Final Solution
by David Cesarani
Macmillan, £30
The author, who died last year before his book was published, was research professor in history at Royal Holloway College and author of many studies in Jewish history. In this, his last book – almost his testament – Cesarani brings his own thoughtful and scholarly insights to a subject that has received a huge amount of attention since the war.
He challenges the generally accepted view that “Nazi anti-Jewish policy was systematic, consistent and even premeditated”, arguing that the National Socialists had no coherent or centralised policy until late 1938. Although a rabid anti-Semite, as were many in his cabinet, Hitler saw himself primarily as a war leader. The mission of the Third Reich was making war and thus to exorcise the shame of Germany’s defeat in World War I.
