These essays, written in the course of half a century of research and thought on German and Jewish history, deal with the uniqueness of a phenomenon in its historical and philosophical context. Applying the "classical" empirical tools to this unprecedented historical chapter, Kulka strives to incorporate it into the continuum of Jewish and universal history. At the same time he endeavors to fathom the meaning of the ideologically motivated mass murder and incalculable suffering. The author does not confine himself to a one-dimensional concept of research of the persecution and annihilation of the Jews in the "era of the Final Solution." His aim is broader: to present a multifaceted, integrative history, encompassing the German society, its attitudes toward the Jews and toward the anti-Jewish policy of the Nazi regime; as well as the Jewish society, its self-perception and its leadership. The book is based on both published and previously unpublished studies.

Otto Dov Kulka, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.