soc.history.war.world-war-ii

Judt's thesis may ring true as to academic scrutiny, but popular
literature and film of the era, even if U.S. in origin, seems to
acknowledge the Holocaust. Perhaps one measure of popular attention is
the European distribution of the works of Leon Uris who deals with the
Final Solution in great detail. Anne Frank's story got lots of play.
And certainly any mention of the State of Israel and the wars in the
mideast must involve, in some way, the Holocaust. Mine is, of course,
a U.S. view.

It is entirely possible that the academic communities of Europe
ignored the Holocaust for a generation, but to what extent did this
few-thousand-member community examine recent events of any kind? They
may have been waiting for the rest of the story.

I understand that the Soviets downplayed the anti-semitic aspect of
Hitler's war. At Babi Yar outside Kiev, the memorial to thousands of
Jews murdered there described them as Soviet citizens and not as Jews.
To spend much time on the Final Solution would detract from the Soviet
message that the war was one of ideology, facism against socialism.

Dave Wilma
Seattle