A key player in the annexation of Austria in 1938, Odilo Globocnik was made Gauleiter of Vienna for seven months until the Nazi party forced him to resign because of his abrasive manner, murky financial dealings, and blatant incompetence. Due to a close personal relationship with Heinrich Himmler, however, Globocnik was named to the seminal post of Lubin SS and Police Chief from 1939 to 1943, where he built and was in charge of some 150 camps, including the Majdanek camp and the killing centres of Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka.

The first comprehensive history of the Nazi concentration camps In a landmark work of history, Nikolaus Wachsmann offers an unprecedented, integrated account of the Nazi concentration camps from their inception in 1933 through their demise, seventy years ago, in the spring of 1945. The Third Reich has been studied in more depth than virtually any other period in history, and yet until now there has been no history of the camp system that tells the full story of its broad development and the everyday experiences of its inhabitants, both perpetrators and victims, and all those living in what Primo Levi called "the gray zone." In KL, Wachsmann fills this glaring gap in our understanding. He not only synthesizes a new generation of scholarly work, much of it untranslated and unknown outside of Germany, but also presents startling revelations, based on many years of archival research, about the functioning and scope of the camp system. Examining, close up, life and death inside the camps, and adopting a wider lens to show how the camp system was shaped by changing political, legal, social, economic, and military forces, Wachsmann produces a unified picture of the Nazi regime and its camps that we have never seen before. A boldly ambitious work of deep importance, KL is destined to be a classic in the history of the twentieth century.

Discusses where the death and concentration camps were located in Nazi Germany, the methods used to kill those sent to the camps, and what happened to those who were forced to work in the camps

Provides the story of the Holocaust survivor who at fifteen was placed in a Nazi concentration camp and was forced to overcome intolerable conditions in order to not become a victim of Hitler's Final Solution.

Auschwitz. Treblinka. The very names of these Nazi camps evoke unspeakable cruelty. Sobibör is less well known, and this book discloses the horrors perpetrated there.Established in German-occupied Poland, the camp at Sobibör began its dreadful killing operation in May 1942. By October 1943, approximately 167,000 people had been murdered there. Sobibör is not well documented and, were it not for an extraordinary revolt on 14 October 1943, we would know little about it. On that day, prisoners staged a remarkable uprising in which 300 men and women escaped. The author identifies only forty-seven who survived the war.Sent in June 1943 to Sobibör, where his wife and family were murdered, Jules Schelvis has written the first book-length, fully documented account of the camp. He details the creation of the killing centre, its personnel, the use of railways, selections, forced labour, gas chambers, escape attempts and the historic uprising.In documenting this part of Holocaust history, this compelling and well-researched account advances our knowledge and understanding of the Nazi attempt to annihilate the European Jews.Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

In the 12 years that the National Socialist Party was in power in Germany, upwards of 15,000 concentration and labor camps were established in the Greater Reich and the occupied countries to incarcerate all who were deemed enemies of the state. Contents includes: GERMANY Dachau, Oranienburg, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Ohrdruf, Flossenbürg, Neuengamme, Ravensbrück, Niederhagen/Wewelsburg, Bergen-Belsen, Mittelbau-Dora-Nordhausen, Arbeitsdorf. AUSTRIA Mauthausen. BELGIUM Breendonk, Mechelen: Caserne Dossin. CZECHOSLOVAKIA Theresienstadt. ESTONIA Vaivara/Klooga. FRANCE French Transit Camps, Natzweiler-Struthof, Wiesengrund/Vaihingen. HOLLAND Westerbork, Amersfoort, Herzogenbusch/Vught. ITALY Fossoli, Bolzano, Risiera di San Sabba. LATVIA Riga-Kaiserwald. LITHUANIA Kauen. NORWAY Falstad, Grini. UNITED KINGDOM Alderney, Channel Islands. BERLIN Wannsee Conference and Operation ‘Reinhard’. POLAND The Warsaw Ghetto, Majdanek-Lublin, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Chelmno, Gross-Rosen, Stutthof-Danzig, Krakow-Plaszow, Auschwitz , Birkenau, War Crimes Trials.

