Language:
English
Year of publication:
2007
Titel der Quelle:
Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
21,2 (2007) 218-242
Keywords:
Himmler, Heinrich,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Abstract:
Examines the short period from the end of June until September 1941, during which the selective murder of various "Jewish enemies" in the East by the Nazis turned into mass murder of Jewish men, women, and children. Argues that this came about in a process of "controlled escalation", which involved murderous initiatives of leaders in the field and interactions between the SS leadership in Berlin and the mid-echelon SS leaders acting in Lithuania, Belarus, and elsewhere in the East. The launching of the "ideological war", i.e. the mass killing of Jews in the USSR, lagged behind the military campaign because the top SS leadership was insecure about reactions of the SS rank-and-file in the East. The initiatives in the field allowed the Berlin center to radicalize the treatment of Jews. Discusses mechanisms (ex-post-facto sanctioning of "wild" actions, and both instigation and containment of violence) by which the SS center succeeded in radicalizing the murder campaign. The police formations and those of the Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS, more than the Einsatzgruppen, were instrumental in stepping up the violence.
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