Is the Holocaust Unique?

In essays written specifically for this volume, distinguished contributors assess highly charged and fundamental questions about the Holocaust: Is it unique? How can it be compared with other instances of genocide? What constitutes genocide, and how should the international community respond? On one side of the dispute are those who fear that if the Holocaust is seen as the worst case of genocide ever, its character will diminish the sufferings of other persecuted groups. On the other side are those who argue that unless the Holocaust's uniqueness is established, the inevitable tendency will be to diminish its abiding significance. The editor's introductions provide the contextual considerations for understanding this multidimensional dispute and suggest that there are universal lessons to be learned from studying the Holocaust. The third edition brings this volume up to date and includes new readings on the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides, common themes in genocide ideologies, and Iran's reaction to the Holocaust. In a world where genocide persists and the global community continues to struggle with the implications of international crime, prosecution, justice, atonement, reparation, and healing, the issues addressed in this book are as relevant as ever.

Alan S Rosenbaum

* Foreword, Israel W. Charny * 1. The Ethics of Uniqueness, John K. Roth * 2. Religion and the Uniqueness of the Holocaust, Richard L. Rubenstein * 3. From the Holocaust: Some Legal and Moral Implications, Richard J. Goldstone * 4. The Uniqueness of the Holocaust: The Historical Dimension, Steven T. Katz * 5. Responses to the Porrajmos: The Romani Holocaust, Ian Hancock * 6. The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Holocaust: A Comparative Analysis, Seymour Drescher * 7. The Armenian Genocide as Precursor and Prototype of Twentieth-Century Genocide, Robert F. Melson * 8. The Comparative Aspects of the Armenian and Jewish Cases of Genocide: A Sociohistorical Perspective, Vahakn N. Dadrian * 9. Stalinist Terror and the Question of Genocide: The Great Famine, Barbara B. Green * 10. The Holocaust and the Japanese Atrocities, Kinue Tokudome * 11. The Holocaust, Rwanda and the Category of Genocide, Jerry Fowler * 12. Hitler, Pol Pot, and Hutu Power: Common Themes in Genocidal Ideologies, Ben Kiernan * 13. Global Vision: Irans Holocaust Denial, Matthias Kuntzel * 14. The Promise and Limits of Comparison: The Holocaust and the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, Scott Straus * 15. Applying the Lessons of the Holocaust, Shimon Samuels * 16. The Rise and Fall of Metaphor: German Historians and the Uniqueness of the Holocaust, Wulf Kansteiner * 17. Uniqueness as Denial: The Politics of Genocide Scholarship, David E. Stannard