The Bedford Series in History and Culture
2 total works
Were Americans the heroic liberators of Nazi concentration camp victims in 1945, or were they knowing and apathetic bystanders of unspeakable brutality and annihilation for a dozen years? Historians have long debated what the United States knew about Hitler's gruesome Final Solution, when they knew it, and whether they should have intervened sooner. Wrapping historical narrative around 60 primary sources including news clippings, speeches, letters, magazine articles, and government reports, the author of this work chronicles the unfolding events in Nazi Germany while tracing the resurgence of anti-semitism and tightening immigration policies in the US. Relying on the American journalistic sources through which US citizens read about events in Europe, Abzug provides students with real context to understand Americans' horror upon the realization that the reports and stories of the Holocaust were not exaggerations or fabrications. An epilogue examines the complexity of historical interpretations and moral judgements that have evolved since 1945.
