Lethal Elites

Using a sociological and historical approach, the authors seek to highlight and assess the ways in which the influence, training, and expertise of elites were used in service to the genocidal agenda of the National Socialist Regime. The roles played by these elites have often been overshadowed by the perception that the Holocaust was largely a crime carried out by ill-educated thugs and mobs acting on nationalistic hysteria and xenophobic prejudice. While there are examples of such violence, this book clearly illustrates that rank-and-file perpetrators were largely organized and set in motion by highly educated and influential professionals who not only participated in the persecution and victimization of targeted groups, but who were also instrumental in conceiving, organizing, justifying, persuading and legitimizing the policies and practices of persecution and extermination.