Language:
English
Year of publication:
1989
Titel der Quelle:
Commentary
Angaben zur Quelle:
88,4 (1989) 56-60
Keywords:
Mayer, Arno J.
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
Abstract:
Deplores the proliferation of revisionist works about Nazism and the Holocaust, and traces their origins to the West German structuralist (or functionalist) school which continues to influence recent works, such as Arno Mayer's "Why Did the Heavens Not Darken?". According to Mayer, Hitler's main aim was to launch a crusade against the Bolsheviks; when it faltered, in the fall of 1941, he decided to murder the Jews. Mayer argues that the Nazis' original plan was to deport them, denies that the main assignment of the Einsatzgruppen was to kill Jews, and claims that more Jews died of natural causes at Auschwitz than in the gas chambers. Questions the chronological basis of Mayer's argument, noting that in 1941 Hitler was not yet convinced of his failure in Russia. Notes that Mayer's bibliography includes works by noted Holocaust deniers such as Arthur Butz.
Note:
Appeared also in her "What Is the Use of Jewish History?" (1992).
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
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