From Publishers Weekly
Isaac Bashevis Singer first suggested that "for the animals, it is an eternal Treblinka." Charles Patterson (Anti-Semitism: The Road to the Holocaust and Beyond) expands on that risky analogy in his latest book, Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust. Patterson hypothesizes a risky causal relationship, too, when he writes, "since violence begets violence, the enslavement of animals injected a higher level of domination and coercion into human history by creating oppressive hierarchical societies and unleashing large-scale warfare never seen before." Was human "enslavement" of animals the first step on the road to the Holocaust? Patterson doesn't say as much, but it's clear that he feels our inhumanity to the nonhuman is one of our greatest evils. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


Satya Magazine, June/July 2002
"There are good books...great books...and important books...Eternal Treblinka is all three."


Midwest Book Review, May 2002
"Compelling, controversial, iconoclastic...strongly recommended...a unique contribution."


Martyrdom and Resistance, March/April 2002
"Important and timely...written with great sensitivity and compassion...I hope that Eternal Treblinka will be widely read."


The Gantseh Megillah (Montreal), April 2002
"Eternal Treblinka is an eye-opening, thought-provoking book that I highly recommend."


Moment Magazine, June 2002
"...sheds light on violence against animals and humans so that we might one day put an end to it."


Book Description
ETERNAL TREBLINKA: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust, by Charles Patterson, Ph.D., describes disturbing parallels between how the Nazis treated their victims and how modern society treats animals. The title is taken from the Yiddish writer and Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, himself a vegetarian: "In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka." The first part of the book describes the emergence of humans as the master species and their domination of the rest of the inhabitants of the earth. The second part examines the industrialization of slaughter (of both animals and humans) that took place in modern times, while the last part of the book profiles Jewish and German animal advocates on both sides of the Holocaust. The Foreword is by Lucy Kaplan, a former attorney for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who is the daughter of Holocaust survivors.


From the Author
I'm dedicating the book to the great Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-91), the first major writer to focus on the "Nazi" way we treat animals. The first two parts of the book (Chapters 1-5) put the issue in historical perspective, while the last part (Chapters 6-8) profiles Jews and Germans whose animal advocacy has been, at least to some extent, shaped by the Holocaust. The conviction of Albert Camus that "it is a writer's responsibility to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves" helped me persevere through the writing of this book. When it looked as if I might never find a publisher brave enough to publish it (some said the book was "too strong"), I took comfort from Franz Kafka's view: "I think we ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the book we are reading doesn't shake us awake like a blow to the skull, why bother reading it in the first place? So it can make us happy? Good God, we'd be just as happy if we had no books at all....A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us." If the issue of the exploitation and slaughter of animals moves to center stage in the twenty-first century the way the issue of human slavery did in America in the nineteenth century--and I think it will--my hope is that this book will be in the thick of the debate. --from Preface


From the Inside Flap
ETERNAL TREBLINKA Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust Charles Patterson The title of the book is from "The Letter Writer," a short story by the Yiddish writer and Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-91), to whom the book is dedicated: "In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka." The book examines the origins of human supremacy, describes the emergence of industrialized slaughter of both animals and people in modern times, and concludes with profiles of Jewish and German animal advocates on both sides of the Holocaust, including Isaac Bashevis Singer himself. "In Eternal Treblinka we are presented for the first time with extensive evidence of the profoundly troubling connections between animal exploitation in the United States and Hitler's Final Solution."--from the Foreword by Lucy Rosen Kaplan, Esq. "Charles Patterson's book will go a long way towards righting the terrible wrongs that human beings, throughout history, have perpetrated on non-human animals. I urge you to read it and think deeply about its important message."--Dr. Jane Goodall "...promises to be one of the most influential books of the 21st century."--Dr. Karen Davis, United Poultry Concerns "This book is going to change the world."--Albert Kaplan, Jesup & Lamont Securities, NYC Charles Patterson, Ph.D., is the author of ANTI-SEMITISM: The Road to the Holocaust and Beyond, FROM BUCHENWALD TO CARNEGIE HALL (co-author with Mr. Marian Filar), THE OXFORD 50th ANNIVERSARY BOOK OF THE UNITED NATIONS, THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, and other books. He lives in New York City.


About the Author
Dr. Charles Patterson is a social historian, Holocaust educator, animal advocate, therapist, and author. His first book--Anti-Semitism: The Road to the Holocaust and Beyond (Walker, 1982; recently reissued in paperback)--was called "important" by Publisher’s Weekly. "It can't be stressed enough how good a writer Charles Patterson is and what an excellent book he has produced," wrote Judaica Book News. "It deserves a place in every home, school and public library...excellent background reading in Jewish history and the history of western civilization." The National Council for the Social Studies in Washington, D.C. presented Patterson with its Carter G. Woodson Book Award for his biography of Marian Anderson at a special luncheon at its annual convention in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1989. Patterson's most recent books are The Civil Rights Movement; The Oxford 50th Anniversary Book of the United Nations; and Angel on My Shoulder: From Concentration Camp to Carnegie Hall (co-author with Mr. Marian Filar). Patterson is a graduate of Amherst College, Columbia University (Ph.D.), and the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. For 19 years he has reviewed books and films for Martyrdom and Resistance, published by the International Society of Yad Vashem. He has reviewed major histories of the Holocaust by Yehuda Bauer and Martin Gilbert and films such as "The Partisans of Vilna" and "The Wannsee Conference." His reviews of Close Calls: The Autobiography of a Survivor by Felicia Berland Hyatt and The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945 appeared in recent issues of M&R. Patterson's review essay--"Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka"--was included in A Legacy Recorded: An Anthology of Martyrdom and Resistance (Harvey Rosenfeld and Eli Zborowski, editors), which was dedicated to "the survivors of the Holocaust, whose Spirit and Soul are embodied in this book." Dr. Patterson lives in New York City and is a member of PEN, The Authors Guild, and the National Writers Union.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The book examines the origins of human supremacy, describes theemergence of industrialized slaughter of both animals and people in modern times, and concludes with profiles of Jewish and German animal advocates on both sides of the Holocaust.

ETERNAL TREBLINKA describes disturbing parallels between how the Nazis treated their victims and how modern society treats animals. The title is taken from a story by the Yiddish writer and Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer: "In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka."

The Foreword is by Lucy Kaplan, former attorney for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. ETERNAL TREBLINKA has already received support from more than 200 humane, animal protection, and environmental groups around the world.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Isaac Bashevis Singer first suggested that "for the animals, it is an eternal Treblinka." Charles Patterson (Anti-Semitism: The Road to the Holocaust and Beyond) expands on that risky analogy in his latest book, Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust. Patterson hypothesizes a risky causal relationship, too, when he writes, "since violence begets violence, the enslavement of animals injected a higher level of domination and coercion into human history by creating oppressive hierarchical societies and unleashing large-scale warfare never seen before." Was human "enslavement" of animals the first step on the road to the Holocaust? Patterson doesn't say as much, but it's clear that he feels our inhumanity to the nonhuman is one of our greatest evils. ( Jan.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Charles Patterson's book will go a long way towards righting the terrible wrongs that human beings, throughout history, have perpetrated on non-human animals. I urge you to read it and think deeply about its important message.  — Dr. Jane Goodall

...promises to be one of the most influential books of the 21st century.  — Dr. Karen Davis, United Poultry Concerns