Henry Friedlander facts for kids

Henry Egon Friedlander (born September 24, 1930 – died October 17, 2012) was a German-American historian. He was Jewish and studied the Holocaust. He was known for saying that more groups of people should be recognized as victims of the Holocaust.

Henry was born in Berlin, Germany, into a Jewish family. He moved to the United States in 1947 after surviving the Auschwitz camp. He earned his first degree in history from Temple University in 1953. Later, he got his master's and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in 1954 and 1968.

From 1975 until he retired in 2001, Henry Friedlander was a professor. He taught in the Judaic studies department at Brooklyn College. This college is part of the City University of New York.

About Henry Friedlander's Life

Henry Friedlander was the son of Bernhard Fritz Friedländer and Ruth Friedländer. His father was a doctor. Henry was married to another historian named Sybil Milton (1941–2000). There is a special award named after her by the German Studies Association.

Henry Friedlander's Views on the Holocaust

Henry Friedlander believed that three main groups should be seen as victims of the Holocaust. These groups were Jewish people, Romani (sometimes called Roma or Gypsies), and people with mental or physical disabilities. He pointed out that people with disabilities were the very first victims of the Nazis.

His ideas about including disabled people and Romani people as victims often caused strong discussions. Other historians, like Yehuda Bauer from Israel, thought that only Jewish people should be considered Holocaust victims.

Henry's wife, Sybil Milton, also supported a wider view of the Holocaust. She felt that most books about the Holocaust focused only on the killing of Jewish people. She argued that this often left out Romani people, Black people, and disabled people. She also discussed these ideas with Yehuda Bauer.

According to Friedlander, the Holocaust started when two Nazi plans came together. One plan was the anti-Jewish policies of the Nazi government. The other was their "racial cleansing" policies, which led to the Action T4 program.

He believed that the Action T4 program was the real beginning of the Holocaust. He noted that poison gas and crematories (ovens for burning bodies) were first used in the T4 program in 1939. It was only later, in 1941, that experts from the T4 program were brought in by the SS. They helped design and run the death camps for Jewish people in Europe. Friedlander knew that the Nazis' hatred of Jewish people was important. But, he thought the T4 program was the key starting point for the Holocaust.

Henry Friedlander's Writings

Books

• Foreword to People in Auschwitz by Hermann Langbein, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2004, ISBN: 0-8078-2816-5.

See also

• Richard Jenne