The Holocaust in the Soviet Union : [recenzija]

Abstract

How does one produce a comprehensive, comprehensible history of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union? Taking on such a task imposes heavy demands on the historian, in terms of the choice and presentation of subjects and relevant facts, as no single volume can take everything into account. Generalizations and chronological boundaries cannot be precise, only approximations. Resorting to cliche´s is tempting, particularly in a synthesis covering territories as vast and diverse as the USSR. Furthermore, the course of events in the East is obscure to many Western laymen (and even some scholars), and the general knowledge full of stereotypes. Even in the former USSR many are not very familiar with the subject, since there the specifically Jewish tragedy of the Holocaust had long been euphemized as the murder of ‘peaceful Soviet citizens’.[...]