Content area
Full text
In Hitler's Ostkrieg and the Indian Wars: Comparing Genocide and Conquest Edward Westermann examines these "two national projects" undertaken by the United States and the Third Reich, questioning whether the American conquest of the West in the name of Manifest Destiny might be usefully considered a "historical precursor" to the German conquest of the East for the sake of Lebensraum, not least because Hitler and other Nazi leaders believed US policies toward Native Americans set an example for their own plans for the displacement and extermination of Jews and Slavs (3, 14).
Westermann establishes the framework of the book by evaluating both operations so as to uncover similarities and discrepancies, thereby achieving "insight into the use or misuse of power" (16). Of particular importance for Westermann's argument is his insistence on the differing goals behind each government's actions. Whereas the United States aimed to assimilate Native Americans into civilization and "bring Christianity to the tribes," the Third Reich intended the physical annihilation of Jews and Slavs...