Notes if the Book by Helen Fein in Yad Vashem Studies, Volume XIV

Quantitative Measurement of Features of the Holocaust: Notes on the Book by Helen Fein

Helen Fein in her book Accounting for Genocide seeks to find a reason for the differing extent of the Holocaust in various German-held regions in Europe. She writes that the specific character of each state and its population and it relations with the Jewish inhabitants must be examined. She postulates that there is a direct connection between prewar antisemitism and the outcome of the Holocaust. Weiss believes that Fein’s sociological–historical model is interesting but may have blurred her historical vision. A solution for the quantification of the historical data is still lacking.