The Racial State Germany 1933-1945

 

The greatest strength of the book is the way in which Burleigh and Wippermann demonstrate the 'all-pervasive racism of the Nazi state'. They capture the obsessive nature of Hitler's racism, while sensibly concluding that 'racial anti-Semitism' was its 'most important element'. The major importance of The Racial State, however lies rather in the following chapters, on the persecution of the 'Gypsies' (Sinti and Roma), the mentally, congenitally and hereditarily ill, 'Rhineland bastards', 'asocials' and homosexuals, all of which groups were perceived as threats to the Nazis' vision of a purified and homogenous national community. If the Jews were perceived as the chief, demonic threat, these other victims were also seen as intolerable blemishes, to be eliminated with measures of uninhibited violence ranging from compulsory sterilisation/castration/abortion and often fatal incarceration to systematic murder.

 

Michael Burleigh & Wolfgang Wippermann

Hardcover with d/w 386pp Cambridge University Press 1992

 

Fine/Fine

Book Code:  SE2379