The Holocaust: Memories, Research, References has been simultaneously copublished as The Reference Librarian, Vol. 29 No. 61/62. It represents both an impressive guide through the resources available and a detailed evaluation of materials covering the Holocaust. As the subtitle suggests, the book is divided into three parts ‐ Memories, Research and References ‐ each part being a collection of essays by assorted academics, historians, librarians and teachers.
The contributors of the essays are keen to demonstrate an awareness of the emotional dimension surrounding the Holocaust. A constant theme throughout the book is the need for approaching the subject of the Holocaust with an appropriate degree of compassion, respect and sensitivity. The essays are alive with selections and quotes from diaries, autobiographies, memoirs and letters, as well as selections from novels, poems, reports, documents, articles and studies. The focus on the diversity of primary source materials is one of the underlying strengths of the book. Much of the secondary source material considered tends to be specialist books and publications suitable for the academic, graduate researcher or historian.
Many of the essays deal in some detail with the huge amount of documentary evidence generated by the administrative bureaucracies not only of Nazi Gemmany but Axis and Allied countries alike, and neutral countries, in particular Switzerland. Some of this material is evidence of the pragmatic complicity that some governments, banking and industry were engaged in during the Holocaust. Some essays provide detailed advice and guidance for teachers; however, whilst the general principles of approach to the subject matter can be discerned from these, they are specifically aimed at American teachers addressing the requirements of US school syllabuses.
The Holocaust is an impressive work of reference, being not only detailed and comprehensive but sustaining a high intellectual calibre throughout its 25 essays. However, its concentration on resources which are available in the USA and Canada restrict the book’s usefulness outside North America to some degree. Nevertheless, this would probably not deter the professional specialist, historian or student from finding this a thoroughly useful book.
