The Holocaust Books

Book SynopsisIn Hitler’s Foreign Executioners, Heinrich Himmler’s secret master plan for Europe is revealed: an SS empire that would have no place for either the Nazi Party or Adolf Hitler. His astonishingly ambitious plan depended on the recruitment of tens of thousands of ‘Germanic’ peoples from every corner of Europe, and even parts of Asia, to build an ‘SS Europa’. This revised and fully updated book, researched in archives all over Europe and using first-hand testimony, exposes Europe’s dirty secret: nearly half a million Europeans and more than a million Soviet citizens enlisted in the armed forces of the Third Reich to fight a deadly crusade against a mythic foe, Jewish Bolshevism.Even today, some apologists claim that these foreign SS volunteers were merely soldiers ‘like any other’ and fought a decent war against Stalin’s Red Army. Historian Christopher Hale demonstrates conclusively that these surprisingly common views are mistaken. By taking part in Himmler’s murderous master plan, these foreign executioners hoped to prove that they were worthy of joining his future ‘SS Europa’. But as the Reich collapsed in 1944, Himmler’s monstrous scheme led to bitter confrontations with Hitler – and to the downfall of the man once known as ‘loyal Heinrich’.

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Book SynopsisThis powerful, unique collection contains poems written not only by members of Jewish communities in Europe (representing the largest group persecuted by the Nazis), but also poems by people who were targeted on other grounds. Some belonged to political or religious groups who openly opposed the Third Reich, or they were homosexual, or members of communities such as Sinti and Roma, or they were perceived by the Nazis as disabled. The work in this anthology originates from across Europe, and has been translated from many different languages. Most translations are specifically for the anthology, or have not appeared elsewhere. This wide-ranging volume gives a sense of the variety of Holocaust victims, and their poetic responses to the Holocaust; from the haunting to the primal. It covers the Holocaust in three distinct time periods; At the Beginning; Life in, Ghettos, Camps, Prisons and the Outside World; Life Afterwards.

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Book SynopsisThis compelling and candid memoir by Mindy Weisel, an internationally acclaimed artist and author, traces her search to find beauty in her life, which began as a child born in the Bergen-Belsen Displaced Person's Camp to parents who had survived the Auschwitz concentration camp. This is not her parents' story, rather, it is a courageous and honest portrait of her struggle to understand the black hole she was born into. Her successful journey in becoming an artist with her own voice, and an unshakable will to live with beauty, is most inspiring. By weaving an eloquent tapestry of her art, narrative, poetry and journals, Ms. Weisel offers moving insights into her life and work, especially her deep-seated conviction that beauty and love can overcome tragedy. AFTER: The Obligation of Beauty immerses the reader in Mindy's astonishing body of paintings and glass works that explore the subtleties of color as a means in expressing emotion. The "second generation," as her generation of survivors' children are referred to, were faced not only with the tragedy their parents had endured but also with their own feelings of guilt and despair. The process of creating art not only became an antidote to the pain and suffering she witnessed and felt, but it also became an "obligation" for finding joy and love in the face of pain. Each chapter of AFTER is accompanied by paintings relating to different periods of Mindy Weisel's life - a life filled with accomplishment, meaning, love and fulfillment, personally and professionally.Trade Review"In the world, as we know it today, one must create beauty and this Mindy Weisel has done - again and again - in her art, her writing, her teaching and her being. Her work is a compelling response to the Shoah, a way to live AFTER. We are the visual and spiritual beneficiaries of Mindy's Obligation of Beauty. In this meaningful volume, we catch a glimpse of the beauty she has created as she shares with her readers why this is the path she has chosen. A path which believes in life." -Michael Berenbaum, Director, Sigi Ziering Holocaust Institute, American Jewish University.

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Book SynopsisLondon 1988: Agata grew up in post-war Prague and believes that her mother was the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust.But not everyone died. Agata's search for her ‘lost’ family, set against the background of revolutions in Eastern Europe, threatens to tear apart not only the family she already has, but her own identity.

