Holocaust: The Ignored Reality by Timothy Snyder in the July 16th NYRB will no doubt lead holocaust minimizers to proclaim 'See it wasn't just the Jews." But if one realizes that the 5-7 million Jews killed by the Germans was equalled by the "non-Jews killed by Germans, and Soviet citizens killed by the Soviet state," the horror of the killings of civilians by both "totalitarian powers" is beyond belief.
People will no doubt take one look at the essay's title and skip it, thinking they "already know it." But the statement that "Auschwitz is only an introduction to the Holocaust, the Holocaust only a suggestion of Hitler's final aims" should prompt closer attention.
It's on the web here.
Glad to see you call attention to this horrendous article. As usual, we are much more interested in atrocities committed against people with whom we closely identify, and whose descendants are among us, than against hordes of distant strangers. How many detailed descriptions do we read in the established press of the endless slaughter in Africa?
Posted by: John Whiting | July 27, 2009 at 09:53 AM