This volume takes as its basis the detailed records of one squad from the Nazis' extermination groups and explores in detail its composition, its actions and the methods by which it was trained to perform acts of genocide on an industrial scale.
An important concern in understanding the machinery of the Holocaust is the timing of the decision to put into effect the Final Solution, the systematic murder of the European Jews. This book explores the crucial first steps in implementing the mass murder, including Hitler's role in the decision-making process.
The most detailed, careful, and comprehensive analysis to date of the descent of the nazi persecution of the Jews into mass murder. Argues that genocide was not a preconceived plan but rather a discovered possibility.