(Reviewer: Isaac Reznik, Vol. 72, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2017)
The late David Cesarani’s Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews 1933-1949 is a staggering and minutely detailed account of the defamation, violation and ultimately murder of the Jews by various parties during the 1930s and ‘40s. Cesarani’s account pulls no punches as it shines the light of truth on why so many innocent people were murdered and who they were. To his credit, he breaks boundaries by detailing how Jews sometimes fought, denounced and betrayed one another, which tells its own tale of misery. Cesarani argues that the Holocaust was not simply a case of antisemitism, though clearly that was a huge factor; it also stemmed from the war itself. Hitler and the Nazis were always deeply antisemitic but they rarely had clear long-range plans; policies were created on what was often an ad hoc basis.
I have an extensive library on the Holocaust/Shoah (or whatever one wishes to call one of the most horrific and cruel episodes in human history). It has fascinated me ever since I was young boy when, at the age of nine years, I heard the late Rabbi Ephraim Oshry zt”l, speak at the Jeppe shul on his experiences in the ghettos. It took me more than four weeks to finish Cesarani’s book, and it is hard to summarize or even give a solid impression about a study so large and complex. I don’t imagine that anyone who reads this review will want to read the book and would not recommend doing unless one has a special interest in the subject. This is not a casual or holiday read and requires a strong stomach.
David Cesarani, Research Professor of History at the Royal Holloway University of London, died at the age of 58 in October 2015. His examination of the Holocaust is depressing, frightening, essential and a major work of scholarship. Let it stand as a warning to all of us, as well as an appropriate memorial to its author.
Final Solution – The Fate of the Jews 1933-1949 by David Cesarani, first published by Macmillan, 2016,1056pp.
Isaac Reznik is a well-known Johannesburg journalist, historian and Jewish communal worker, with a specialized knowledge in the history of South African Jewry, in particular its religious leadership. He is a member of the editorial board of Jewish Affairs.