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Book SynopsisThis is the extraordinary story of the author’s twenty year quest to find gold coins which his father’s family buried in their backyard in Poland just prior to being deported by the Nazis into concentration camps. His father survived the war but died when the author was a teenager, leaving him only with the knowledge that he had buried coins somewhere in Poland, and no information about his family. During his quest, Biederman uncovers many interesting and disturbing facts about his father and mother and their families, such as the fact that his father was the third person on Oskar Schindler’s list and had a chance meeting with Adolph Hitler, and that his mother was selected as a cook for the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele. The book details the author’s quest to unearth his family’s past and his father’s treasure and continues with his parent’s amazing post-war years in Europe and their eventual arrival in North America.Table of Contents Introduction The Quest Begins 1993–1996: Relocating to Windsor 1996: Travel to Poland Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland: July 1944 Auschwitz-Birkenau: 1996 Krosno Airbase, Poland: August 27, 1941 Fate of My Father’s Family I Receive Unexpected News Maidstone Ontario: Spring 2001 New Information Changes Our Course December 4, 1939: Zeglarska 7, Lodz, Poland Europe: 2001 Majdanek Lodz Postwar Europe Maidstone, Ontario: 2001 through 2003 Yaron Svoray New York: July 2003 Maidstone, Ontario: 2003 Wednesday April 21, 2004: Maidstone, Ontario Poland: April 2004 Jedwabne Wolf’s Lair Berlin 1946 Warsaw: 2004 Windsor: Spring/Summer 2004 Lodz: October 2004 Wroclaw Gross-Rosen The Trip Home April 1949 and Beyond: The American Journey Back Home: Ontario, 2004 Late 2004–Present: Epilogue

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Book Synopsis"This standout survivor’s account will move and inform even those well versed in the inhumanity of the Shoah." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)Ita Dimant’s gripping diary is a detailed account of her experiences during the Holocaust. She describes the chaotic living conditions in the Warsaw ghetto and her dramatic escape to the ‘Aryan’ side. She wrestles repeatedly with the burden of losing close friends and family, revealing her emotional responses to the unfolding tragedy. As one ghetto after another is liquidated, she becomes a courier carrying vital information and supplies between Polish cities. Ita must rely on her wits, skillful deception, and a few trusted friends, as she seeks to evade the noose closing around her. Trade Review“In this posthumous soul-wrenching memoir, Dimant… reconstructs and expands a diary she’d kept during the Nazi occupation of the Warsaw Ghetto… There’s a palpable urgency to Dimant’s writing, which is haunted by the specter of almost unbearable regret… This standout survivor’s account will move and inform even those well versed in the inhumanity of the Shoah.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Archiv­ing the vast, diverse expe­ri­ences of Jews dur­ing the Holo­caust is an impor­tant his­tor­i­cal task — and Sur­vival is a wel­come addi­tion to the canon. … [T]he memoir’s com­bi­na­tion of eye­wit­ness tes­ti­mo­ny and trea­sure-trove pho­tographs makes Ita’s sto­ry come to life. Those who are inter­est­ed in Jew­ish-led resis­tance move­ments, as well as women’s roles with­in them, will find this book par­tic­u­lar­ly compelling.”— Leah Grisham, Jewish Book Council“Ita Dimant's diary is an extraordinary and harrowing account of bravery, resilience, and loss. Translated by Teresa Pollin and edited by Martin Dean, with an introduction by the author's son, Jacob Dimant, this new volume will serve as a valuable and compelling resource for researchers, educators, and general readers, detailing one woman's story of courage and survival, amidst the destruction of a people. This is a fascinating account written and re-written three times over during the course of the war, a testament to Ita’s determination not only to survive, but to bear witness to the tragic scenes she endured in the ghettos of Warsaw, Częstochowa, and elsewhere in Poland through her work as an underground courier, as well as in slave labor in Germany. Ita's survival was a product of remarkable courage, determination, profound resilience, occasional acts of kindness, and no small measure of luck.”— Avinoam J. Patt, Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies, University of Connecticut; author of The Jewish Heroes of Warsaw: The Afterlife of the Revolt“When I first read the manuscript of Ita Dimant’s diary, I was very touched by the author’s personality, her literary talent, her detailed description of everyday life in the Warsaw and Częstochowa ghettos, and by the power of Ita’s spiritual resistance. This extraordinary testimony of the Holocaust should be read by as many people as possible.When I met Ita Dimant in person, she was full of warmth and had a great sense of humor. For me, she will always remain a heroine of everyday life, despite the hunger and suffering, covering the table in the ghetto with a white tablecloth. Her moving diary describes with compassion and accuracy the struggles Jews endured in German-occupied Poland, both inside and outside the ghetto.”