List of recommended reference books for studying the Nazi Holocaust

List of recommended reference books for studying the Nazi Holocaust

This article will introduce you to some of the books that have been introduced on our blog so far that can help you learn about the history of the Holocaust.

We will discuss the book in more detail at each of the links, so please take a look at them as well. We hope this will be of help to you.

Vasily Grossman, "The Hell of Treblinka," Red Army Jewish reporter's account of the horrors of the Nazi extermination camps.

This piece is a news report written by the Soviet Jewish writer Grossman, who served on the front lines of the German-Soviet war as a military reporter and discovered a Nazi extermination camp.

When we think of the Holocaust, we think of Auschwitz, but this work will talk about an extermination camp called Treblinka. More than 800,000 people were murdered there. The gruesome manner of the killings is chilling to read about. It is hard to imagine how shocked Grossman must have been when he was there.

Grossman himself, who wrote this piece, was also devastated by this tragedy. He is Jewish. His mother was also killed by the Nazis.

Even though it was tempting to turn away from the reality, Grossman continued to write.

The power of the story is uncanny. I found myself reading it so horrifying that my heart beat faster and my breathing became shallower. The mental strain of reading this book can be quite overwhelming. I thought this work was comparable to Frankl's "Night and Fog. The power of this work is that powerful.

Vasily Grossman, "The Hell of Treblinka," Red Army Jewish reporter's account of the horrors of the Nazi extermination camps.

Frankl's "Night and Fog" Synopsis and Impressions - A masterpiece that questions what it means to live! And the connection with Dostoevsky!

• Table of Contents for this article
  • 1.1 Man is accustomed to everything, from the words of Dostoevsky's "Record of the House of Death
    1.2 "I fear only one thing: that I will become unworthy of My affliction."
    1.3 "He who knows why he lives, endures how he lives."
    1.4 It is not a question of what we expect from life, but rather solely what life expects from us.
    1.5 To suffer is to accomplish something.
    1.6 There is something waiting for you.
    1.7 "Still Saying Yes to Life," Shunju-sha, translated by Kunio Yamada and Mika Matsuda.
    1.8 "What is a Human Being? Existential Psychotherapy," Shunju-sha, translated by Kunio Yamada, Tetsuo Okamoto, Toru Amemiya, Nobukazu Imai

The work is the psychologist Frankl's account of his experiences at Auschwitz and the Dachau camp in Munich.

While Vasily Grossman's "The Hell of Treblinka Camp," introduced in the previous article, depicted the horrors of the extermination camps, "Night and Fog" tells the story of how people survived in the extreme conditions of concentration camps and the human analysis that was conducted there.

Night and Fog" is one of the most famous and well-known books in the world. I first read this book when I was a student. I still remember the shock I felt when I first read it.

It was those reading experiences that led me to visit Auschwitz in 2019.

Also, in reading "Night and Fog," Dostoevsky's words appear many times. It seems that Frankl was influenced by Dostoevsky. In this article, we will also discuss the relationship between Frankl and Dostoevsky.

fRunkle's "Night and Fog" Synopsis and Impressions - A masterpiece that questions what it means to live! And the connection with Dostoevsky.

Kensuke Shiba, "The Holocaust" A good book to start learning about the history of the Holocaust.

I highly recommend this book as an introduction to the history of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was not only Auschwitz, but a series of gigantic massacres, and it explains very clearly how it happened.

I appreciate that it is a new book, so it is compact and very easy to read. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the history of Auschwitz and the Holocaust at a glance.

Kensuke Shiba, "The Holocaust" A good book to start learning about the history of the Holocaust.

The Complete History of the Holocaust" If you want to learn more about the history of the Holocaust, this is the book for you.

The book explains the course of the Holocaust in chronological order, which is very useful for pinpointing anything that you don't understand or want to look up.

And above all, what impressed me most about this book were the many photographs in the book.

The book is rich in photographic material. And the photos are quite shocking.

Many of the photographs, such as those of countless skinny, scrawny, unclothed bodies folded over in huge holes, are not often published in other books. It is a straightforward look at the horrors of the Holocaust...

I highly recommend this book to learn more about the Holocaust. It is also outstanding to use as a resource book.

This is one book I would highly recommend.

The Complete History of the Holocaust" History of the HolocaustIf you want to learn more about history, this is the book for you.

A Theory for the Massacre of the Nazi Intellectuals: Why Educated Intellectuals Were So Important to the Nazis

• Table of Contents for this article
  • 1.1 "They were beautiful, brilliant, intelligent, and cultured."
    1.2 The trauma of the defeat in World War I held by the Germans
    1.3 Why were the youth so enthusiastic about the Nazis?
    1.4 The fact that Nazi soldiers also suffered psychological damage from the execution of the massacre. But it further increased the efficiency of the slaughter...
    1.5 Genocide is not something we are immune to.
    1.6 Nazi actions were not due to "madness" but to "ordinary people"
    1.7 Believe and Kill Everyone

This book was written to highlight young intellectuals who played a major role in the Nazi Party.

And it is important to note that this intellectual corps was made up of many young elites. The Nazi ideology was created by the young intellectual elite. It was not an ideology that had been carefully crafted by cunning politicians.

The book tells the story of how such a young intellectual elite of the Nazis was born and how they conducted themselves during the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.

A Theory for the Massacre of the Nazi Intellectuals: Why Educated Intellectuals Were So Important to the Nazis

A Shocking Book! Timothy Snyder, Bloodland: The Truth About Hitler and Stalin's Genocide

This book is about the genocide of Stalin and Hitler.

