The Politics of Holocaust Research Raul Hilberg, Sources of Holocaust Research. An Analysis, Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2001, 204 pp. + index
Raul Hilberg’s new book is an excellent guide to the thought processes of one of the most important historians of the Nazi era. It is primarily a highly personal work of classification. When writing about documents and officialese, Hilberg is brilliant. At the same time, the book is of uneven value as a guide to locating, evaluating, and employing various sources. Hilberg is little interested in three-dimensional sources such as locations and artifacts, and is interested in photographs only for their evidentiary value. He also shows scant interest in sources that give varied expression to the Jewish experience. Still, by the end of the book, the reader gains an insight into how a great historian thinks and how history writing is achieved.