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Auschwitz, the Allies and Censorship of the Holocaust

Michael Fleming author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:11th Mar '21

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Auschwitz, the Allies and Censorship of the Holocaust cover

An important contribution to the ongoing debate about what the Allies knew about the concentration camps during the Second World War.

The book surveys the extent of allied knowledge regarding Auschwitz and other concentration camps during the Second World War. It reveals how Allies were aware of what was happening at camps much earlier than previously thought, and how propaganda and information agencies in the West controlled and prevented its dissemination.What was the extent of allied knowledge regarding the mass murder of Jews at Auschwitz during the Second World War? The question is one which continues to prompt heated historical debate, and Michael Fleming's important new book offers a definitive account of just how much the Allies knew. By tracking Polish and other reports about Auschwitz from their source, and surveying how knowledge was gathered, controlled and distributed to different audiences, the book examines the extent to which information about the camp was passed on to the British and American authorities, and how the dissemination of this knowledge was limited by propaganda and information agencies in the West. In a fascinating new study, the author reveals that the Allies had extensive knowledge of the mass killing of Jews at Auschwitz much earlier than previously thought; but the publicising of this information was actively discouraged in Britain and the US.

'Michael Fleming has made a major contribution to the historiography of the Holocaust, and in the process has demonstrated formidable skill as a scholar as well as admirable moral courage … His book is undoubtedly one of the most important in the study of the Holocaust in the last twenty years.' Alexander J. Groth, Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs
'Michael Fleming's book is a meticulous investigation into what was known, could have been known, and was transmitted in what fashion about Auschwitz. He details the flow of information by looking at the documents smuggled, the informants debriefed, and the articles published in both the Jewish and Polish press abroad as well as the general press in Britain and the US, with the occasional analysis of the press of other Allied and neutral countries. … A meticulously researched and well-organized book, it raises many more questions than it could possibly answer; questions that will continue to preoccupy us.' Stefan Ihrig, European History Quarterly
'Michael Fleming's book is a critical addition to the historiography on the intelligence aspects of the Holocaust, particularly the ways in which reliable information concerning the murder of Europe's Jews - and, specifically, information on the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp - became known in Allied capitals and how the Allied governments disseminated and acted on this information.' Norman J. W. Goda, The Journal of Modern History

ISBN: 9781107633667

Dimensions: 227mm x 150mm x 20mm

Weight: 610g

416 pages