Author Description

A collection of 320 documents dealing with the persecution of Jews in Germany (p. 83-563) and in the Protectorate, Bohemia and Moravia (p. 565-745), between September 1939-September 1941, from Jewish, non-Jewish, and Nazi sources. The introduction (p. 13-64) traces the history of that persecution. The war served as an excuse for Nazi authorities to toughen measures against "internal enemies", first and foremost the Jews. Discusses the first deportations, restrictions against the Jews, forced labor, "Jewish houses", plans to settle the Jews in Madagascar, their reactions to the persecution, the Jews' increasingly desperate attempts to leave Germany, and the Nazi preparations and implementation of Operation Barbarossa. Argues that a turning point was reached in fall 1941, when German units began to massacre Jews in eastern Poland and the Wartheland. In the Reich and the Protectorate, preparations for the deportation of Jews were going on full speed.