Amherst Reads May 2011: Model Nazi by Professor Catherine Epstein

Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland
by Professor Catherine Epstein

"Drawing on German and Polish sources, Epstein is the first Western historian to have written a biography of this major war criminal... Our gratitude to [her] for bringing this sordid life to our attention." -- Jewish Book World

• Learn more about the author (view faculty profile)
• Read a message from the author
• Listen to the interview with Catherine Epstein and William McFeely '52
• Read a Q&A with the author in the Winter 2011 issue of the Amherst magazine
• Read an excerpt from Model Nazi

Model Nazi tells the story of Arthur Greiser, who, between 1939 and 1945, was the Gauleiter of Warthegau, an area of western Poland annexed to Nazi Germany. In efforts to Germanize Warthegau, Greiser introduced numerous cruel policies including the first and longest standing ghetto, the largest forced labor program, and the first mass gassings. Drawing on an array of German and Polish sources, Epstein shows how nationalist obsessions and personal insecurities shaped the policies of a man who held remarkable power in his Nazi fiefdom. Throughout, Epstein confronts a burning question of our age: why do individuals imagine genocide and ethnic cleansing to be solutions to political problems?