From Publishers Weekly
An internationally renowned historian of the Holocaust, Browning explains the evolution of Nazi anti-Jewish policies from discrimination and expulsions to outright systematic murder. Once the Nazis had seized power in 1933, the exclusion of Jews from German and European society was inevitable, but there initially existed no premeditated plan for genocide. Based on a superb mastery of the archival sources and the secondary literature, Browning leads his readers through the step-by-step radicalization of Nazi policies in the critical months after the outbreak of WWII. Occupied Poland was the "laboratory of racial policy," where Nazi functionaries experimented with expulsions and shootings of Jews while regular army officers essentially caved in to the brutalities of the SS. But all the plans for expulsion ran aground, Browning shows, due to the exigencies of war. In the wake of the invasion of the Soviet Union, mass killings became the policy of choice to solve the Nazis' self-imposed "Jewish problem." Browning argues that at every stage, the "euphoria of victory" in the war led to a radicalization of policies against Jews. Even though Hitler rarely issued explicit orders, Browning shows he was intimately involved each step of the way. Not every reader will want to wade through the immense detail that Browning (Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland) so skillfully lays out, and some may find bewildering the array of individuals and agencies involved in the Final Solution. Still, this book is sure to become the standard work on the emergence of the Holocaust. 3 maps not seen by PW. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Browning is the author of numerous books on the Holocaust and Nazism; his most notable is Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland (1992). In his new book, Browning recounts the sequence of events that led from "ethnic cleansing" to the mass murder of Europe's Jews. There are chapters on the search for a Final Solution through expulsion, the Polish ghettos, radical persecution inside Germany, the Nazi sphere of influence, Operation Barbarossa and the onset of the Holocaust, pogroms and collaboration, the Final Solution from conception to implementation, and the beginning of the gassings in the concentration camps. The book is the first in the University of Nebraska Press' new series, The Comprehensive History of the Holocaust, copublished with Yad Vashem. It is the most detailed (there are 113 pages of notes and a 29-page bibliography) examination of this aspect of the Holocaust yet published. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Raul Hilberg, Appointee to the President's Commission on the Holocaust and to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, and author of The Destruction of the European Jews
Most incisive analysis of the decisions that gave rise to the annihilation of the Jews in Nazi Europe.

From the Inside Flap
History Book Club Main Selection, Book-of-the-month Club Selection, Military Book Club Selection In 1939, the Nazi regime’s plans for redrawing the demographic map of Eastern Europe entailed the expulsion of millions of Jews. By the fall of 1941, these plans had shifted from expulsion to systematic and total mass murder of all Jews within the Nazi grasp. The Origins of the Final Solution is the most detailed and comprehensive analysis ever written of what took place during this crucial period—of how, precisely, the Nazis’ racial policies evolved from persecution and "ethnic cleansing" to the Final Solution of the Holocaust. Focusing on the months between the German conquest of Poland in September 1939–which brought nearly two million additional Jews under Nazi control—and the beginning of the deportation of Jews to the death camps in the spring of 1942, Christopher R. Browning describes how Poland became a laboratory for experiments in racial policies, from expulsion and decimation to ghettoization and exploitation under local occupation authorities. He reveals how the subsequent attack on the Soviet Union opened the door for an immense radicalization of Nazi Jewish policy—and marked the beginning of the Final Solution. Meticulously documenting the process that led to this fatal development, Browning shows that Adolf Hitler was the key decision-maker throughout, approving major escalations in Nazi persecution of the Jews at victory-induced moments of euphoria. Thoroughly researched and lucidly written, this groundbreaking work provides an essential chapter in the history of the Holocaust. "This work is by far the most incisive analysis of the decisions that gave rise to the annihilation of the Jews in Nazi Europe."—Raul Hilberg, Appointee to the President's Commission on the Holocaust and to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, and author of The Destruction of the European Jews.

About the Author
Christopher R. Browning is Frank Porter Graham Professor of History at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. He is the author of numerous books on Nazism and the Holocaust, including Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers, German Killers and Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"In 1939, the Nazi regime's plans for redrawing the demographic map of Eastern Europe entailed the expulsion of millions of Jews. By the fall of 1941, these plans had shifted from expulsion to systematic and total mass murder of all Jews within the Nazi grasp. The Origins of the Final Solution is the most detailed and comprehensive analysis ever written of what took place during this crucial period - of how, precisely, the Nazis' racial policies evolved from persecution and "ethnic cleansing" to the Final Solution of the Holocaust." Focusing on the months between the German conquest of Poland in September 1939 - which brought nearly two million additional Jews under Nazi control - and the beginning of the deportation of Jews to the death camps in the spring of 1942, Christopher R. Browning describes how Poland became a laboratory for experiments in racial policies, from expulsion and decimation to ghettoization and exploitation under local occupation authorities. He reveals how the subsequent attack on the Soviet Union opened the door for an immense radicalization of Nazi Jewish policy - and marked the beginning of the Final Solution. Meticulously documenting the process that led to this fatal development, Browning shows that Adolf Hitler was the key decision-maker throughout, approving major escalations in Nazi persecution of the Jews at victory-induced moments of euphoria. Thoroughly researched and lucidly written, this groundbreaking work provides an essential chapter in the history of the Holocaust.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

One of the merits of The Origins of the Final Solution is that it shows how important the question of land and minorities really was. This magisterial work does offer us something new -- an unrivaled account of how the Nazi leadership ended up with a policy of industrialized mass murder of Jews as it fought a war of territorial expansion against the threats supposedly posed by Polish nationalism and Soviet Bolshevism. Probably no one is better qualified for this task than Christopher R. Browning. — Mark Mazower

Publishers Weekly

An internationally renowned historian of the Holocaust, Browning explains the evolution of Nazi anti-Jewish policies from discrimination and expulsions to outright systematic murder. Once the Nazis had seized power in 1933, the exclusion of Jews from German and European society was inevitable, but there initially existed no premeditated plan for genocide. Based on a superb mastery of the archival sources and the secondary literature, Browning leads his readers through the step-by-step radicalization of Nazi policies in the critical months after the outbreak of WWII. Occupied Poland was the "laboratory of racial policy," where Nazi functionaries experimented with expulsions and shootings of Jews while regular army officers essentially caved in to the brutalities of the SS. But all the plans for expulsion ran aground, Browning shows, due to the exigencies of war. In the wake of the invasion of the Soviet Union, mass killings became the policy of choice to solve the Nazis' self-imposed "Jewish problem." Browning argues that at every stage, the "euphoria of victory" in the war led to a radicalization of policies against Jews. Even though Hitler rarely issued explicit orders, Browning shows he was intimately involved each step of the way. Not every reader will want to wade through the immense detail that Browning (Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland) so skillfully lays out, and some may find bewildering the array of individuals and agencies involved in the Final Solution. Still, this book is sure to become the standard work on the emergence of the Holocaust. 3 maps not seen by PW. (Mar. 1) FYI: This volume is the first in a new series, the Comprehensive History of the Holocaust, copublished by University of Nebraska Press and Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum and memorial. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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