Did an American author "The Final Solution"?

[Atlanta Skins Fan]

OK: this is a serious, if explosive, question. Please bear with me as I try to explain.

We all know the chilling shorthand for Nazi Germany's slaughter of Jews: "The Final Solution." Most people would probably say the expression was coined by Hitler, but oddly there survives no documentation tying Hitler to either the term or any order for Jewish genocide. (This doesn't mean he didn't order it, and this is not an apology for Hitler, for whom I have the same contempt and horror as others here.)

The accepted origin of "The Final Solution" among most historians is this July 31, 1941 letter from Goering to Heydrich:

To the Chief of the Security Police and the SD,

SS Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich

Berlin

In completion of the task which was entrusted to you in the Edict dated January 24, 1939, of solving the Jewish question by means of emigration or evacuation in the most convenient way possible, given the present conditions, I herewith charge you with making all necessary preparations with regard to organizational, practical and financial aspects for an overall solution (Gesamtloesung) of the Jewish question in the German sphere of influence in Europe.

Insofar as the competencies of other central organizations are affected, these are to be involved.

I further charge you with submitting to me promptly an overall plan of the preliminary organizational, practical and financial measures for the execution of the intended final solution (Endloesung) of the Jewish question.

Goering

Of note here, of course, is that up to this point, the Nazi strategy as summarized by Goering was "emigration or evacuation" of the Jews. Many historians take this letter to be code for genocide (perhaps it was), while some put the actual order later, while still others deny genocide as top-down strategy, but rather genocide by effect and practice in the camps and elsewhere. That's a subject by itself, but not mine here.

Hitler was famously, virulently anti-Semitic, and there is absolutely no question that Nazi Germany under his leadership pursued and escalated a systematic, racist oppression, dispossession, eviction and ultimate slaughter of countless European Jews.

My question here is: why did Hitler escalate from "mere" oppression, dispossession and evacuation of Jews, to a strategy of forcibly moving virtually all remaining Jews to concentration camps, there to die -- in short, to "The Final Solution"?

Could it possibly be because of Hitler's outrage about a book, written by an American and published in 1940 or early 1941, that argued for the extermination of the German race?

The book, Germany Must Perish!, was written by a Manhattan-born businessman, Theodore Kaufman, who was also chairman of a group that called itself the "American Federation for Peace."

From a modern introduction:

Kaufman's fervent proposal for the systematic sterilization of the entire German population was given respectful attention in the American press, including reviews in a number of newspapers. A review in the weekly Time magazine, March 24, 1941, called Kaufman's plan a "sensational idea."

Germany's propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels, seized with delight on the book. "This Jew [Kaufman] has done a disservice to the enemy," Goebbels privately commented. "If he had composed the book at my behest he couldn't have done a better job."

At his direction the German press played up Kaufman's call for genocide. A front page article about the book in the Berlin daily Der Angriff, July 23, 1941, appeared under headlines that called it a "Diabolical Plan for the Extermination of the German People" and a work of "Old Testament Hatred." Extracts also appeared, for example, in the nationally-circulated weekly paper Das Reich, August 3, 1941.

From the book itself:

This war is being waged by the German People. It is they who are responsible. It is they who must be made to pay for the war. otherwise, there will always be a German war against the world....

A final solution: Let Germany be policed forever by an international armed force?

Even if such a huge undertaking were feasible life itself would not have it so. As war begets war, suppression begets rebellion. Undreamed horrors would unfold.

Thus we find that there is no middle course; no act of mediation, no compromise to be compounded, no political or economic sharing to be considered. There is, in fine, no other solution except one: That Germany must perish forever from this earth!

Death to Germany

Sterilization is not to be confused with castration. It is a safe and simple operation, quite harmless and painless, neither mutilating nor unsexing the patient. Its effects are most often less distressing than vaccination and not more serious than a tooth extraction. Too, the operation is extremely rapid requiring no more than ten minutes to complete. The patient may resume his work immediately afterwards. Even in the case of the female the operation, though taking longer to perform, is as safe and simple. Performed thousands of times, no records indicate cases of complication or death. When one realizes that such health measures as vaccination and serum treatments are considered as direct benefits to the community, certainly sterilization of the German people cannot but be considered a great health measure promoted by humanity to immunize itself forever against the virus of Germanism.

... To achieve the purpose of German extinction it would be necessary to only sterilize some 48,000,000 ...

Book jacket review quotes included:

"A plan for permanent peace among civilized nations!”

-- Arthur Hays Sulzberger’s New York Times.

Worse, the American Jewish Committee endorsed the book. And the author, Kaufman, was Jewish.

Is it possible that this book, combined with Hitler's paranoia and loathing of Jews, drove Hitler and/or his lieutenants to their own "final solution"? Believing that the Jews were "out to get him" -- baldly stated in this blueprint for German genocide and its warm reception among some American Jews and the American media -- did Hilter only then cross the line from oppression to incarceration and genocide?

What's more, is it possible that the wide publication of this book and its message in Germany helped ordinary Germans to fall in line with Hitler against the Jews? Did we, through this book and praise for its message, help tip the balance?

By now you must be wondering, why the hell is ASF dropping this on us now? There is a reason or two.

First, I'm sick to death of war and justifications for war. Like Reagan, I support the strongest possible military: as a means to avoid war and intimidation by others. So many wars are fought for absolutely stupid reasons, and the people sending the men to fight them almost never bear the consequences. They make the order: other people -- thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions -- die.

This has been going on forever. I had the hope that we might emerge from such a history. Can we not find a way, somehow, to get along with the people of the world, and help them get along together?

