Legislating the Holocaust: The Loesener Memoirs and Other Documents

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Summary: A stark and revealing insight into the banality of evil
Review: Ably translated by Carol Scherer and edited by Karl Schleunes, Legislating The Holocaust: The Bernhard Loesener Memoirs And Supporting Documents is the direct, recorded testimony of Bernhard Loesener. This is the man who personally drafted much of the legislation that disenfranchised and dehumanized the Jews of Nazi Germany. He also kept the minutes of inter-ministerial conferences concerned with the "Jewish Question." In 1950, Bernhard Loesener penned a memoir in which he sought to explain and justify his actions, as well as professing his horror of the Final Solution to which he so thoroughly and directly contributed. First published in 1961, Loesener's memoir has never appeared in English until now. Also included are an introduction and lengthy notes by editor Karl A. Schleunes, as well as Loesener's testimony before the Nuremberg Tribunal. An invaluable contribution to Holocaust studies and reference collections, Legislating The Holocaust is a stark and revealing insight into the banality of evil, and the bureaucratic mechanics of facilitating mass murder.