No one has ever posed a sat­is­fac­to­ry expla­na­tion for the extreme inhu­man­i­ty of the Holo­caust. What enabled mil­lions of Ger­mans to per­pe­trate or con­done the mur­der of the Jews? In this illu­mi­nat­ing book, Thomas Kühne offers a provoca­tive answer. In addi­tion to the hatred of Jews or coer­cion that cre­at­ed a geno­ci­dal soci­ety, he con­tends, the desire for a unit­ed ​“people’s com­mu­ni­ty” made Ger­mans con­form and join togeth­er in mass crime.

Explor­ing pri­vate let­ters, diaries, mem­oirs, secret reports, tri­al records, and oth­er doc­u­ments, the author shows how the Nazis used such com­mon human needs as com­mu­ni­ty, belong­ing, and sol­i­dar­i­ty to forge a nation con­duct­ing the worst crime in history.