— Barbara Engelking, Founder and Director of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research“What makes this diary stand out from other diaries of women Holocaust survivors is not only the multi-layered and readable character at the heart of its narrative, but the fact that we are able to follow the story of a woman who did not consider herself special or brave but had no other choice but to become so as she fought to survive. During this process, she learned a lot about how easy it would be to forget how important doing good in the face of evil could be. Always keeping a good pair of shoes nearby, she never allowed herself the luxury of not remaining vigilant or preparing her loved ones for possible flight. With the help of an excellent translator and editor, her diary shares the moving story of becoming a survivor against all odds.”— Andrea Peto, Professor, Central European University, ViennaTable of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction: A Story of Courage and Survival by Jacob DimantPrologue by Ita Dimant (published originally with the 1993 English and Hebrew editions)The DiaryThe Warsaw Ghetto YearsThe Częstochowa YearLeaving for GermanyFreedom Epilogue by Jacob Dimant Courage and Survival—Symcha Dymant by Jacob DimantAppendix 1: The Brust Notebook DiaryAppendix 2: A Diary in Note FormAppendix 3: Documents, Photographs, and Artifacts Donated to the USHMM by the Dimant FamilyAppendix 4: Miodownik Family TreeList of Illustrations

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Book SynopsisThis book comprises interviews with the last veterans of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ŻOB), accompanied by never previously published photographic “postcards” from ghettos in the Warsaw region, and a reconstruction of the only existing list of the (ŻOB) soldiers.The first part of the book, a collection of conversations with the last soldiers of the ŻOB, which fought in the Warsaw ghetto uprising, is called “Still Circling”. The first of the interviews was recorded in 1985 with ŻOB commander Marek Edelman, and the last another conversation with him from 2000. Grupińska’s other interlocutors are also ŻOB veterans—rank-and-file soldiers, men and women. They relate the stories of their homes and backgrounds—some were Bundists, others from Zionist or religious families—followed by their recollections of how they experienced and remembered the uprising. This provides several unique perspectives on shared episodes. Images include portraits of Grupińska’s interlocutors, as well as never previously published photographs of the ghetto and its surroundings that are reminiscent of postcards.The second part of the book, “Rereading the List,” is intended to function like a litany of the names of the ŻOB members who fought in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. This list was compiled by a group of fighters in 1943 and rediscovered by the author in 2000. Each name is accompanied by a short story about the fighter—sometimes only a sentence or two—as well as any available photograph of them. The list is followed by a reconstruction of the ŻOB army, its divisions, and the places they fought. Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsPart One. Still Circling: Conversations with Soldiers of the Jewish Fighting OrganizationRecording the HolocaustWhat Was of Importance in the Ghetto? Nothing! Nothing! Don’t Be Ridiculous! Back Then, There Were Many Legends . . .Someone Must Have Pushed That Closet up Flush from Outside . . .I’m Telling You so Superficially Because I Don’t Remember Well, I’m Here, Aren’t I?! Truth Be Told, I Left My House in 1942 and Never Went Back And That’s All My Life Story I Know What I Know, And I Remember What I Remember None of It Is of Any SignificancePart Two. Rereading the List: Stories about the Soldiers of the Jewish Fighting Organization List of Those Who Fell in the Defense of the Warsaw Ghetto A Rereading of the List A Cemetery of Letters, a Cemetery of Words Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisWhat do Germans mean when they say “never again”? Andrew Port examines German responses to the genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Rwanda, showing how these events transformed the meaning of the Holocaust in Germany, inspired partial remilitarization, and changed the country’s relationship to refugees fleeing war-torn regions.Trade ReviewAmbitious, original and richly evidenced…Port offers an innovative contribution in the atrophied terrain of ‘memory studies.’ Never Again implies that Walter Benjamin’s ‘Angel of History’ is, at last, turning away from sentimental memorials and sentimental solemnity—and looking forward. -- Christopher Hale * History Today *Never Again thoroughly examines the German response to three genocides that took place elsewhere in the world after the Second World War—in Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda—and considers, in particular, the role that the Nazi past and the Holocaust played in debates about them. -- Hans Kundnani * Times Literary Supplement *Port’s meticulously researched book is a well-written account of Germans struggling to do the right thing—whether on the political or personal level—against the backdrop of their own history…An important contribution. -- Gisela Dachs * Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs *A thrilling accomplishment. Ingeniously conceived and intrepidly executed, Never Again explores how German mastery of the Holocaust past proceeded through reflection on