The Making of the Holocaust

Ideology and Ethics in the Systems Perspective
Erscheinungsjahr 1999
ISBN: 978-90-420-0705-5
Verlag: Brill | Rodopi

Buch, Englisch, Band 81, 211 Seiten, Format (B × H): 150 mm x 220 mm, Gewicht: 390 g

Reihe: Value Inquiry Book Series / Holocaust and Genocide Studies

What made the Holocaust possible? What does it mean from a moral viewpoint? These two questions constitute the main focus of this book. Through concepts borrowed mostly from systems theory, an attempt is made at establishing a theoretical framework for a broad understanding of the genesis of the Holocaust. More specifically, the relationships between ideology, political power, and genocide are discussed, and the following topics are covered: (1) the constitution and the historical evolution of the ideology of the Holocaust, through the genesis of anti-Semitism, the impact of the modern paradigms, and the apparent peculiarities of Nazism; (2) the emergence of powerful means of action designed for implementing the ideology, in the context of totalitarianism; (3) control and freedom as the basic parameters in a decision-making process that went along with a «diffuse Holocaust» phase and generated mechanisms of extensive cooperation; (4) the values and norms that made sense to the Nazis in relation to the Holocaust, with a critical assessment of Nazi ethics insofar as it aimed at subverting the concept of evil and at destroying the self. This book deals with four key dimensions of the Holocaust: ideology, power, act, and meaning.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mineau, André

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Editorial Foreword. Introduction. 1. The Most Important Questions. 2. The Systems Approach to the Holocaust. 3. Some Basic Systems Concepts. 4. Proposals for New Concepts. ONE The Genesis of Anti-Semitism. 1. Preliminary Remarks. 2. Definition of Anti-Semitism. 3. Anti-Semitism as Aggression. 4. Pagan Anti-Semitism. 5. Anti-Judaism and Early Christian Anti-Semitism. 6. The Drift Toward Christian Anti-Semitism. 7. From the Middle Ages to Modernity. TWO The Impact of Modernity. 1. The Ethical Sense of Modernity. 2. Anti-Semitism and the Modern Ethical Paradigm. 3. The Concept of Degeneration. 4. Modernity and the Figures of Evil. 5. The Historical Emergence of Racial Anti-semitism. 6. The Main Information Units Involved. THREE Nazi Anti-Semitism and Lebensraum. 1. The Broad Context. 2. Hitler and the Birth of Nazi Ideology. 3. Blood, Soil, and the Holocaust. 4. The Idea of Extermination. FOUR Totalitarianism as a Precondition of the Holocaust. 1. Nazism as System. 2. The Concept of Totalitarianism. 3. The Build-up of Nazi Totalitarian Power. FIVE The Act and the Requisite Cooperation. 1. Searching for a Solution to the Jewish Problem. 2. Action Against the Racial Enemy. 3. Cooperation as the Prerequisite for Implementation. SIX The Meaning: Nazi Ethics in Its Own Light. 1. The Nazis and the Theoretical Range of Ethics; What Is an Ethic? 2. An Example of Nazi Applied Ethics: The Case of Rudolf Höss. 3. Nazi Ethics as a Borderline Case. SEVEN The Meaning: Nazi Ethics in the Light of Otherness. CONCLUSION. 1. The Logic of Nazi Ideology: A Synthesis. 2. The Morality of Nazi Ideology: A Synthesis. NOTES. BIBLIOGRAPHY.Index.