The Holocaust in History by Michael Marrus Analysis - Essay Example

of the of the Concerned History and Political Science 21 November The Holocaust in History by Michael R Marrus- a Book Review Michael R Marrus is a renowned Canadian historian specializing in the history of the Jews, France and the Holocaust. The Holocaust in History by Michael R Marrus is a well researched historiographical survey that has been well appraised and well regarded by the contemporary students of and the experts in history. Marrus’ approach towards the Jewish history is more broad based and holistic that tends to perceive the Holocaust as not merely a Jewish tragedy, but rather a tragedy for the whole world. The Holocaust in History is a book that affiliates to a broad historical perspective, which deserves a good and exhaustive reading by the students of history, if not by the lay people. Its goes without saying that Marrus did resort to an exhaustive research and documentation, to come out with this immaculately contrived introduction as to how the historians tend to write about the Holocaust. The approach of Marrus tends to emphatically highlight the need for demystifying the Holocaust, so that it may be studied as an event in the contemporary Western history. Hence in this book, Marrus has systematically summarized the available authoritative historical writings pertaining to the salient aspects of the Holocaust that are, the pivotal position and scope of anti-Semitism in Nazism, the role played by the Jewish resistance, Jewish leadership and bystanders, and collaborators. To put it simply, The Holocaust in History has less to do with the history of the Holocaust and is more about the historiography of the Holocaust. In The Holocaust in History Marrus does delve on the centrality of anti-Semitism to Nazism, but not in a very polarized perspective as preferred by many other historians. In the preface to this well written book, Marrus classifies the literature pertaining to Holocaust in two categories, one comprising of works drafted “as witness, or in commemoration, or as a sombre warning to future generations”; and the other that were meant to be “the modes of discourse, the scholarly techniques, and the kind of analysis used for all other historical issues.” Marrus’ work, The Holocaust in History primarily focuses on the second type of literature. In this book, Marrus primarily seems to be engrossed in the task of analyzing what the other historians have so far researched and written about the facts pertaining to the Holocaust, to dig out and analyze the details of what actually happened and how it happened, and to delve on the salient causes behind the Holocaust. Though it may certainly surprise the contemporary students and teachers of history, yet, it is a fact that significant parts of the literature that Marrus relied on while writing The Holocaust in History, ascribes to 60s or later times. This is so because Marrus believes that in the aftermath of the Holocaust, either there was a scant interest in the Holocaust, or much historical writing, scholarship and documentation about Holocaust was “ghettoized” and not balanced. It was only in the early 60s or later that the Holocaust as a topic of historical interest experienced a turning point. According to Marrus, the Holocaust claimed the lives of six million Jews, yet to limit the scope and magnitude of Holocaust to the Jewish sufferers would be an immense historical travesty (p.8). To arrive at a total and realistic relevance of the Holocaust, the historians also need to take into account the six million non-Jewish sufferers who also had to bear with the tyranny and consequences of the Holocaust (Marrus p.9). The Holocaust also claimed the lives of millions of Gypsies, Russian POWs, Spanish Republicans, Poles, Czechs, French and homosexuals (Fischel p.38). Though, it is different that the Eastern victims of the Holocaust received a different treatment as compared to the victims from the Western Europe, both from the historians and the Western political leadership. While unravelling these facts, Marrus brings to fore the selective application of research and analysis by the contemporary scholars on the Holocaust. Without being abjectly vicious, in a very circuitous way, Marrus comes down on the tendency of the contemporary historians to extend and facilitate selective interpretations and history of the Holocaust. In contrast, Marrus vies for a much broader study and interpretations of the Holocaust, thereby making Holocaust an essentially universal human tragedy rather than being a tragedy of the Jews only. While doing so Marrus evinces an inclination to offer some sort of a syntheses of the Intentionalist and Functionalist views on the history and scope of the Holocaust. Marrus approach towards historiography is practical and pragmatic that tends to analyze the responses and approaches of the varied stakeholders in the prevention and execution of the Holocaust from