Modernity and the Holocaust

An analysis of the sociological roots of the Holocaust, i.e. the extermination of ten million Europeans in Nazi concentration camps. Possibilities for preventing future genocides.

Bauman understands the Holocaust as a “Jewish tragedy”, but emphasises its specific features that distinguish it from all other genocides. He states that the Holocaust appeared and was carried out in our modern, rationalised and rationalistic society, at a high level of development of our civilisation and at the peak of human culture's achievements – but that is precisely why it is a problem of this society, this civilisation and this culture. The Holocaust is thus understood not “only” as a historical event, but as a historical milestone, as a testimony to the nature and character of our civilisation, to how human rationality has degenerated and for what purposes it has been used. Bauman's book places the Holocaust in the context of sociological analyses of racism, but goes beyond them by demonstrating the tragic dialectic of the “exceptionality and normality” of the Holocaust. Without moralising, the author shows how in the mid-20th century, Enlightenment rationalism came into sharp conflict with morality and found no way out.
Zygmunt Bauman's bibliography includes several dozen book monographs, but it is precisely the 1989 book Modernity and the Holocaust that is considered by the public (not just the academic community) and by the author himself to be a groundbreaking work: with this book, he became a world-renowned sociologist and an authority in the analysis of the late modern era. In 1990, the book was awarded the Amalfi Prize for the best European sociological work of the year. It has been translated into several dozen languages. Zygmunt Bauman wrote a special preface for the Czech edition.