How did it come about that a modern European state in the middle of the
twentieth century planned and carried out the industrially organized
mass murder of six million Jews, male and female, adults and children?
Making extensive use of Russian, German, and Polish archives, Aly has
provided the most exact and detailed reconstruction of the 'Final
Solution' yet achieved. As well as looking at the ideological imperative
in the Nazi state to 'solve the Jewish question' and at Hitler's own
role, Aly investigates the actions of those running the Reich Security
Headquarters in Berlin and of those numerous lesser figures on the
ground who were in the eye of the storm, grappling with the planning
failures inherent in Nazi resettlement plans and experiencing mounting
difficulties in trying to be rid of 'their' Jews. Aly illustrates,
through the evidence he builds into an overall mosaic, the lunacy of
Nazi race policy, and the variety of agencies that went into the gradual
shaping of a policy of all-out genocide.