Weaving together a number of disparate themes relating to Holocaust perpetrators, this book shows how Nazi Germany propelled a vast number of Europeans to try to re-engineer the population base of the continent through mass murder.

A comprehensive introductory essay, along with a detailed chronology, reference entries, primary sources, images, and a bibliography provide crucial information that readers need in order to understand Hitler’s plan, as carried out through legislation and armed violence. The book also demonstrates that both within Nazi Germany, and in other parts of Europe, all sectors of society played a role in planning, facilitating, and executing the Final Solution.

In addition to entries on nearly 150 perpetrators, the book includes 25 primary source documents, ranging from government memoranda to first-hand observations of Nazi killing activities to field reports from senior officers on the scene of Holocaust killing sites. Also included are excerpts from literary memoirs. Students and researchers will find these documents to be fascinating statements as well as excellent source material for further research.

Provides readers with insights into how, when, and in what capacity Holocaust activities took place before and during World War II

Shows the wide variety of ways in which Germans and collaborators in occupied countries sought to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the war to maximize Nazi anti-Jewish measures

Explains how those who came to be recognized as perpetrators were captured and faced justice at the end of the war

Works through the general notion of perpetration during the Holocaust, showing the extent to which the Holocaust was a multifaceted event involving hundreds of thousands across Europe