Nazi Europe and the Final Solution

It was in Europe that the Cold War reached a decisive turning point in the 1960s, leading to the era of détente. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), with its Final Act in Helsinki in August 1975, led to a rapprochement between East and West in the fields of security, economy and culture. This volume offers a pilot study in what the authors perceive as the key issues within this process: an understanding over the 'German problem' (balancing the recognition of the post-war territorial status quo against a formula for the eventuality of a peaceful change of frontiers) and the Western strategy of transformation through a multiplication of contacts between the two blocs. Both of these arguments emerged from the findings of an international research project on 'Détente and CSCE in Europe, 1966-1975', funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung and headed by the two editors.

David Bankier is the Incumbent of the Jonah Machower Chair of Holocaust Studies at the Institute of Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and also serves as the John Najmann Head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem. He recently edited The Jews Are Coming back. The return of the Jews to their countries of origin after WWII (Yad Vashem and Berghahn Books, New York- Oxford, 2005), and Secret Intelligence and the Holocaust (Yad Vashem and Enigma Books, New York, 2005). Israel Gutman is Professor Emeritus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and former Head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem. He currently serves as Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem. His latest publications include the co-edition of The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust (Poland, 2004); (Belgium, 2005); (Italy, 2006) and The Auschwitz Album: The Story of a Transport (Yad Vashem, Jerusalem and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Oswiecim, 2002).