foreign atrocities, first in the postcolonial world and then in Europe itself. This is the most important study of memory, politics, and the ongoing construction of public norms written in a long time. -- Samuel Moyn, author of Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented WarGermans, in the communist East, the democratic West, and the reunified nation, cannot deal with atrocities in other countries without being haunted by their own dark history. How they have negotiated these dangerous political challenges, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, is the subject of Port’s fascinating, elegant, subtle, and always fair-minded book. -- Ian Buruma, author of The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War IIA fascinating, carefully crafted look at how the powerful and dynamic factor of German memory of the Second World War and the Holocaust affected German foreign policy on the genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Rwanda. Port’s nuanced and suggestive analysis also contributes in important ways to our understanding of the making of Berlin’s zigzag policies on Ukraine today. -- Norman M. Naimark, author of Stalin and the Fate of Europe: The Postwar Struggle for SovereigntyThis deeply researched book tells the story of how, by embracing human rights and engaging in humanitarian actions, Germany rejoined ‘the community of nations as a peaceful member.’ Port illuminates the highly topical question of how Germany’s past both shapes and constrains its responses to contemporary bloodshed. -- M. E. Sarotte, author of Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post–Cold War StalemateA highly original work, sensitive both to domestic debates and to far broader transnational and international considerations. By exploring how a concern with their own genocidal past informed German reactions to later genocides, Port illuminates not only the German responses to events elsewhere in the world but also the ways in which, in an increasingly mobile and globalizing society, German society was and is itself changing. -- Mary Fulbrook, author of Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and the Quest for JusticeA brilliant new perspective on postwar German history. Even with hundreds of books written on attempts to cope with the Nazi past, the political consequences of shifting memory culture have seldom been discussed. In exploring how the Holocaust became an argument in German foreign policy, humanitarian aid, and military interventions, Port offers a wealth of insight—not only on Germany, but also on its global context. -- Frank Bösch, author of Mass Media and Historical Change: Germany in International Perspective, 1400 to the PresentFascinating reading. With Russia’s war on Ukraine, Germany faces its biggest crisis yet in its understanding of how the Holocaust and World War II should influence its military policy. Port’s timely book shows that this is not the first time Germans grappled with this issue. Examining earlier debates about the proper response to atrocities in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Rwanda, Never Again provides essential historical context for the contemporary dilemma of how to address Russian aggression. -- Hope M. Harrison, author of After the Berlin Wall: Memory and the Making of the New Germany, 1989 to the PresentA splendid…brilliant study… [Port] builds a bridge between the emergence of a Holocaust-related culture of remembrance and a history of humanitarianism before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His book also addresses the contemporary problem of how society deals with mass violence in distant regions. Not least due to recent global political developments, this requires more than ever a competent classification by the specialist disciplines. -- Annette Weinke * Süddeutsche Zeitung *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The case of [Demjanjuk] the death camp guard turned autoworker, related with authority and clarity."--New York Times Book Review "Douglas relates with authority and clarity the story of these complex legal processes... [He] does justice to both the story's factual complexities and its moral and political conundrums...The Right Wrong Man, from its summary title to its thoughtful postscript is an impressive work, as well as a timely one in its demonstration of the power of legal systems to learn from past missteps."--Anthony Julius, New York Times Book Review "A masterful account... Douglas deftly delivers disquisitions on nuanced legal questions as if they were plot points in a thriller, making his demanding book a pleasure."--Wall Street Journal"A tour de force owing to Douglas' piercing analysis of all the legal complexities."--Foreign Affairs"[An] admirable book... Douglas's narrative and analysis of this convoluted legal odyssey [is] extraordinarily impressive."--Christopher R. Browning, Times Literary Supplement "[M]asterful... [D]eftly delivers disquisitions on nuanced legal questions as if they were plot points in a thriller, making his demanding book a pleasure even for readers unschooled in the particulars of international law."