Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, historians have become both more accurate and more honest–fractionally more brave, one might say–about that 'other' cleansing of the regions and peoples that were ground to atoms between the upper and nether millstones of Hitlerism and Stalinism. One of the most objective chroniclers is Professor Timothy Snyder of Yale University. In his view, it is still 'Operation Reinhardt, ' or the planned destruction of Polish Jewry, that is to be considered as the centerpiece of what we commonly call the Holocaust, in which of the estimated 5.7 million Jewish dead, 'roughly three million were prewar Polish citizens.' We should not at all allow ourselves to forget the millions of non- Jewish citizens of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and other Slav territories who were also massacred. But for me the salient fact remains that anti- Semitism was the regnant, essential, organizing principle of all the other National Socialist race theories. It is thus not to be thought of as just one prejudice among many. Christopher Hitchens
About This Quote

The term "Holocaust" was originally used to describe the Nazi death camps where millions of Jewish people were killed due to their race. However, since that time many people have argued that it is now a misnomer because the term now encompasses the Jewish people as a whole. In this quote from Timothy Snyder, he uses the word anti-Semitism to refer to the belief that all Jewish people are evil and must be destroyed. This is a common belief among many people in today's world and has been a part of history for thousands of years.

But, as you will see in this quote, anti-Semitism was one of the primary organizing principles for Nazi Germany and indeed all other National Socialist race theories. It is thus not to be thought of as just one prejudice among many.

Source: Hitch22: A Memoir

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