This book explores the similar attitudes and methods behind modern society's treatment of animals and the way humans have often treated each other, most notably during the Holocaust. The book's epigraph and title are from "The Letter Writer," a story by the Yiddish writer and Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer: "In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka." The first part of the book (Chapter 1-2) describes the emergence of human beings as the master species and their domination over the rest of the inhabitants of the earth. The second part (Chapters 3-5) examines the industrialization of slaughter (of both animals and humans) that took place in modern times. The last part of the book (Chapters 6-8) profiles Jewish and German animal advocates on both sides of the Holocaust, including Isaac Bashevis Singer himself. "...sheds light on violence against animals and humans so that we might one day put an end to it." -- Moment Magazine, June 2002 "Compelling, controversial, iconoclastic...strongly recommended...a unique contribution." -- Midwest Book Review, May 2002 "Eternal Treblinka is an eye-opening, thought-provoking book that I highly recommend." -- The Gantseh Megillah (Montreal), April 2002 "Important and timely...written with great sensitivity and compassion...I hope that Eternal Treblinka will be widely read." -- Martyrdom and Resistance, March/April 2002 "There are good books...great books...and important books...Eternal Treblinka is all three." -- Satya Magazine, June/July 2002 I'm dedicating the book to the great Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-91), the first major writer to focus on the "Nazi" way we treat animals. The first two parts of the book (Chapters 1-5) put the issue in historical perspective, while the last part (Chapters 6-8) profiles Jews and Germans whose animal advocacy has been, at least to some extent, shaped by the Holocaust. The conviction of Albert Camus that "it is a writer's responsibility to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves" helped me persevere through the writing of this book. When it looked as if I might never find a publisher brave enough to publish it (some said the book was "too strong"), I took comfort from Franz Kafka's view: "I think we ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the book we are reading doesn't shake us awake like a blow to the skull, why bother reading it in the first place? So it can make us happy? Good God, we'd be just as happy if we had no books at all....A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us." If the issue of the exploitation and slaughter of animals moves to center stage in the twenty-first century the way the issue of human slavery did in America in the nineteenth century--and I think it will--my hope is that this book will be in the thick of the debate. --from Preface ETERNAL TREBLINKA Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust Charles Patterson The title of the book is from "The Letter Writer," a short story by the Yiddish writer and Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-91), to whom the book is dedicated: "In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka." The book examines the origins of human supremacy, describes the emergence of industrialized slaughter of both animals and people in modern times, and concludes with profiles of Jewish and German animal advocates on both sides of the Holocaust, including Isaac Bashevis Singer himself. "In Eternal Treblinka we are presented for the first time with extensive evidence of the profoundly troubling connections between animal exploitation in the United States and Hitler's Final Solution."--from the Foreword by Lucy Rosen Kaplan, Esq. "Charles Patterson's book will go a long way towards righting the terrible wrongs that human beings, throughout history, have perpetrated on non-human animals. I urge you to read it and think deeply about its important message."--Dr. Jane Goodall "...promises to be one of the most influential books of the 21st century."--Dr. Karen Davis, United Poultry Concerns "This book is going to change the world."--Albert Kaplan, Jesup & Lamont Securities, NYC Charles Patterson, Ph.D., is the author of ANTI-SEMITISM: The Road to the Holocaust and Beyond, FROM BUCHENWALD TO CARNEGIE HALL (co-author with Mr. Marian Filar), THE OXFORD 50th ANNIVERSARY BOOK OF THE UNITED NATIONS, THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, and other books. He lives in New York City. Charles Patterson is a writer, editor, therapist, historian, animal advocate, and award-winning author of ten books. Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, Polish, Czech, Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Russian, and Japanese (with Portuguese and Hungarian translations on the way). Patterson's other books include Anti-Semitism: The Road to the Holocaust and Beyond , The Civil Rights Movement , Mar