Accounting for Genocide; National Responses and Jewish Victimization During the Holocaust

New York: The Free Press, 1979. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/fair. xxi, [1], 468, [6] pages. Endpaper maps. Maps. Tables. Figures. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Errata slip laid in. DJ worn, soiled, and edge tears, minor edge soiling. Name of previous owner present. DJ in plastic sleeve. Helen Fein (born 1934) is a historical sociologist and professor who specializes on genocide, human rights, collective violence and other issues. She is an author and editor of four books and monographs, a former associate of the International Security Program (Harvard University), and a founder and first president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. She is the executive director of the Institute for the Study of Genocide (City University of New York). Professor Fein has defined Genocide as a sustained purposeful action by a perpetrator to physically destroy a collectivity directly or indirectly, through interdiction of the biological and social reproduction of group members, sustained regardless of the surrender or lack of threat offered by the victim. (Genocide: A Sociological Perspective). By 1945, two out of every three Jews living in Europe in 1939 were dead. Yet, in almost half the states and regions occupied by or allied to Germany--nine out of twenty-two--more than half the Jewish population survived. From Hungary to Italy, Poland to Norway, national reactions to the victimization of Jews varied, and in direct relationship so did the degree of success of the Nazi campaign to exterminate the Jewish people. The author explores what accounted for the differences in the Jews' life/death chances.