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Scholarly Books
Scholarly Books
On Antisemitism: A World in History by Mark Mazower
Edited by historian Mark Mazower, this collection of essays traces the long-term evolution of anti-Jewish sentiment from antiquity to the modern era. It examines how antisemitism has shifted across different cultures and political landscapes, providing a global historical context rather than focusing on a single event.
Trials of the Diaspora by Anthony Julius
A magisterial 1,000-year history of antisemitism in England. Julius identifies four distinct strands: medieval violence (the birth of the "blood libel"), literary tropes (from Shakespeare to Dickens), social "gentlemanly" prejudice, and contemporary anti-Zionism.
Europe Against the Jews, 1880–1945 by Götz Aly
This book presents a rigorously researched account of how antisemitism across Europe—not just in Nazi Germany—laid the groundwork for the Holocaust, driven by economic envy, nationalist fervor, and widespread complicity. Aly argues that the genocide’s scale and speed were made possible by pan-European collaboration, revealing a chilling convergence of social resentment and state-sponsored exclusion.
Russians, Jews, and the Pogroms of 1881-1882 by John Doyle Klier
This book offers a deeply researched account of the anti-Jewish violence that swept the Russian Empire, analyzing its causes, the varied responses from Jewish and non-Jewish communities, and the state's role in managing the crisis. Drawing on extensive archival sources, Klier dispels the myth of official complicity and presents the pogroms as a turning point in Russian Jewish history and imperial policy.
The Jews in Poland and Russia by Antony Polonsky
a monumental three-volume history that chronicles the social, political, and cultural evolution of Jewish communities across Eastern Europe from the 14th century to the post-Communist era. Drawing on extensive archival and scholarly sources, Polonsky explores themes of religious transformation, modernization, persecution, and resilience, revealing how these communities shaped—and were shaped by—the shifting landscapes of empire, war, and ideology.
The Destruction of the European Jews by Raul Hilberg
The seminal work that brought widescale recognition of the genocide of European Jewry during WWII and founded holocaust studies as an academic field. The first edition was published in 1961 while the latest edition was released in 2003. The author draws upon impressive swaths of written documentation to paint a clear picture of the systematic, ideological and bureaucratic processes that precipitated the Shoah.
Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning
A study of holocaust perpetrators focusing on the Reserve Police battalion 101 of the German order of the Police which was responsible for the mass shootings and roundups of Jews. Browning argues that most of the perpetrators of these crimes were not fanatics but rather ordinary middle-aged working class men. Supports the theory that ordinary people in group settings subject to social pressures will commit atrocities that they would never commit from their individual volition.
Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland by Jan T. Gross
A study of the massacre in Jedwabne Poland on July 10 1941 in which the non-Jewish half of one town murdered practically all of their neighbors in the Jewish half (1600 killed) leaving only seven survivors. The murderers in this case were not Nazi killing squads from an invading Germany but Polish neighbors who knew their victims well.
Cursed: A social portrait of the Kielce Pogrom by Joanna Tokarska-Bakir
A study of the 1946 Kielce pogrom in which survivors of the holocaust living in Poland were murdered when “the factories of the city were closed” so that workers could participate in a mob attack on the city's Jewish community – composed entirely of holocaust survivors. Widespread instances of systematic anti-Jewish violence after the holocaust drove an exodus of survivors to Israel as well as the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer by Bettina Stangneth
A critical reexamination of Adolf Eichmann’s defense testimony in a Jerusalem courtroom which portrayed the archetypical holocaust perpetrator as a small-time bureaucrat following orders and acted as the bedrock for Hanna Arendt’s theory on the “banality of evil”.Bettina Stangneth demonstrates with recently uncovered materials that the “banality of evil” was a facade employed by Eichmann in an attempt to fool his accusers and victims and one that was ultimately successful on people like Arendt.
In the midst of civilized Europe: The 1918-1921 Pogroms of Ukraine and the Onset of the Holocaust by Jeffrey Veidlinger
For many Ukrainian Jews, the Shoah was simply the culmination of decades of anti-Jewish violence which were primarily manifested in the form of escalating waves of pogroms that began after the assassination of czar Nicholas II in 1881. These pogroms were particularly bloody and widespread during the period of 1918-1921 in which over 100,000 Jews were murdered by civilians and soldiers alike. Using witness testimony, trial records, this work shows how the episodes of 1918-1921 primed Ukrainians from a wide range of backgrounds to collaborate with the Nazis in the annihilation of the 1940s.
