'the Good Old Days': The Holocaust as Seen by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders Chapter Summary & Analysis - Each time a victim was beaten to death they started to clap Summary

Each time a victim was beaten to death they started to clap Summary and Analysis

The second chapter, "Each Each time a victim was beaten to death they started to clap- pogroms in Kaunas and elsewhere in Lithuania" examines the notion that the early stages of the holocaust were not directly enacted by the Nazis but were rather a spontaneous demonstration of anti-Semitism by local populaces who were suddenly freed of repressive Soviet-Jewish rule. The opening photograph shows the infamous 'Death-dealer of Kaunas', his weapon, several victims, and a portion of his audience. The first document, "'Initially difficult to set a pogrom in motion'—Report by Stahlecker, head of Einsatzgruppe A", describes successful German efforts to arrange for local partisans in Kaunas, Lithuania, to perform pogroms. Anti-Semitism in Kaunas had been long established and formal persecution of Jews was carried out by the occupation Soviet government from as early as 1940; nevertheless, many Lithuanians were convinced that the Soviet occupation was caused by...
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