Nazi Terror The Gestapo, Jews, and Ordinary Germans

by Johnson, Eric A

• ISBN13: 9780465049080
• ISBN10: 0465049087
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-12-04
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

Nazi Terror tackles the central aspect of the Nazi dictatorship head on by focusing on the roles of the individual and of society in making terror work. Based on years of research in Gestapo archives, on more than 1,100 Gestapo and "special court" case files, and on surveys and interviews with German perpetrators, Jewish victims and ordinary Germans who experienced the Third Reich firsthand, Johnson's book settles many nagging questions about who, exactly, was responsible for what, who knew what, and when they knew it. Nazi Terror is the most fine-grained portrait we may ever have of the mechanism of terror in a dictatorship.

Author Biography

Eric A. Johnson is the author of Urbanization and Crime: Germany 1871-1914 and The Civilization of Crime: Violence in Town and Country Since the Middle Ages. A professor of history at Central Michigan University and a fellow of The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, he lives in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Eric A. Johnson is the author of Urbanization and Crime: Germany 1871-1914 and The Civilization of Crime: Violence in Town and Country Since the Middle Ages. A professor of history at Central Michigan University and a fellow of The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, he lives in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	ix
Preface	xiii
PART I: Nazi Terror and the Gestapo
Locating Nazi Terror: Setting, Interpretations, Evidence	3	(26)
Inside Gestapo Headquarters: The Agents of the Terror	29	(54)
PART II: Nazi Terror and the Jews, 1933-1939
The Course of Jewish Persecution in the Prewar Years	83	(46)
A Closer Look: Survivors' Recollections and Jewish Case Files	129	(32)
PART III: Nazi Terror and Potential Opponents, 1933-1939
Destroying the Left	161	(34)
The Cross and the Swastika: Quieting Religious Opposition	195	(58)
PART IV: Nazi Terror and ``Ordinary'' Germans
Nazi Terror and ``Ordinary'' Germans: 1933-1939	253	(50)
Nazi Terror and ``Ordinary'' Germans: The War Years	303	(50)
A Summation: Defendants, Denouncers, and Nazi Terror	353	(26)
PART V: The Gestapo, ``Ordinary'' Germans, and the Murder of the Jews
Persecution and Deportation, 1939-1942	379	(26)
Murder One by One, 1943-1945	405	(28)
Mass Murder, Mass Silence	433	(30)
PART VI: Aftermath and Conclusions
Christmas Presents for the Gestapo	463	(26)
Notes	489	(106)
Bibliography	595	(25)
Index	620