The Farhud: Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance and the Holocaust by Edwin Black
A study of the 1941 mob attack on the Iraqi Jewish community instigated by Nazi propaganda and false claims of Jewish atrocities against Arabs in Palestine. The Farhud and subsequent antizionist and antisemitic violence ultimately led to most Iraqi Jews immigrating to Israel after WWII and ending the 2700 year history of Jews in the land where the Talmud was written. This book focuses on the collaboration between Nazis and Arabs during WWII fueled by a common interest of anti-zionist and antisemitic Jew hate, the German need for oil, and the desire to expel British colonial power which was manifested in the Farhud and direct collaboration between the Mufti of Jerusalem and Hitler.
Memoirs and Biographies
Memoirs and Biographies
If This Is a Man (also published as Survival in Auschwitz) by Primo Levi
A foundational work of Holocaust literature, this memoir by an Italian-Jewish chemist describes his ten months in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Levi provides a calm, diagnostic look at the daily struggle for physical and spiritual survival, focusing on the preservation of humanity in a place designed to destroy it.
Night by Elie Wiesel
This autobiographical account follows a young Elie Wiesel through the horrors of the Auschwitz and Buchenwald camps. The book is a stark, powerful witness to the loss of family, the struggle with faith, and the terrifying depths of human cruelty, serving as a pillar of Holocaust remembrance.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Written by a psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, this book explores how humans find purpose even in the most dire suffering. Frankl recounts his experiences in Nazi death camps to introduce "Logotherapy," arguing that our primary drive is not pleasure, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.
The Escape Artist: the man who broke out of Auschwitz to warn the world by Jonathan Freedland
This biography recounts the daring escape of Rudolf Vrba from Auschwitz in 1944, and his subsequent efforts to inform the world about the Holocaust. Freedland highlights Vrba’s courage and the impact of his warnings amid the horrors of the Nazi genocide.
The Last Consolation Vanished: The Testimony of a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz by Zalmen Gradowski
The journals of Zalment Gredowski, a Sonderkommando (special squad) prisoner at Auschwitz charged with preparing gas chamber victims for their deaths and disposing of their bodies. Zalmen documents in hauntingly beautiful writing the Jewish response to unspeakable tragedy and the bestial level that “civilized” people can sink to when they demonize the other. Zalmen died in a Sonderkommando revolt in 1944 but he buried his notebooks so that they were eventually discovered by liberating Soviet forces.
Museums
Museums
Located in Washington, D.C., this museum serves as the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. It provides a vast online archive of historical artifacts, photographs, and educational resources designed to document the history of the Holocaust and promote the study of genocide prevention today
Originally founded by Steven Spielberg, this foundation houses the Visual History Archive, one of the largest collections of digital video testimonies in the world. It features over 55,000 eyewitness accounts from survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides, preserved for education and future research.
Based in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem is the world’s ultimate source for Holocaust education, documentation, and research. Its resources include the "Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names" and extensive archives that honor the "Righteous Among the Nations"—non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
The educational arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the MOT is a "human rights laboratory" that challenges visitors to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts. It focuses heavily on the dynamics of racism and antisemitism in America and features immersive exhibits on global human rights.
Founded by a community of survivors in response to a neo-Nazi march attempt in the 1970s, this museum is the second-largest of its kind in the US. It is famous for its "Take a Stand Center," which uses interactive 3D holograms of survivors to allow visitors to "ask" them questions about their experiences
This center uniquely explores the 20th-century history of genocide with a dual focus on the Holocaust and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It examines the connections between these events and contemporary human rights issues in South Africa, such as xenophobia and "othering."
Located on the site of the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, this museum serves as a solemn global symbol of the Holocaust. It preserves the physical remains of the camp—including gas chambers and barracks—as a permanent warning to humanity.
Movies
Movies
Directed by and starring Jesse Eisenberg alongside Kieran Culkin, this "dramedy" follows two mismatched cousins who reunite for a Jewish heritage tour through Poland to honor their late grandmother. The film explores the friction between their modern personal struggles and the staggering weight of their family’s Holocaust history.
A chilling, Oscar-winning film by Jonathan Glazer that depicts the domestic life of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, and his wife Hedwig. They strive to build an idyllic "dream life" for their family in a house and garden located directly on the other side of the camp wall, where the horrors are heard but never seen.
Based on the diaries of Etty Hillesum, this project (recently adapted into a 2025 series and a long-running one-woman play) follows a young Jewish woman in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. It documents her profound spiritual awakening and radical commitment to "not hate" even as the world around her descends into brutality.
A landmark PBS/BBC documentary led by historian Sir Simon Schama. Marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camps, Schama travels across Europe—from Lithuania to the Netherlands and finally to Auschwitz—to confront the enormity of the Holocaust as both a historian and an 80-year-old Jewish man.
Directed by Claude Lanzmann, this nine-hour masterpiece is considered the definitive cinematic documentary on the Holocaust. Eschewing archival footage, Lanzmann uses only contemporary interviews with survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators, focusing on the "machinery of death" and the enduring presence of the past in the landscapes of the present.
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