The Bugs Are Burning: The Role of Eastern Europeans in the Exploitation, Subjugation, and Murder of Their Jewish Neighbors During the Holocaust

Contrary to popular belief, Germany was by no means the sole perpetrator of the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust.The introduction of German anti-Jewish activities proved cathartic for many eastern Europeans who quickly felt empowered to act upon their own anti-Jewish inclinations without fear of reprimand or punishment. Many became intoxicated with their imagined mastery over their helpless Jewish neighbors, a formula certain to promote increased indecency and an avenue by which to acquire Jewish possessions. Collusion came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Much to the relief of thousands of eastern Europeans, history has seen fit to focus much of its attention on the primacy of German guilt relative to the Holocaust, and often little, if any, on their own participation. Involvement in the extermination of well over a million Jews by eastern European collaborators demands more than a parenthetical glance. The Bugs are Burning offers the reader a more detailed, rigorous introduction to this most sordid chapter of Holocaust history.