This book was written by a Jewish author and published by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem. It details the genocidal work of German Nazis and their many Ukrainian collaborators in the mass murder of Volhynia's Jews. It conspicuously refrains from the usual purely Judeocentric approach to the Holocaust by including discussion of the systematic genocide of at least 40,000 innocent Polish civilians by Ukrainian nationalist forces (first the Ukrainian collaborationist police, and then the UPA--the so-called Ukrainian Insurgent Army, whose slogan was "First the Jews, then the Poles"). Just as significant is what the book does NOT say. In contrast to the anti-Polish stereotypes of much popular-level Holocaust material, the book makes it clear that, with one alleged exception, pogroms of Jews conducted in 1941 (on the heels of the invading German army) were conducted by Ukrainians and not Poles. In contrast to the usual unsubstantiated sweeping accusations of the AK (the Polish Home Army) killing fugitive Jews, Spector makes it clear that such instances were rare (even if one assumes that they were unjustified by such things as Jewish robberies and murders of Polish villagers, etc.). Spector pointedly asserts that there were NO massacres of Jews conducted by the AK. To the contrary, Spector estimates that there were 200-300 Jews openly serving in the Volynian branch of the Polish Home Army (AK). He even nullifies his own argument about the relative infrequency of such participation by acknowledging what Poles have been saying all along--that relatively few Jews had sufficient military training (p. 285) to make them desirable volunteers in guerilla forces. Spector also spends considerable time in discussing how Jews were helped by Poles. I only wish that more books about the Holocaust showed such overall balance and objectivity!

As mentioned previously, this is a 3-volume condensation (in English) of a 30-volume Hebrew study. This is obvious if compared with some of the entries in the 1970s Encyclopedia Judaica.It is information not to be found anywhere else, particularly its entries of even the smallest European towns.I found one major fault, and several minor ones.The major fault, and one that I cannot understand, is the complete omission of any cities and towns of Bulgaria, even Sofia!One observation that is debatable, is how many volumes should have been published (and therefore made available to English-speaking readers) and, thus, if made into another volume or two, the obvious space/time limitation would not have been so obvious.Minor criticisms: Rumania, instead of Romania. Many inconsequential and trivial photos; the space could have been used for more detail in places where gross omissions occurred.It is obvious that there is no book like it. The Encyclopedia Judaica is superior for the towns/cities it mentions; but, since EJ covers much else, this set's coverage of so many more towns/cities, makes it unique and essential to anyone who desires this information. Another minor point: Why is Jewabne not mentioned?

Didn't even bother to read the book...the front cover is a picture the Russians made up and used as propoganda against the Germans...

It is chilling and eye-opening to read these reports written from the Eastern front. The violent work of the special death squads is chronicled in such a casual manner that the authors might just as well have been sending to Berlin a litany of materiel needs or a laundry list. The report from Kiev in late summer 1941, listing the tens of thousands killed at Babi Yar, remind one how casually these Nazi "supermen" seemed to go about their grisly business, at least at the outset of the mass killings. It also reminds one of how efficient the Germans were in keeping records--even of some of their worst genocidal atrocities. Good thing too, because these documents were instrumental in convicting a good number of these ordinary men who in the end persuaded themselves to commit extraordinarily horrific acts.