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Ten Essential Books Pertaining to the Holocaust

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'''5)''' Mark Roseman, ''The Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution: A Reconsideration'' (New York: Picador, 2002).
This book is included on the list as it is a slim volume that provides a detailed overview of what transpired during the meeting. Roseman does not provide anything new or groundbreaking, rather this book is important as it is accessible to the casual student of the Holocaust. As with any literature, without an audience, it is purposeless. Politics has become more polarized as of late. Social media and scant histories have spread inaccuracies as to the truth of the past. It is important in this age that scholastic works be more widely cited than social media sites. Therefore, Roseman’s work is ideal to put forth facts regarding the infamous Wannsee Conference where the Final Solution was decided and authorized. Importantly, the one surviving copy of the minutes of the meeting are copied in the end of the text. It is imperative to understand the outcome of this meeting if one is to fully comprehend the events of the Holocaust.
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'''6)''' Richard Plant, ''The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals'' (New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1986).
Although three decades old, ''The Pink Triangle'' is an important work in that it deals with a non-Jewish group that was targeted for genocide. Plant adequately covers the homosexual community in Berlin prior to the Nazi rise to power. He then takes the reader chronologically through the effects of the eugenics programs on homosexuals, the sterilization of gay men, and eventual confinement in work and death camps. Interestingly, this book illustrates Hitler’s seemingly indifferent attitude towards homosexuality. Rather, Himmler was primarily responsible for enforcing Germany’s anti-homosexual laws. At the crux of Plant’s argument is that specifically male homosexuality was a deterrent to propagating a pure Aryan race. Two million German men were lost during the Great War and the Second World War was taking even more. Additionally, it was estimated that two million more of German men were homosexual, thereby causing a tremendous delay in the propagation of a pure race. This pronatalism thesis coupled with a detailed look at what the life of a homosexual was like under Nazi rule, makes this an important study of the Holocaust.
'''7)''' Laurence Rees, ''Auschwitz: A New History'' (New York: Public Affairs, 2006).
Rees produces an intricate and provocative look at the daily workings of the most infamous Nazi death camp. He not only details the horrific medical experiments conducted by the notorious Dr. Mengele, Rees also illustrates the daily routine of the camp. What makes this book so compelling is that the information is attained through interviews with both the survivors and the perpetrators of the crimes committed in the camp. Auschwitz became an efficient killing factory and still today is the most significant physical reminder of the Holocaust. This book is essential to any serious study of genocide, World War II, and the human condition.
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'''8)''' Gisella Perl, ''I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz'' (1948; repr., North Stratford, NH: Ayer Company, 2007).
Dr. Gisella Perl was a practicing obstetrician in Hungary when the Second World War commenced. She was also Jewish. By 1944, she and her family (as was her entire village) were violently forced from their homes and transported to Auschwitz. ''I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz'' is a painful first-hand account of this brilliant physician’s actions during her time of imprisonment. As she was an OB/GYN, Dr. Mengele compelled her to be witness to and participate in his medical experiments on twins and pregnant mothers. Further, she was allowed to act as a physician for the prisoners where she was required to make unthinkable choices.

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