the vantage point of the times and circumstances in which they were placed. While writing on the approach of the neutral powers during the Holocaust, Marrus believes that in retrospect, it is extremely easy for the contemporary historians and the students of history to believe that one or other of them didn’t do much to save or rescue the victims of Holocaust. The contemporary historical understanding of the neutral powers in the context of the Holocaust is much flawed and short sighted (Marrus p.156). Having the advantage of a scholarly hindsight, today it is much easier for the historians to say that the defeat of the Nazi Germany and the fall of Hitler were inevitable (Neiwyk & Nicosia p.128). However, in the case of the powers those choose to stay neutral during (Neiwyk & Nicosia p.128). To the neutral powers like Vatican, Stockholm and Burn, things looked to be much different during the course of the war. To a great extent it is true that the allies contrived their plans and arrived at decisions while taking into consideration their priorities and tactical requirements, without succumbing to any fear of Nazi retaliation (Rubinstein p.6). Yet, it is also true that they were many a times constrained by their military concerns and the German manipulation and intransigence (Rubinstein p. 6). So, while accessing the possibility any successful rescue operations during the Holocaust, one ought to take into consideration as to how the things seemed at that time and what limiting factors were in place in the period when the Holocaust took place. In one’s quest for demystifying the Holocaust, in The Holocaust in History, Marrus shatters many myths prevalent regarding the anti-Semitism rampant in the II World War Europe (Marrus p.563). For instance many students of history do believe that anti-Semitism was rampant in the II World War Germany. However, Marrus debunks this myth by revealing that in the II World War Europe, France could be designated to be the most risky place for a Jew to settle down and work. Going by these facts, The Holocaust in History do qualifies to be labelled as an exhaustive appraisal of the large body of historical literature focusing on the Holocaust. Hence while drawing on the large body of historical literature pertaining to the Holocaust, Marrus tries to settle many questions that have troubled the contemporary students and teachers of history. While doing so, in a very non-controversial and frank way, Marrus tends to bring to fore the many controversial and disturbing questions as to the role of the Roman Catholic Church, the part played by collaborationist governments, the unconcern of the local populations and the onus of Jewish Ghetto leadership and the Jews themselves (Marrus p.30). It goes without saying that in The Holocaust in History , without being blatantly controversial and abjectly non traditionalist, Marrus gauds the readers to think about many salient issues associated with the reality of the Holocaust like the extent of passivity of the Jews in context to the Holocaust, the evolution of Nazi anti-Semitism into a pan-European killing machine, the role played by Hitler’s personal hatred of Jews in the Holocaust, the failure on the part of the allied forces to rescue Jews much before the end of the war, and the professed neutrality of the Vatican and many European powers. While going through the book one simply cannot help noticing the writer’s sensitivity and judiciousness while dealing with explosives topics that do have the potential to torture the memories. Drawing apt conclusions from the large body of Holocaust literature, Marrus somehow tries to settle the questions that have troubled the humanity for generations, by exploiting the tools facilitated by history, politics and sociology. The Holocaust tends to be one of the most written about and meditated upon event in the contemporary Western history. While considering the intense interest that could be attributed to this historical event, the history associated with it got much mystified over the decades. Marrus’ appeal lies in trying to demystify this salient period of the Western history, so as to present it as more of a historical event that requires as much rational analysis and emotively restrained interpretation, to facilitate a thorough and unbiased understanding. It goes without saying that this book do qualifies to be considered a must to read by any sincere student of the Western History. Works Cited Fischel, Jack R. The Holocaust. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998. Marrus, Michael. “The Nuremberg Trial: Fifty Years After”. American Scholar 66(4) Fall 1997: 563-564. Marrus, Michael. Holocaust in History. New York: Key Porter Books, 2000. Marrus, Michael. “Prisoners of their Office” Commonweal 137(9) 7 May 2010: 30. Neiwyk, Donald & Nicosia, Francis. The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. Rubinstein, William D. The Myth of Rescue. New York: Routledge, 1999. Read More