The Holocaust Conspiracy: An International Policy of Genocide, by William R. Perl

The Holocaust Conspiracy
An International Policy of Genocide

The Holocaust Conspiracy
An International Policy of Genocide
By William R. Perl
Foreword by Senator Claiborne Pell
KTAV Publishing House, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-6028-0192-9

Reviewed by Herbert White - January 18, 2012

First published in 1989, Dr. William R. Perl's book, The Holocaust Conspiracy: An International Policy of Genocide has remained a compelling, and at times a controversial, book that asks some hard questions about the Holocaust. These questions, such as 'How could the Holocaust happen?', 'Why was so little action taken to stop the Holocaust?' and 'Could it happen again?' have never been satisfactorily answered. Perl (1906-1998) examines why answers to these questions have not yet been discovered, and the role that various governments have played in ensuring that answers are never uncovered, and why they have done so.

As Perl states in the introduction, historians are trained to answer questions about what happened and how it happened. They are not taught to examine the question of why something happened. In this book Perl tackles the thorny question of why the Holocaust happened. A Holocaust survivor from Austria, Perl had first hand knowledge of the atrocities committed by the Nazis. In writing this book he used not only his experiences as a survivor, but also his years of experiences as a lawyer and as an officer in the U.S. Army Intelligence Service, where he served in the Prosecution Branch of the War Crimes trials after World War II. Using his first hand knowledge, as well as available historical documents, Perl candidly outlines how various foreign powers, including the United States, Britain, Switzerland, and the Soviet Union, as well as the Vatican and the International Red Cross, were complicit in the Holocaust. He explains not only how, but why this was so.

Detailed and convincing, the The Holocaust Conspiracy is both shocking and eye-opening. Many of the 'plots' that he describes in this book I have read before, but some, such as the role played by the Soviet Union and various Latin American countries, I had not. Most important, this book asks and answers the question, how could so many people discarded their moral values and allow the Nazi genocide of the Jews and other 'undesirables' to be carried out. It makes no difference if they actively participated in the slaughter or if they purposely did nothing, or if they simply turned their heads and pretended not to see. By actively or passively participating, they allowed one of the most horrific mass murders in modern history to take place. Could the Holocaust happen again? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Which is why it is so important that everyone read this book. If you understand why something happened, as well as the facts surrounding what happened, you are better prepared to stop it from ever happening again. The Holocaust Conspiracy should be read not only by Holocaust scholars, but also religious and political leaders of every ilk, students, the average man or woman on the street, and anyone interested in preventing another event like the Holocaust from occurring.

Other books by Dr. William R. Perl include:

Operation Action: Rescue From the Holocaust

The Four-Front War: From the Holocaust to the Promised Land

Related Reviews:

IBM and the Holocaust, by Edwin Black
A compelling look at IBM's collaboration with Nazi Germany, and the impact which it had upon the course of the war, and more importantly, on the Holocaust.
War & Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, by Doris L. Bergen.
A brief, yet a detailed overview of the Holocaust, its causes, and its consequences. In addition to an analysis of the Nazi's quest to exterminate the Jews of Europe, this book also looks at other groups targeted for extermination by the Nazis including the disabled, Gypsies, communist, and others labeled as undesirable.

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