ABSTRACT
This chapter develops what might be termed a natural history of studying Holocaust on a singular people in a certain time and place. The measure of a civilization is its promulgation of life or its promotion of death. This becomes a continuum for the study of human beings. In this stage, people working in this area of Genocide Studies arrive at a unity of purpose. The force of Nazi extremism "on the ground" is demonstrated by the death march in Koenigsberg of 7,000 young women and children in 1945—four days after the fall of Auschwitz to the Red Army. Ordinary people who show solidarity with the worst moment in Jewish history, from young children to old survivors are spared such self-imposed agonies. The chapter suggests that the Jewish community has been roiled between those in support and those in opposition to monetary compensation schemes for Holocaust survivors.