--The Wall Street Journal "As Holocaust historian Lawrence Douglas has written, the Eichmann proceedings were the 'Great Holocaust Trial,' an unparalleled reckoning with the universal moral burden of the Nazi regime and its crimes. But what came--what could possibly come--after Eichmann? This is the question that guides Douglas's new book, The Right Wrong Man: John Demjanjuk and the Last Great Nazi War Crimes Trial... By Douglas's account, the Demjanjuk affair was a tumultuous encapsulation of much of the post-Eichmann politics of international justice, shaped as they were by the wax and wane of European communism, the creation of a nascent global architecture of legal accountability for atrocities perpetrated both during the Holocaust and elsewhere, and the global process of coming to terms with Europe's violent past."--Daniel Solomon, The New Republic "An excellent legal-minded elucidation of the long trail toward the conviction of a notorious concentration camp guard."--Kirkus "[A] story that needed telling."--Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times "Sophisticated and suspenseful, the book provides a trenchant analysis of the legal and moral dilemmas surrounding trials for genocidal crimes against humanity."--Glenn Altschuler, Jerusalem Post "[A] tour de force."--Foreign Affairs "The Right Wrong Man is an important read about the accountability those who do wrong ultimately face."--San Francisco Book Review "Formidable ... a thoughtful treatise."--Cleveland Jewish Star "In his indispensable history of the Demjanjuk case, Lawrence Douglas, the James J. Grosfeld Professor of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought at Amherst College, delivers a reader-friendly history of this controversial case that provides a valuable understanding of how German law evolved from eschewing the legal principles established by the Nuremberg Tribunal to the 2011 Demjanjuk case, which marked the first time a German court had ever tried, let alone convicted, 'one of the thousands of auxiliaries who served as foot soldiers of Nazi genocide.'"--Jack Fischel, Jewish Book Council "A perceptive and thought-provoking analysis... The story told by Lawrence Douglas in The Right Wrong Man is a vital part of that narrative of barbarism [and] a remorselessly fascinating account of the longest trial of any defendant accused of Nazi crimes."--Oliver Kamm, Jewish Chronicle "[A] thoughtful treatise."--Arnold Ages, Chicago Jewish Star "Lawrence Douglas's immensely readable book absorbs the reader in the twists and turns of the Demjanjuk saga, helping us understand both why justice required prosecuting Demjanjuk for his 'egregious moral complicity,' and how the job got done."--Kevin P. Spicer, CommonwealTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 1 The Beginning of the End of Something 17 2 John in America 26 3 Ivan in Israel 68 4 Demjanjuk Redux 109 5 Demjanjuk in Munich 137 6 Was damals Recht war ... 161 7 Memory into History 194 8 The Trial by History 216 9 The Right Wrong Man 247 Postscript 258 Acknowledgments 261 Notes 263 Sources 299 Index 321

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Book SynopsisIn Drunk on Genocide, Edward B. Westermann reveals how, over the course of the Third Reich, scenes involving alcohol consumption and revelry among the SS and police became a routine part of rituals of humiliation in the camps, ghettos, and killing fields of Eastern Europe. Westermann draws on a vast range of newly unearthed material to explore how alcohol consumption served as a literal and metaphorical lubricant for mass murder. It facilitated performative masculinity, expressly linked to physical or sexual violence. Such inebriated exhibitions extended from meetings of top Nazi officials to the rank and file, celebrating at the grave sites of their victims. Westermann argues that, contrary to the common misconception of the SS and police as stone-cold killers, they were, in fact, intoxicated with the act of murder itself. Drunk on Genocide highlights the intersections of masculinity, drinking ritual, sexual violence, and mass murderTrade ReviewEdward B. Westermann has now produced a book that pays tribute to all strands of research while, at the same time, highlighting an element that will need to be included in all future considerations: the stimulation of the murderers through alcohol. * American Historical Review *Drunk on Genocide is an essential read, and one that offers considerable insights into the intimate relationship between ritualized intoxication, cults of masculinity, ideological antisemitism, and the mass murders in the bloodlands of the east. * EuropeNow *Westermann uses a wide variety of primary sources ranging from photos to diaries to interviews to understand the behaviors and beliefs of perpetrators. It is a remarkably challenging book to read. But a necessary one. * New Books Network *[Ed Westermann's work provides an invaluable insight into the mindset and mentality of the everyday executioners of the racial war in the east. * German History *Drawing on several decades of research into Nazi police battalions and comparative genocide, Westermann employs social, anthropological, and gender theories to create a framework that effectively analyzes the relationship between alcohol and mass murder. * Journal of Military History *Drunk on Genocide is a important and terryfing book that tackles a persistent question in the study of the Holocaust and World War II: how was it possible that the Germans killed so many people and behaved so brutally in the Soviet territory they invaded and occupied? * Slavic Review *Westermann's work is incredibly thoroughly researched with a rich amount of survivor testimony that gives voice to the victims. Drunk on Genocide is a compelling work with a well-researched argument. * The Middle Ground Journal *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Alcohol and the Masculine Ideal 2. Rituals of Humiliation 3. Taking Trophies and Hunting Jews 4. Alcohol and Sexual Violence 5. Celebrating Murder 6. Alcohol, Auxiliaries, and Mass Murder 7. Alcohol and the German Army Conclusion

