Auschwitz, the Allies and Censorship of the Holocaust

An important contribution to the ongoing debate about what the Allies knew about the concentration camps during the Second World War.

Michael Fleming (Author)

9781107062795, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 April 2014

418 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.71 kg

'Michael Fleming's book is a critical addition to the historiography on the intelligence aspects of the Holocaust, particularly the ways in which reliable information concerning the murder of Europe's Jews - and, specifically, information on the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp - became known in Allied capitals and how the Allied governments disseminated and acted on this information.' Norman J. W. Goda, The Journal of Modern History

What was the extent of allied knowledge regarding the mass murder of Jews at Auschwitz during the Second World War? The question is one which continues to prompt heated historical debate, and Michael Fleming's important new book offers a definitive account of just how much the Allies knew. By tracking Polish and other reports about Auschwitz from their source, and surveying how knowledge was gathered, controlled and distributed to different audiences, the book examines the extent to which information about the camp was passed on to the British and American authorities, and how the dissemination of this knowledge was limited by propaganda and information agencies in the West. In a fascinating new study, the author reveals that the Allies had extensive knowledge of the mass killing of Jews at Auschwitz much earlier than previously thought; but the publicising of this information was actively discouraged in Britain and the US.

Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. Censorship, self-censorship and the discursive environment
3. The Polish government in exile in London
4. Intelligence about Auschwitz: November 1940–February 1943
5. British suppression of news of Auschwitz: March 1943–June/July 1944
6. Reassessing the significance of the Vrba/Wetzler report
7. Conclusion
Appendix 1. Information about Auschwitz to reach the West, November 1942–June 1944
Appendix 2. Archives and historians
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Jewish studies [JFSR1], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]