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In one of the most important works written on theHolocaust, Hilberg provides a masterly analysis andsynthesis of the mechanism of genocide, including thebureaucratic process. He proposes the notion of the"machinery of destruction" that developed in stages,the result of decisions taken by countless decisionmakers. The bureaucrats were not operating on adifferent moral plane. Hilberg is also unsparing in hiscritique of Jewish passivity. He claims that the Jewsdisplayed an almost complete lack of resistance. Theycomplied easily to most decrees. At times they evenmoved ahead of the Germans in what he calls "anticipatorycompliance. " Critics point out that Hilberg reliedexcessively on German sources and was remarkablythin in his discussion of the inner world of diverseJewish communities.¹2. 7 ¹Koonz, Claudia. Mothers in the Fatherland: Women,the Family, and Nazi Politics. New York: St. Martins,1987. LC 86-13815. ISBN 0-312-54933-4.Koonz examines the role of women in NaziGermany and the effects that Nazism had on the familyand women generally. She argues that Nazism'sattitudes toward women and gender were second onlyto racism in structuring the new German society anddefining its enemies. She also focuses on the women' smovement in Germany, women resisters, and the fateof Jewish women.¹28Lanzmann, Claude. Shoah: An Oral History of theHolocaust. New York: Pantheon, 1985. LC 85-16760.ISBN 0-394-55142-7.This is the complete text of Lanzmann's 9 I/2hour film, which consists of interviews with victims,perpetrators and bystanders as well as selected documents.The film is particularly insightful on the roleand attitudes of the non-Jewish Poles, which he foundto be quite hostile to Jews.¹29¹Marrus, Michael R. , and Robert O. Paxton. VichyFrance and the Jews. New York: Basic Books, 1981.LC 80-70307. ISBN 0-465-090005-2.Marrus and Paxton argue that collaboration withthe Nazis went' particularly far in France. Vichyofficials not only persecuted Jews as ordered by theNazis, but initiated their own anti-Semitic policies andagendas. By 1942 Vichy had banned Jews fromengaging in certain professions and expropriated Jewishproperty. For many Vichy officials, the roundup anddeportation of about 75, 000 Jews that began in 1942were simply a continuation of a program deemed bymany to be in the French national interest.¹ 2. 10 ¹Mayer, Arno J. Why Did the Heavens Not Darken?New York: Pantheon Books, 1988. LC 8842621. ISBN0-394-57154-1.Mayer places what he terms "Judeocide" in thebroad context of anti-Semitism and the specific settingof the Nazis' war against Bolshevism. He argues thatthe latter was more important than the former in Naziplans to exterminate the Jews. Nazi Germany did notbegin its "systematic" mass murder of the Jews, Mayerbelieves, until its crusade against Bolshevism ranaground in 1942. Mayer's book is a massive synthesisof scholarship.¹ 2. II ¹Mendelsohn, Ezra. The Jews of East Central EuropeBetween the World Wars. Bloomington: IndianaUniversity Press, 1983. LC 81-48676. ISBN 0-253-33160-9.Mendelsohn offers an ambitious study of thedemographic, socioeconomic, and cultural conditionof East Central European Jewry before World War II.He concludes that the Jews in this region faced a crisisby 1939. The economic base was severely eroded anddemocracy was under challenge. While there was littleanti-Semitism in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and the Balticstates, the large Jewish populations of Poland, Rumania,and Hungary experienced great difficulty.¹ 2. jl2 ¹Reitlinger, Gerald Roberts. Final Solution. New York:Barnes, 1953. LC 53-13001.Reitlinger, a British historian, provides one of theearliest scholarly books on the Holocaust. He documentsthe evolution of the events and policies that ledto the Final Solution.*2. 13 ¹Schleunes, Karl. The Twisted Road to Auschwitz.Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1971. LC 74-102024.Schleunes demonstrates how contradictory the Nazipolicies and aims concerning the Jews occasionallywere. He believes this confusing situation lasted until1938, when a more coherent anti-Jewish policy wasformulated. Until then, competing interests in the Nazihierarchy led to confusion and lack of coordination.It was only after the outbreak of war, when Hitler feltsecure in his power, that he helped formulate the "finalsolution. "¹ 2 ][4 ¹Yahil, Leni. The Holocaust. New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1990. LC 89-27750. ISBN 0-19-504522-X. First published in Hebrew in 1987.28 GENOCIDE