Why did the Holocaust happen, the murder of millions of Jewish people during National Socialism? Peter Hayes is the first historian to place the question of why at the center of a book. Hayes spans the spectrum from the origins of anti-Semitism to the punishment of Nazi criminals after 1945. In doing so, he provides a clever and precise overview of the annihilation of European Jews. An impressive book that will be indispensable in the future. "The book reflects my belief that the Holocaust, like any other human experience, is explainable, even if that is not easy." Peter Hayes.