My point here is, in every war, both sides rush to claim the high moral ground. We have the responsibility to avoid that game, to not start wars and justify our slaughter of others, to step back from the precipice, to lower our voices, to stop making threats against our neighbors in this world. There is no high moral ground except peace and human decency. Americans cannot claim it; Germans can't claim it; Jews can't claim it; Christians can't claim it; Muslims can't claim it; and so on -- no one race or nation has ever had a monopoly on the moral high ground.

Second, recall that Kaufman was also chairman of a group that called itself the "American Federation for Peace." His book received delighted reviews by such media bastions as Time and The New York Times, as well as the American Jewish Committee. Of course, most of the world was at war by this time (except the U.S.), so one must understand the climate of fear and loathing of yet another global war with Germany as aggressor.

But nonetheless, from the spooky name of Kaufman's organization (American Federation for Peace), to the American media and public support for the book, to the stupefying call for mass extinction of a race/culture via sterilization -- there are sobering similarities to our current "War on Terror." Our leaders, in their strategy documents and speeches, have set forth plainly that they intend to dominate the globe by force if necessary, eliminate any emerging rival, export our culture, develop gene-based biological weapons that can target races, incite regime changes from Iraq to China by force if necessary, and so on.

If you are a Muslim, this is a call for genocide against your way of life, against any hope for power and status as a nation and as a people. The strategies and proposals are different, but they amount to a similar assault: America uber alles.

I have tried in many ways to show the monstrous arrogance of this administration's approach, a uniquely American blind utopian optimism ("American Federation for Peace") in which conquest and extermination of foreign peoples and cultures is confused with peace. But know this: all over the world, millions of people are turning their eyes to America, hearing our words and seeing our actions -- and something is changing in them. From dislike and disdain grows fear for survival; from fear, hatred; from hatred, fury; from fury, the will to kill; from the will to kill, genocide.

We know this already. It's already happened. Why are we doing this again?

The answer cannot be 9/11 on moral grounds. One cannot allow the brutal acts of 19 men, whoever sent them, to determine the fate of the world. We hold the power, not those 19 men and their invisible hand. We are strong to resist what they bait us to become: like them, mass murderers, and not what we know in our heart of hearts to be: people of decency and love and hope and dreams.

******************************

"The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loved to paint but is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices."

-- C.S. Lewis

[Riggo-toni]

ASF,

Puh-lease. The propaganda that good ol' Adolph never mentioned wiping out the Jews is pure bunk. He made a public speech to the Reichstag (I know this because I have seen footage of it on the History Channel) in which he declared,"If the Jews start another war in Europe, we will wipe them off the face of the Earth."

All this stuff neo-nazis and conspiracy theorists like to toss around about Hitler not being in the know is just plain silly; like the idiots I have to listen to who try and tell me how efficient the Nazis were, even though Britain produced twice as many armaments with only half the population.

[Atlanta Skins Fan]

Originally posted by riggo-toni

All this stuff neo-nazis and conspiracy theorists like to toss around about Hitler not being in the know is just plain silly

riggo-toni, this is off-point. I'm not arguing that Hitler wasn't in the know, but rather the reverse: that Hitler drove the extermination, and crossed the line with his paranoid reaction to a book and its warm reception, a book that argued for the extermination of the German race.

The bit you're referring to here is just the linguistic history of "the final solution", which is not in fact tied by surviving documents to Hitler. That's interesting to note, but only as trivia in following the history of genocide.

Thanks for the implied association with neo-nazis. I'm arguing against genocide and racial hatred, in case you failed to notice.

[fansince62]

ASf...copyright 1941?....isn't that a little late in the game?

[luckydevil]

:doh:, are you a Isolationist

[Riggo-toni]

Originally posted by Atlanta Skins Fan

riggo-toni, this is off-point. I'm not arguing that Hitler wasn't in the know, but rather the reverse: that Hitler drove the extermination, and crossed the line with his paranoid reaction to a book and its warm reception, a book that argued for the extermination of the German race.

The bit you're referring to here is just the linguistic history of "the final solution", which is not in fact tied by surviving documents to Hitler. That's interesting to note, but only as trivia in following the history of genocide.

Thanks for the implied association with neo-nazis. I'm arguing against genocide and racial hatred, in case you failed to notice.

ASF,

I apologize. It was the end of the day, and I didn't look as carefully through your post as I should have, and I clearly jumped the gun in my poorly thought out criticism. I never meant to associate your eccentric views with any kind of neo nazism or anything of that ilk. Only Iggles fan and an occasional Cowboy fan would be capable of such wickedness. While I don't agree with some of your conclusions, your premise here is somewhat thought-provoking and deserved a better examination than I gave it.

A point I meant to make, and did so extremely poorly, was that Hitler had alluded publicly to wiping out the Jews prior to war actually breaking out, thus also prior to the publication of the book you mentioned. The transition from slave labor to extermination was I believe more of a practical matter- the Nazis oppressing and exploiting the Jewish people as much as they could at each stage- as opposed to a reaction to external factors.

On a side note, the segregation or "ghetto-ization" of the Jews was in fact inspired by America's separate but equal laws for people of color, something which Hitler et al admired very much.

[The Sisko]

On a side note, the segregation or "ghetto-ization" of the Jews was in fact inspired by America's separate but equal laws for people of color, something which Hitler et al admired very much.

Hmmm. Now that's interesting. I had heard/read much of the prior discussion before, but I'm wondering how I missed this bit of info ??

[redman]

Ok ASF, your premise is that Hitler authorized the systematic murder of 8 million Jewish men, women and children because an American Jew wrote a book advocating essentially the same thing against Germans.

Does this even warrant a serious response?

[Johnny Punani2]

ASF = 1+1 = 576,232,132,121