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Ordinary Nazis
and the Holocaust
Mary Fulbrook
Oxford University
Press, USA
November 9, 2012 / ISBN 978-0199603305
NonFiction / History
Amazon
Reviewed
by Linda Morelli
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In A Small
Town Near Auschwitz, British historian
Mary Fulbrook tells the story of Udo Klausa, a Nazi civilian
administrator (Landrat) who was sent to the small town of
Bedzin, Poland, to implement Nazi policies on governing conquered
Polish lands after the Nazi invasion in September 1939. Bedzin,
only 25 miles from Auschwitz, was one of numerous venues the
Nazis used to carry out their policy of German colonization
through the forcible removal of Jews and the reduction of
the remaining Poles to sub-human status.
This novel discusses the middle layer of Bedzin administrators
and officials who implemented Nazi policies, enabled the preconditions
to the Final Solution in Bedzin, yet were not linked to the
consequences of their actions after the war. The author uses
Klausa to provide a total picture how the Nazi policies were
implemented and how various Bedzin civilian officials cooperated
with the SS executioners at Auschwitz. Fulbrook supplies many
first-hand accounts from survivors of life in Bedzin during
the Nazi occupation.
During the 1960s to 1980s, Germany conducted investigations
of these Nazi administrators like Klausa, however very few
were found guilty. The difficulty was the lack of concrete,
written evidence of their direct involvement in the murderous
acts. We can only speculate as to whether or not Klausa was
aware of the dreadful outcome of his participation in the
Nazi extermination effort.
I enjoyed A Small Town Near Auschwitz because it is an eye
opener. Mary Fulbrook has dealt with an aspect of Nazi government
about which little has been written: how mid-level functionaries
played a key role in implementing Nazi policies. This book
is also a chilling story of one of Hitler’s many civilian
enablers and I highly recommend it for World War II enthusiasts
and history lovers.
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