During the twelve years from 1933 until 1945, the concentration camp operated as a terror society. In this pioneering book, the renowned German sociologist Wolfgang Sofsky looks at the concentration camp from the inside as a laboratory of cruelty and a system of absolute power built on extreme violence, starvation, "terror labor," and the business-like extermination of human beings. Based on historical documents and the reports of survivors, the book details how the resistance of prisoners was broken down. Arbitrary terror and routine violence destroyed personal identity and social solidarity, disrupted the very ideas of time and space, perverted human work into torture, and unleashed innumerable atrocities. As a result, daily life was reduced to a permanent struggle for survival, even as the meaning of self-preservation was extinguished. Sofsky takes us from the searing, unforgettable image of the Muselmann--Auschwitz jargon for the "walking dead"--to chronicles of epidemics, terror punishments, selections, and torture. The society of the camp was dominated by the S.S. and a system of graduated and forced collaboration which turned selected victims into accomplices of terror. Sofsky shows that the S.S. was not a rigid bureaucracy, but a system with ample room for autonomy. The S.S. demanded individual initiative of its members. Consequently, although they were not required to torment or murder prisoners, officers and guards often exploited their freedom to do so--in passing or on a whim, with cause, or without. The order of terror described by Sofsky culminated in the organized murder of millions of European Jews and Gypsies in the death-factories of Auschwitz and Treblinka. By the end of this book, Sofsky shows that the German concentration camp system cannot be seen as a temporary lapse into barbarism. Instead, it must be conceived as a product of modern civilization, where institutionalized, state-run human cruelty became possible with or without the mobilizing feelings of hatred.

The attacks of September 11 and the resulting War on Terror have defined the first decade and a half of the 21st century. This text closely examines and analyzes the primary documents that provide the historical background of today's worldwide War on Terror. 9/11 and the War on Terror: A Documentary and Reference Guide provides readers with a rare opportunity to read and examine a variety of primary documents related to the September 11, 2001 attacks and the larger War on Terror—both in the United States and globally. Thematically organized into chapters, each document comes with an introduction and analysis written by an expert in the field that supplies the crucial historical background for the users of this title to learn about the complexities of the global War on Terror. This book showcases key primary documents that follow the trajectory of events of the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent War on Terror. Through the examination of various types of documents—such as speeches, diplomatic exchanges, military communications, and government reports—issued by opposing sides in the global conflict, readers will gain valuable insight into how these primary sources influenced the 21st-century world. Each primary source is prefaced by an introduction and followed by an analysis written by a scholar specializing in the field. The accompanying analyses enable readers to better gauge the role of diplomacy, military strategy, national security concerns, and ideological propaganda in the global War on Terror.

This book examines the use of presidential power during the War on Terror. Justin DePlato joins the debate on whether the Constitution matters in determining how each branch of the federal government should use its power to combat the War on Terror. The actions and words of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama are examined. DePlato's findings support the theory that executives use their own prerogative in determining what emergency powers are and how to use them. According to DePlato, the Presidents argue that their powers are implied in Article II of the Constitution, not expressed. This conclusion renders the Constitution meaningless in times of crisis. The author reveals that Presidents are becoming increasingly cavalier and that the nation should consider adopting an amendment to the Constitution to proffer expressed executive emergency powers.