Contexts: origins, comparisons, entaglements

The Cambridge History of the Holocaust offers a comprehensive and innovative overview of the complex field of Holocaust history from a variety of interpretive perspectives. The first volume begins with essays outlining the evolution of Holocaust historiography and the central conceptual and methodological questions facing historians. Further chapters provide insights into the longer-term causes and contexts of the Holocaust, before focusing on its immediate pre-history. The volume examines Holocaust archives, race-thinking and eugenics, violence in Weimar Germany, Hitler and Nazi ideology, and the implementation of antisemitic policies in the run up to the Second World War. Its ambitious coverage provides an unparalleled overview of the development of the policies that created the conditions necessary for the Holocaust to take place.