xiii, 645 pages ; 25 cm

"Focusing closely on the perpetrators and exploring the process of decision making, Longerich convincingly shows that anti-Semitism was not a mere by-product of the Nazis' political mobilization or an attempt to deflect the attention of the masses. Rather, from 1933 anti-Jewish policy was a central tenet of the Nazi movement's attempts to implement, disseminate, and secure National Socialist rule--and one which crucially shaped Nazi policy decisions"--Publisher's description

"This book first appeared in Germany in 1998 under the title Politik der Vernichtung. For this English edition, the whole of the original text was revised to take account of the latest scholarship in the field of Holocaust studies: the book has been significantly reworked, shortened in some places and extended in others"--Page 9

Includes bibliographical references (pages 573-625) and index

Introduction -- Historical background: Anti-Semitism in the Weimar Republic -- Part I. Racial persecution, 1933-1939: -- The displacement of the Jews from public life, 1933-1934 -- Segregation and comprehensive discrimination, 1935-1937 -- Interim conclusions: the removal of Jews from German society, the formation of the national socialist 'people's community', and its consequences for Jewish life in Germany -- The intensification of the racial persecution of non-Jewish groups by the police apparatus, 1936-1937 -- Comprehensive deprivation of rights and forced emigration, late 1937-1939 -- The politics of organized expulsion -- Part II. The persecution of the Jews, 1939-1941 -- The persecution of Jews in the territory of the Reich, 1939-1940 -- Germen occupation and the persecution of the Jews in Poland, 1939-1940/1941: the first variant of a 'territorial solution' -- Deportations -- Part III. Mass executions of Jews in the occupied Soviet zones, 1941 -- Laying the ground for a war of racial annihilation -- The mass murder of Jewish men -- The transition from anti-Semitic terror to genocide -- Enforcing the annihilation policy : extending the shootings to the whole Jewish population -- Part IV. Genesis of the final solution on a European scale, 1941 -- Plans for a Europe-wide deportation and regional mass murders -- The Wannsee Conference -- Part V. The extermination of the European Jew, 1942-1945: -- The beginning of the extermination policy on a European scale in 1942 -- The further development of the policy of extermination after the turning of the war in 1942-1943: continuation of the murders and geographical expansion of the deportations

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