...
His premise is that the origins of the Holocaust were rooted in the specific anti-Semitism found in Germany in the decades and centuries before World War II.
....
Aly (who is not Jewish) seeks to prove his theory by studying only pre-Holocaust history, and tracing how the German people’s envy and hatred of Jews led directly to the Holocaust.
Since Aly knows that hindsight is 20/20, he only uses sources from before 1933 – and his finds are incredible. He cites various authors in the 1800s who seem to presage the Holocaust – both anti-Semites and those who supported the Jews, but saw the inevitable tragedy that was to come.
Aly argues that envy, the crassest motivation of all, was at the heart of the Holocaust. Remarkably, he quotes many anti-Semites of the period arguing that Jews were, in fact, superior to the Germans in their intellectual ability, love of education, and willingness to engage in hard work to forge successful careers. This, the anti-Semites claimed, was exactly the reason that Germany needed to limit the ability of Jews to have the freedom to compete in German universities, businesses, and politics. According to Aly, Germans were jealous of the Jews and wanted the money, success, and influence they had achieved; and the Nazis took it all in the most horrific of ways.
...
Why the Holocaust Occurred in Germany, and Why So Few Resisted
Quote