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Book SynopsisPink Triangle Legacies traces the transformation of the pink triangle from a Nazi concentration camp badge and emblem of discrimination into a widespread, recognizable symbol of queer activism, pride, and community. W. Jake Newsome provides an overview of the Nazis'' targeted violence against LGBTQ+ people and details queer survivors'' fraught and ongoing fight for the acknowledgement, compensation, and memorialization of LGBTQ+ victims. Within this context, a new generation of queer activists has used the pink trianglea reminder of Germany''s fascist pastas the visual marker of gay liberation, seeking to end queer people''s status as second-class citizens by asserting their right to express their identity openly. The reclamation of the pink triangle occurred first in West Germany, but soon activists in the United States adopted this chapter from German history as their own. As gay activists on opposite sides of the Atlantic grafted pink triangle memoriesTrade ReviewFor those interested in the "problems" of queer history, this book is an excellent introduction to the issues associated with confronting queer historical memory. * The Gay & Lesbian Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction: "Beaten to Death, Silenced to Death" 1. "They are Enemies of the State!": The Fate of LGBTQ+ People in Nazi Germany 2. "For Homosexuals, the Third Reich Hasn't Ended Yet": Paragraph 175 and the Nazi Past in West Germany 3. "The Only Acceptable Gay Liberation Logo": The Reclamation of the Pink Triangle in West Germany 4. "It's a Scar, but In Your Heart": The Pink Triangle in American Gay Activism 5. "Remembrances of Things Once Hidden": Piecing Together the Pink Triangle Past on Stage and on Page 6. "We Died There, Too": Commemoration and the Construction of a Transatlantic Gay Identity Epilogue: "Remembering Must Also Have Consequences"

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Book SynopsisA new wave of aspiring neo-Nazi terrorists has arisenincluding the infamous Atomwaffen Division. And they have a bible: James Mason's Siege, which praises terrorism, serial killers, and Charles Manson. Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism, based on years of archival work and interviews, documents for the first time the origins of Siege.First, it shows how Mason's vision arose from debates by 1970s neo-Nazis who splintered off the American Nazi Party/National Socialist White People''s Party and spun off a terrorist faction. Second, it unveils how four 1980s countercultural figuresmusicians Boyd Rice and Michael Moynihan, Feral House publisher Adam Parfrey, and Satanist Nikolas Schreckdiscovered, promoted, and published Mason. Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism explores a previously overlooked period and unearths the hidden connections between a countercultural clique and violent neo-Naziswhich together have set the template for

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Book SynopsisDavid Cesarani is Research Professor in History at Royal Holloway, University of London. His publications include Justice Delayed: How Britain Became a Refuge for Nazi War Criminals, Arthur Koestler: The Homeless Mind and, most recently, Eichmann: His Life and Crimes, which won the 2006 US National Jewish Book Award for History. He has written and edited several books exploring the relationship between Britain, British Jews, and Zionism including The 'Jewish Chronicle' and Anglo-Jewry and The Making of Modern Anglo-Jewry.Trade ReviewA powerful and revelatory book * Independent *A penetrating and compelling study * Sunday Telegraph *Excellent and thorough * Guardian *A perceptive and intelligent new account - David Cesarani comes closer than anyone to solving the puzzle of what made Eichmann do what he did * Literary Review *Meticulous and admirably balanced * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisWhen the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933 they promised to create a new, harmonious society under the leadership of the F^uuml^hrer, Adolf Hitler. The concept of Volksgemeinschaft - ''the people''s community'' - enshrined the Nazis'' vision of society''; a society based on racist, social-Darwinist, anti-democratic, and nationalist thought. The regime used Volksgemeinschaft to define who belonged to the National Socialist ''community'' and who did not. Being accorded the status of belonging granted citizenship rights, access to the benefits of the welfare state, and opportunities for advancement, while these who were denied the privilege of belonging lost their right to live. They were shamed, excluded, imprisoned, murdered. Volksgemeinschaft was the Nazis'' project of social engineering, realized by state action, by administrative procedure, by party practice, by propaganda, and by individual initiative. Everyone deemed worthy of belonging was called to participate in its realization. Indeed, this collective notion was directed at the individual, and unleashed an