Moreover, this book brings to light facts that have never been told before. This is because, as with the "Biography of Stalin," which we have previously introduced in this blog, new materials have been discovered one after another as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

And above all, the book has many references to the Nazi Holocaust.

As I said above, I visited Auschwitz in 2019. I wanted to learn about the tragic past that humanity has committed.

However. Reading this book made me realize how little I know about anything.

I think that will become clear to all of you in the course of reading this book. There are facts in there that are so shocking that they will change your view of Auschwitz.

There are so many shocking things in this book that the translator would like to say that it is hard to read. But that is why I think it is necessary to read this book to learn about history.

It was my interest in Stalin's Great Terror (purges) and the German-Soviet war in World War II that led me to read this book in the first place.

Why did Stalin starve or shoot his own people to death in large numbers? It was a great mystery to me why he was able to kill people in such a brutal way that he did not consider them human, even though they were the same Soviets.

The book "Bloodland: The Truth about Hitler and Stalin's Genocide" was the best answer to that question.

This book is a very significant work for learning about the history of genocide. I highly recommend this work.

A Shocking Book! Timothy Snyder, Bloodland: The Truth About Hitler and Stalin's Genocide

The banality of evil - Arendt, "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil"

The book will be the birthplace of Arendt's famous phrase "the banality of evil."

In this work Arendt examines the background of the horrific murder system in the Nazi Holocaust.

Eichmann, one of those responsible for the Holocaust, must have been a diabolical man. Otherwise, he could not have done that.

Everyone in the world thought so.

Arendt, however, was to put forward the concept of the "banality of evil" that would overturn it. Here was a shock to people around the world.

I did what I had to do because it was an order, because it was my duty, because I knew I was in danger if I didn't obey."

If all say so, who on earth am I to judge? Such a question arises here.

The banality of Eichmann's evil has led to intense debate around the world because of these difficulties.

This book is a major clue to the question of how to think about the Holocaust.

The banality of evil - Arendt, "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil"

The "banality of evil" theory is overturned! Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Peaceful Life of a Mass Murderer

The book reveals the surprising fact that Eichmann was the opposite of "evil cliché". It is so shocking. I hope you can at least see the synopsis in this article.

Eichmann was not a man of evil incarnate, but an ordinary human being who could be found anywhere. He was merely one of the cogs in the bureaucratic system, a clichéd human being who blindly followed orders. Such men were committing genocide." This is Arendt's argument.

However. In "Eichmann Before Jerusalem," Arendt's theory is overturned by a shocking fact: Eichmann's words and actions during the Nazi era, before his arrest by the Mossad, and during his time as a fugitive in Germany and Argentina. The book uses recently researched documents to tell the story of Eichmann's behavior during his Nazi years, before his arrest by the Mossad, and during his years as a fugitive in Germany and Argentina.

In other words, we are literally being told what Eichmann was like before the "Eichmann Trial in Jerusalem". And the Eichmann revealed there was the exact opposite of "evil cliché. Eichmann was not a mere cog in the wheel of power.

Arendt's phrase "the banality of evil" is so well known. I agree with the concept that "anyone can do evil," and I think it was tremendously significant that he shared this with the world. However, Eichmann, who was the catalyst for the creation of this theory, was the opposite of "the banality of evil.

Theories born of Eichmann are not applicable to Eichmann. But for man as a whole, "the banality of evil" is a theory that can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. We are confronted with these contradictory issues.

A book that is so shocking! Highly recommended!

The "banality of evil" theory is overturned! Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Peaceful Life of a Mass Murderer

Arendt's recommended reference book! Masaki Nakamasa, Evil and Totalitarianism: Thinking from Hannah Arendt.

While "Eichmann before Jerusalem" is a large work, the text itself is easy to read and can be read easily, but unfortunately Arendt's work is incredibly difficult to read.

When I was looking for a good reference book to help me understand Arendt's works, I came across "Evil and Totalitarianism: Thinking from Hannah Arendt," which is introduced here.

The book will explain Arendt's upbringing, his path as a philosopher, and his ideas, focusing on his masterpieces "The Origins of Totalitarianism" and "Eichmann in Jerusalem.

The book is amazingly easy to read and understand. It is very clear that the book is written in such a way that even a beginning student can easily understand it.

And the book carefully discusses why Arendt's ideas are important to us today.

If this is not clear, it is difficult to be motivated to read or learn, isn't it?

When the "why" becomes clear, the significance of reading the book becomes clearer and I feel differently about it. This is another thing I appreciate about this book.

Hannah Arendt may be a prime example of a thinker who is famous but whose work is rarely actually available.

This book is a much-appreciated introduction to Arendt's thought.

I highly recommend this work.

Arendt's recommended reference book! Masaki Nakamasa, Evil and Totalitarianism: Thinking from Hannah Arendt.

Conclusion

The Holocaust is no stranger to us.

As Arendt expressed in his concept of the "banality of evil," everyone can be a perpetrator once they become a cog. Naturally, I am no exception. I strongly felt from the Holocaust and the war between Germany and the Soviet Union that a person can become anything if placed in a certain situation.

To avoid repeating the tragic history, it is important to learn the mechanism of why it happened and why no one could stop it.

It is not a matter of simply saying "peace is important" or "murder is not good. It is a sad reality that even if we believe this, we still go to war.

That is why we must be aware of the trends in the world and stop them before they become such a situation.

I believe that is what learning history is all about. I hope this article will help you to do so.

The above is a list of recommended reference books for studying the Nazi Holocaust.

Related Articles