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This landmark work answers two of the most fundamental questions in history - how, and why, did the Holocaust happen? Laurence Rees has spent twenty-five years meeting survivors and perpetrators of the Third Reich and the Holocaust. Now, in his magnum opus, he combines largely unpublished testimony with the latest academic research to create the first accessible and authoritative account of the Holocaust in over three decades. Rees argues that whilst hatred of the Jews was always at the epicentre of Nazi thinking - and the Holocaust was the most appalling crime in history - what happened cannot be fully understood without considering the murder of the Jews alongside other Nazi plans to kill millions of non-Jews as well. He also reveals the inner machinations of the Nazi state and shows how there was no single decision to start the Holocaust; instead, a series of escalations cumulatively created the horror. Through a chronological, intensely readable narrative, featuring the latest historical research and enthralling eyewitness testimony, this is the compelling story of humanity's lowest point.