enormous dynamism, which gave social change a particular direction. The Volksgemeinschaft concept was not strictly defined, which meant that it was rather marked by a plurality of meaning and emphasis which resulted in a range of readings in the Third Reich, drawing in people from many social and political backgrounds. Visions of Community in Nazi Germany scrutinizes Volksgemeinschaft as the Nazis'' central vision of community. The contributors engage with individual appropriations, examine projects of social engineering, analyze the social dynamism unleashed, and show how deeply private lives were affected by this murderous vision of society.Trade ReviewThe volume impresses with its high degree of coherence and shows the productivity of a many-faceted analysis of 'Volksgemeinschaft', inspired by cultural history approaches, for the social history of the Nazi regime. Above all, this is due to the introduction which stresses the 'making' of the 'Volksgemeinschaft'. By doing this it brings together hitherto opposed interpretations and opens the perspective for social practices in a fluid "new frame of reference" in which ideas about individuality and normality were fundamentally connected with exclusion and violence. * Lu Seegers, Sepunkte *The volume's strength certainly lies in the felicitous connection of a theoretical conceptualization and historiographical integration of the "Volksgemeinschaft" approach with source-based case studies. * Nils Löffelbein, Neue Politische Literatur *The "new frame of reference" gives this volume remarkable coherence, wherefore it can claim its rightful place in the currently controversial debates about the Nazi 'Volksgemeinschaft.' * Adelheid von Saldern, Historische Zeitschrift *Steber and Gotto have brought together a team of esteemed scholars, and most contributions are of high quality. What these make clear above all, it that historians and other researchers should take the concept of Volksgemeinschaft seriously when studying Nazi Germany and the policy of the National Socialists. The vision of 'the people's community' was not just propaganda: it steered policy. * Martijn Lak, European History Quarterly *The most innovative contributions show that the community-building potential of the 'Volksgemeinschaft' discourse was founded on its pertinence for action: It offered an action-oriented worldview which provided even those, that remained in ideological distance to the Nazi regime, with a number of options, and thus functionally stabilized the system by practical action. * Wolfram Pyta, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *This is a highly impressive volume that makes a powerful case for taking the Volksgemeinschaft paradigm seriously ... as a document of a debate that has been highly productive in many ways, this volume is clearly destined to become a canonical text in the historiography of the Third Reich. * Neil Gregor, Central European History *Table of ContentsPreface Glossary 1: Martina Steber and Bernhard Gotto: Volksgemeinschaft: Writing the Social History of the Nazi Regime Part I: Volksgemeinschaft: Controversies 2: Ian Kershaw: Volksgemeinschaft: Potential and Limitations of the Concept 3: Michael Wildt: Volksgemeinschaft: A Modern Perspective on National Socialist Society 4: Ulrich Herbert: Echoes of the Volksgemeinschaft Part II: A New Frame of Reference: Ideology, Administrative Practices, and Social Control 5: Lutz Raphael: Pluralities of National Socialist Ideology: New Perspectives on the Production and Diffusion of National Socialist Weltanschauung 6: Armin Nolzen: The NSDAP's Operational Codes after 1933 7: Thomas Schaarschmidt: Mobilizing German Society for War: The National Socialist Gaue 8: Jane Caplan: Registering the Volksgemeinschaft: Civil Status in Nazi Germany 1933-9 9: Gerhard Wolf: Exporting Volksgemeinschaft: The Deutsche Volksliste in Annexed Upper Silesia Part III: The Individual and the Regime: The Promises of Volksgemeinschaft 10: Andreas Wirsching: Volksgemeinschaft and the Illusion of 'Normality' from the 1920s to the 1940s 11: Birthe Kundrus: Greasing the Palm of the Volksgemeinschaft? Consumption under National Socialism 12: Nicole Kramer: Volksgenossinnen on the German Home Front: An Insight into Nazi Wartime Society 13: Frank Bajohr: 'Community of Action' and Diversity of Attitudes: Reflections on Mechanisms of Social Integration in National Socialist Germany, 1933-45 14: Rüdiger Hachtmann: Social Spaces of the Nazi Volksgemeinschaft in the Making: Functional Elites and Club Networking Part IV: Volksgemeinschaft: A Rationale for Violence 15: Christopher R. Browning: The Holocaust: Basis and Objective of the Volksgemeinschaft? 16: Sven Keller: Volksgemeinschaft and Violence: Some Reflections on Interdependencies 17: Detlef Schmiechen-Ackermann: Social Control and the Making of the Volksgemeinschaft Part V: The Limits of Volksgemeinschaft Policies 18: Johannes Hürter: The Military Elite and Volksgemeinschaft 19: Willi Oberkrome: National Socialist Blueprints for Rural Communities and their Resonance in Agrarian Society 20: Richard Bessel: The End of the Volksgemeinschaft Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe son of a Holocaust survivor, Jason Sommer writes of troubles which unfold in history and in the making of personality; of self and other; and of wakefulness and sleep. The poetic voice is of one who emerges from the Holocaust, telling the stories of those who suffered.

