The Holocaust

The Holocaust is the term used to refer to what happened to millions of Jews (and others, including homosexuals, gypsies, and the disabled) at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators in World War II. Essentially, the Nazis espoused a philosophy and practice of racial and ethnic purity: they, under the leadership of Adolph Hitler, imprisoned, tortured, and executed people for no crime other than not fitting in with their ideals of what human beings should look like, behave like, or appear to be. Throughout the narrative, and in a variety of contexts, the Holocaust is referred to, both directly and through implication, as an example of a historic, factual event that could be used as a foundation or springboard for fictional narrative. Considerations and evocations of the Holocaust are at the center of the book's thematic exploration of the relationship between reality and...