Overview

This book demonstrates the historical antecedents of the Nazi crimes of genocide, eugenics, sterilization and segregation as found in American, British, and pre-Nazi German thought, practice and policy. This work should appeal to scholars interested in American, British, and German history and thought, the history of science, and the Holocaust. This study seeks to trace the development and implementation of the various Nazi crimes in Europe and to analyze these crimes in relation to certain antecedents prevalent in modern American and British history. By tracing the development and implementation of racism, romantic nationalism, and positive and negative eugenics in the history of these three nations, the author is able to demonstrate the lack of novelty in Nazi actions. Most chapters begin by considering British and American concepts relating to individual Nazi crimes before moving on to illustrate the particular developments in Germany that led to the grotesque reality of the Holocaust.

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9780773455023

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Reviews

The longstanding apparent need of humans to categorize each other has, with some frequency, reached expression in the construction of hierarchies of human worth. The justifications for such efforts at social definition have been, over the centuries, based in varying mixtures of mysticism, incomplete science or distortions of the science of the day, as well as statism, religious bias and other forces. The results more often than not have been used to justify a priori views, and have not infrequently resulted in persisting, often brutal, effects. This volume makes plain the grotesque extremes to which such trends were carried in twentieth-century Germany under National Socialism. - Jeremiah A. Barondess, M.D. President New York Academy of Medicine This scholarly, yet accessible survey is a valuable contribution to the literature on the background to the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes. By exploring the racist and supremacist ideas in the scientific, philosophical and sociological thought of the past, Dr. Hugh Baron is able to illuminate the historical and intellectual setting of the murder of Europe's Jews. His work offers an antidote to bland historical studies which can lead the reader to believe that Nazi policies arose in an intellectual vacuum. Dr. Baron's work also highlights the long roots and tenacity of racist thinking in modern Europe - a timely reminder as the expanding European Union absorbs nations in which ethnic and religious hatreds remain causes for concern. - Dr. Ben Barkow Director The Wiener Library London

Author Information

Dr. Jeremy Hugh Baron trained as a physician in Oxford, London and New York, leading to clinical and academic positions in university hospitals in London. He is the author of numerous books and articles in his biomedical field. Since 1996, Dr. Baron has held honorary posts as professorial lecturer at Mount Sinai school of medicine of New York University, and senior lecturer at Imperial College, London. His current interests include bioethics and social responsibility.

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