of these heroes.

The Holocaust's atrocities and losses are foremost in most people's minds, but this volume highlights the Jews who summoned the courage to stand up and fight. This compelling volume gives a history leading up to Holocaust and the terror inflicted by the Nazis during World War II. Captivating text teaches readers how these courageous people, young and old, used every available resource and risked their own lives for a chance to save the lives of their families, friends, and fellow Jews. Photographs and gripping quotes from primary source documents further emphasize the important work of these awe-inspiring individuals.

Concentration camps, the epicenters of Nazi atrocities, represent a harrowing chapter of world and human history. Part of a highly organized system intended to decimate Europes Jewish population and other groups deemed undesirable by Adolf Hitlers regime, these detention and extermination facilities enabled genocide to a degree never before seen in modern history. This volume chronicles the development of the concentration camp system and examines the various types of camps, the deplorable conditions and treatment the camps victims faced, and the aftermath of the Holocaust. Documentation and eyewitness accounts from survivors and camp liberators supplement the narrative and highlight the horrors of the camps.