The Nazi Conscience by Claudia Koonz

This was a thorough analysis of how the Nazi regime convinced ordinary Germans to accept the social/economic ostracism of the German-Jewish population. Koonz starts by showing how Nazi leaders began changing the the perception of Jewish people by talking of them as "the others" and as not being members of the Volk. Through both subtle and not so subtle means, ordinary Germans were brought to consider Jewish people as inherently different, which was then morphed into them being inferior. The methods employed ran the gamut from psuedo-scientific articles, to racist periodicals, to a takeover of the educational system and youth indoctrination.

This is the first such study I know dealing with the question of "how" the German people came to eventually accept the "Final Solution."

Sounds interesting.

In a sort of horrifying way.

I think the basic question of "How?" is asked throughout post-war histories. Years ago I read two things that I always come back to on this topic: The Buchenwald Report and the description of the training that German youth underwent (largely overseen by the SS) - sorry don't recall the book.

I've also heard it said that "all post-WW2 fiction is about the holocaust", but Google says nobody specific is given attribution - but that Theodor Adorno expressed the idea that "to write a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric." I think that the more creative formats of literature have had as much to do with helping humanity grapple with "How could THEY?" become "How could WE?" as humans do this. The Hare with the Amber Eyes is a really interesting book, a memoir of sorts but also a sort of art historical and eventually genealogical research project: it's very detailed on the how and why (just force yourself through the first 100 pages as the author struggles to find the path as once he does it's a book you won't forget).

I've added the Koonz book to my wishlist, so thanks for mentioning.

>3 PocheFamily: Yes, I think pretty much every book about Nazi Germany has to ask those questions. Among many others, Ian Kershaw wrote quite a lot about how and why ordinary Germans reacted to Nazi propaganda, e.g. The Hitler Myth: Image and reality in the Third Reich.

Happened to see a mention (in the comments section of an online Atlantic article) this morning a random human mentioning John Toland's biography Adolf Hitler as a particularly strong book in documenting the slide of German society into the Nazi antisemitic State. This work might also be of interest to the O.P., and reportedly is well supported in its primary sources.