Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 and events on the Eastern Front that same year were pivotal to the history of World War II. It was during this year that the radicalization of Nazi policy--through both an all-encompassing approach to warfare and the application of genocidal practices--became most obvious. Germany's military aggression and overtly ideological conduct, culminating in genocide against Soviet Jewry and the decimation of the Soviet population through planned starvation and brutal antipartisan policies, distinguished Operation Barbarossa-the code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union-from all previous military campaigns in modern European history.
This collection of essays, written by young scholars of seven different nationalities, provides readers with the most current interpretations of Germany's military, economic, racial, and diplomatic policies in 1941. With its breadth and its thematic focus on total war, genocide, and radicalization, this volume fills a considerable gap in English-language literature on Germany's war of annihilation against the Soviet Union and the radicalization of World War II during this critical year.
Alex J. Kay is the author of Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder: Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 1940-1941 and is an independent contractor for the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on War Consequences. Jeff Rutherford is assistant professor of history at Wheeling Jesuit University, where he teaches modern European history. David Stahel is the author of Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East and Kiev 1941: Hitler's Battle for Supremacy in the East.
Reviews
"The collection is an important contribution to [scholarship on] German wartime policies in Russia."--Alexander Prusin, associate professor of history, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
"There can be no doubt about the topic's significance. Seventy years after the beginning of `Operation Barbarossa,' misconceptions still prevail among the general public as well as among scholars about the nature and consequences of the German attack on the Soviet Union. . . . The editors of the volume attempt to cover a broad spectrum of German policies, decisions, and reactions as they unfold in and beyond what Christopher Browning has called the `fateful months' in the second half of 1941. All contributors to the volume are experts in their own right and represent a group of young scholars that has the potential to shape the future of the field."--Juergen Matthaus, historian
A superb collection that materially enhances our understanding of the broader Nazi effort in the East; anyone interested in the Soviet-German conflict or the Holocaust will profit from it. JOURNAL OF MILITARY HISTORY
"Ein wichtiges Buch, das den Forschungstrend zu Einzelstudien kennzeichnet." (An important book, which characterises the research trend towards individual studies.)" DAS HISTORISCH-POLITISCHE BUCH
[...] they offer-from different angles-new insights into one overarching theme: the radicalization of Nazi policies in the East in 1941. The volume is highly accessible and therefore recommended to the specialist as well as to the interested general reader or for classroom use. GERMAN HISTORY
Details
First Published: 20 Feb 2012
13 Digit ISBN: 9781580464079
Pages: 370
Size: 9 x 6
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: University of Rochester Press
Series:
Rochester Studies in East and Central EuropeSubject: East European Studies
BIC Class: GTB
Details updated on 24 May 2013
