The Origins of the Final Solution

A chilling historical book exploring the truth behind the most horrifying act of evil in modern history- the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler's 'final solution' to winning the Second World War and achieving world domination. This is the authoritative book on the darkest act of Hitler's Third Reich, and is a must-read for fans of Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Schindler's List and anyone with an interest in Nazi policies during WWII. The Origins of the Final Solution is the most detailed, careful, and comprehensive analysis to date of the descent of the Nazi persecution of the Jews into mass murder- the Holocaust. Arguing that genocide was not a preconceived plan but rather a discovered possibility, Christopher Browning explains how Hitler's decision to murder the Jews en masse emerged in stages and by a process of elimination that gradually foreclosed plans for their expulsion from Europe. Only in the interval between late September and late October 1941 did the desire to "remove" the Jews intersect with the discovery of acceptable means of killing them on a large scale and with the euphoria of expected victory in Russia, all of which followed on from two years of 'race war' and 'racial imperialism' in eastern Europe that prepared 'ordinary Germans' for this fateful task.

About the Author :
Christopher Browning is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has written a number of modern history books, including Ordinary Men- Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland (1992); The Path to Genocide (1992); The Final Solution and the German Foreign Office (1978) and Nazi Policy, Jewish Labour, German Killers (2000).

Review :
Sensitive and nuanced, this is a fine piece of synthesis and analysis Superb . . . [Browning] has created an eloquent, painstaking narrative of how the Final Solution evolved This is a book of exceptional quality - The work of a historian at the peak of his powers, a magisterial study, a profound analysis of how the darkest chapter in human history could come about This magisterial work... An unrivaled account of how the Nazi leadership ended up with a policy of industrialized mass murder of Jews - Probably no one is better qualified for this task than Christopher Browning. Browning is persuasive because he marshals his evidence with unrivalled skill and writes with awesome clarity. To seek an answer to "why", we have first to grasp "how" and pick our way down the track which leads...from "Expel to Exploit to Exterminate". On that journey, this book is the best guide. A winning combination of forensic precision with the historian's skill of telling a story clearly and powerfully... A demonstration of what good history is about