The universal ignorance feigned by the post war German populace will make this a challenging research topic.  I'll see what i can find this weekend.

http://phdast7.hubpages.com/hub/What-Did-Most-Germans-Know-About-Nazi-Concentration-Camps-Part-III

https://books.google.ca/books?id=rsKrCUwZR3sC&pg=PT8&dq=Adam+Grolsch+holocaust&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMIwu6J9Mm2yAIVSF0eCh14iQua#v=onepage&q=Adam%20Grolsch%20holocaust&f=false

http://phdast7.hubpages.com/hub/Waht-Did-Most-Germans-Know-About-the-Nazi-Concentration-Camp-System-Part-II

There is the link to Holocaust  atlas in Lithuania. Every mass murder place has link with historiography position. A lot of books, interviews etc.

 http://www.holocaustatlas.lt/EN/

Dear Alex,

Let me first tell you about my personal findings while I was researching for my 2 volumes book "The Holocaust in Slovakia." It covers the previous Czechoslovak Republic and the current Slovak State.

I read stories about good Christians who tried to help inmates and indeed did so risking their lives, but read also several which reported the dark side of Slovak xenophobia and anti-Semitism. If those stories are of your interest I can send you some literature I used for my book.

Here are some more tips:

Of course Goldhagen's book is a classic about this subject, somewhat biased, but an excellent source:

Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah, and Maurice Wohlgelernter. "Hitler’s willing executioners." Society 34.2 (1997): 32-37. ISBN 978-0679772682

Horwitz, Gordon J. In the shadow of death: living outside the gates of Mauthausen. Free Pr, 1990. ISBN  978-1850433392

It is a shocking book and very critical about the Austrians living outside that horrible camp.

Oliner, Samuel P. Altruistic personality: rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe. Simon and Schuster, 1992. ISBN  978-0029238295

Schmolling, Paul. "Human reactions to the Nazi concentration camps: A summing up." Journal of human stress 10.3 (1984): 108-120.

Monroe, Kristen R., Michael C. Barton, and Ute Klingemann. "Altruism and the theory of rational action: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe." Ethics (1990): 103-122.

This one is very interesting because the author studies the attitudes of bystanders in several countries, not only in Germany.

Barnett, Victoria. Bystanders: Conscience and complicity during the holocaust. No. 59. Greenwood Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0275970451

A last note: try to research the aftermath, namely how the Jews who survived were received back in their home countries. There are many revolting stories.

Good luck, I hope this is of help

Tom

Hello Alex,

While having a coffee today a different approach dawned on me.  Perhaps the easiest manner in which to investigate holocaust awareness is to 'follow the money' attached is a biographical resource, 2 I.G. Farben related documents and video which may be of interest to you. 

Best Regards

Jeff

http://www.archives.gov/research/holocaust/bibliographies/trade-with-third-reich.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGEkkozl4-o

http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/economics/igfarben.html

http://www.markswatson.com/article-IG-Farben-investigation-1945.pdf

Hello Alex and Jeffrey

I love when our colleagues think out of the box. :-) 

There is no doubt that greed was one of the attitudes and motives why the Nazis were able to carry out and perpetuate their horrendous crimes during the Holocaust period. Jeffrey's suggestion and input is therefore a new and interesting avenue you may wish to follow.

However there are several other important reasons for why such crime became possible. One, of course, were the anti-Semitic feelings pervading in several European countries, especially in those allied to the Axis. Many times, Pole, Ukrainian, Croatian, Romanian, Slovak and Hungarian gendarmes and soldiers acted more viciously then the SS guards and officers in charge of the extermination centers.

If you follow the evolution of anti-Jewish laws in those countries and how the general population reacted to them, you will have a much more ample panorama of how the locals contributed to that catastrophe. My book occupies a full chapter, revealing what the Hlinka Guards - the Slovak suchlike of the SS - did to the defenseless Jews.

I hate to generalize, but in the case of those countries, vicious anti-Semitism existed for many centuries. Just an example in case: numerus clausus anti-Jewish laws were introduced in Hungary in 1922, when Hitler was a nought.

This is one aspect in which Goldhagen's book, mentioned previously, excels.

BTW Alex, thank you for voting me up

Friendly regards

Tom