Abstract

Driven by thirst after just arriving at Auschwitz, told he can’t even break off an icicle to suck, Primo Levi asks, “Why?” A guard answers, “There is no ‘why’ here.” Why did this happen? Why did the Holocaust happen? Why do other genocides continue to happen? Eric D. Weitz, in his book A Century of Genocide: Utopias of Race and Nation, suggests a nation’s attempt to create a utopian society leads to genocide. His answer to this unanswerable, almost unaskable question—why—is courageous and fruitful.

Highlights

  • Why did this happen? Why did the Holocaust happen? Why do other genocides continue to happen? Eric D

  • By examining events of four genocides, Weitz shows how a maniacal search for the utopian society leads to exclusion of those “others” who don’t fit in

  • The Soviets tried to obliterate their moneyed classes to create a proletarian society, the Cambodians tried to obliterate the educated and professional classes to create a classless society, the Serbs tried to eliminate all other ethnic and religious groups to create an exclusively Serbian nation, and the Germans tried to eliminate Jews, Gypsies, and the physically and mentally impaired to create a society of supermen

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Summary

Introduction

Why did this happen? Why did the Holocaust happen? Why do other genocides continue to happen? Eric D. A Century of Genocide: Utopias of Race and Nation* Why do other genocides continue to happen?

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