"Focuses on the major Nazi concentration camps as defined by Heinrich Himmler; the concentration system as it evolved; the actions, reactions, and feelings of the different groups of people involved in it; and the many phases of the process of dehumanization, destruction and death"--Preface.

'Unquestionably the most authoritative, balanced, readable, and meticulously documented introduction to the Third Reich.' - International History Review Sir Ian Kershaw is regarded by many as the world's leading authority on Hitler and the Third Reich. Known for his clear and accessible style when dealing with complex historical issues his work has redefined the way we look at this period modern European history. The Nazi Dictatorship is Kershaw's landmark study of the Third Reich. It covers the major themes and debates relating to Nazism including the Holocaust, Hitler's authority and leadership, Nazi Foreign Policy and the aftermath, including issues surrounding Germany's unification. The Revelations edition includes a new preface from the author.

“[A] historian’s carefully researched work, based on a vast array of sources, documenting Hitler’s and Himmler’s responsibility for the murder of European Jewry. The book details the planning and the improvisations, but emphasizes the former and Himmler’s fanatical hatred of the Jewish race as the determinative cause of the Holocaust. Dealing with a charged controversy, Breitman makes a powerful case that by March 1941 ‘the Final Solution was just a matter of time — and timing,’ i.e., that the Holocaust was not a reflex of Hitler’s fear that the war in Russia could not be won. Breitman argues that the Wannsee Conference merely ratified the plans and instructed other agencies to cooperate. Breitman records the instances of resistance or opposition, but notes that of course the cooperation of thousands (many still alive and never tried) and the complicity or silence of millions were needed to carry out the murder... the book concludes that Himmler’s ‘brutality was more learned than instinctive or emotional’ — a methodical murderer impelled by racist dogma.” — Foreign Affairs “Breitman’s book is decisively important... [It] should serve for years to come as required reading for all who wish to make sense of the Holocaust.” — Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, The New Republic “Looking nothing like the Nordic ideal he advocated, Heinrich Himmler, chief of the Nazi SS, was short, flabby and balding — his dull, pedantic exterior disguising the caustic, cowardly, Machiavellian, immensely cruel master of deceit within. Breitman... presents compelling evidence that the extermination of Jews was an early goal of Himmler, a Bavarian and lapsed Catholic, and his boss Adolf Hitler. Drawing on previously untapped German records, as well as other source materials... this engrossing, detailed study constitutes a powerful refutation of revisionist scholars who claim that Hitler did not plan the Final Solution in advance but instead improvised it out of either military or political frustration.” — Publishers Weekly “A truly path-breaking book, one of the few that will have a lasting impact on historical research of the period. It shows both the primacy of Hitler as the motivating force in the mass murder, and the way in which his initiatives were accepted and internalized by the SS, on the basis of ideology.” — Holocaust and Genocide Studies “Chilling, expert history.” — Kirkus “[A]n eminently sensible and judicious study that could well serve as a textbook on the topic.” — The Historian “Breitman’s research [is] meticulous. Especially valuable are his novel insights into the full and frequent communication between Himmler and Hitler, who, it is known, seldom signed an order. Mr. Breitman presents his arguments cogently.” — Michael H. Kater, The New York Times “An absorbing, important book [that] addresses the sequence of steps leading to the Final Solution.” — Financial Times “As Breitman persuasively demonstrates, the situation kept changing, but Hitler was always in charge, and his goals always included ridding his empire of the Jews.” — Los Angeles Times “Breitman is on the hunt for smoking guns. He finds the goods littered throughout Himmler’s speeches and conversations... Breitman shows that people knew.” — Washington Post Book World “The book is chillingly good on the uses and abuses of language to mask atrocity.” — Newsday “Breitman’s study is an important addition to [the] literature [on the origins of the Nazi genocide], one that provides the most likely scenario and settles important disputed questions... Breitman’s study is a major step forward in our understanding of how the Nazis initiated mass murder.” — German Studies Review “[An] important book... I much admire this work, particularly for its resourceful combing of primary material... there is much to learn from this book about the Final Solution, its origins, its implementation, and its hate-inspired architect” — The American Historical Review