Drawing on research from various historians, the author offers opinions on how to define and explain the Holocaust, comparison to other genocides, and the connection between the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel.

What was the Holocaust? -- Is the Holocaust explicable? -- Comparisons with other genocides -- Overall interpretations: Zygmunt Bauman, Jeffrey Herf, Goetz Aly -- Overall interpretations: Daniel J. Goldhagen, John Weiss, Saul Friedländer -- Jewish resistance -- myth or reality? --Unarmed resistance and other responses -- The problem of gender: the case of Gisi Fleischmann -- Theology, or God the surgeon -- Rescue attempts: the case of the Auschwitz protocols -- From the Holocaust to the state of Israel -- Appendix: Speech to the Bundestag.