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Book SynopsisThis volume collects original essays on Hungarian-German playwright and screenwriter George Tabori (1914-2007) and his remarkable contributions to the stage. Although his illustrious career spanned a century, two continents, several languages, and a variety of literary genres, Tabori’s work has received scant attention in American letters.

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in weekly instalments, Nine Suitcases is the Hungarian writer Béla Zsolt''s harrowing memoir of his experiences in the ghetto of Nagyvarad and as a forced labourer in the Ukraine. Written with exceptional freshness and a devastating blend of angry despair and cool detachment, Zsolt - one of the earliest writers on the Holocaust - provides not only a rare insight into Hungarian fascism, but a shocking exposure of the cruelty, indifference, selfishness, cowardice and betrayal of which human beings - the victims no less than the perpetrators - are capable in extreme circumstances. Interspersed with moments of grotesque farce, grim irony and occasional memories of human kindness, Zsolt''s nightmarish but meticulously realistic chronicle of smaller and larger crimes against humanity is as riveting as it is horrifying.Trade Review[A] heartbreaking memoir... Unbearably immediate -- Laurence Phelan * Independent on Sunday *A sombre yet strangely beautiful account, devoid of sentimentality...the recent publication of his work in English is long overdue -- Phil Baker * Sunday Times *Remarkable...exceptional -- Caroline Moorehead * Times Literary Supplement *This is by far the best book I've come across on the subject of the extermination of Hungary's Jews -- Tibor Fischer * Guardian *Very, very rarely you read something that knocks the breath out of you... This masterpiece does -- Carole Angier * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisNew in paperback, this book, is likely to be adopted on many courses covering the Holocaust. A unique but disturbing book - winner of the 1989 European Amalfi Prize for Sociology and Social Sciences. The hardback received enormous acclaim. Zygmunt Bauman is one of the world's leading social theorists.Trade Review'Modernity and the Holocaust is a very fine book. Broad in scope and penetrating in analysis, it is disturbing as its subject matter demands, yet never fails to preserve the crucial element of reflective distance out of which new or more acute knowledge is able to emerge.' Times Higher Education Supplement 'Such is the concentrated brilliance of this study that it is sure to find an appreciative audience in every field of research which touches on the Holocaust.' Times Literary Supplement 'This is a profound book, brilliant in its insights ... It demands wide readership.' Political Studies 'The book should be widely read by students of the social sciences, since it is, apart from a provocative analysis of explanations of genocide, a critique of sociology, which Bauman claims has neglected the ethical dilemmas posed by the destruction of the Jews.' SociologyTable of ContentsForeword. 1. Introduction: Sociology after the Holocaust. 2. Modernity, Racism, Extermination - I. 3. Modernity, Racism, Extermination - II. 4. On the Uniqueness and Normality of the Holocaust. 5. Soliciting Cooperation of the Victims. 6. The Ethics of Obedience (reading Milgram). 7. Towards a Sociological Theory of Morality Rationality and Shame. Index.

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Book SynopsisThe touching story of Holocaust survivor Max Edelman, who witnessed a German Shepherd killing a fellow prisoner and developed a decades-long fear of dogs, but whose blindness would later require the assistance of a guide dog. Enter Calvin, a chocolate Labrador retriever who guided Max to greater openness, trust, and engagement with the world.Trade Review"A well-written, grim portrayal of Edelman's struggle to survive."—Publishers Weekly"Sharon Peters masterfully shares the journey of Calvin, Boychick, and Tobi, the guide dogs who penetrated a Holocaust survivor's pain, distrust, and blindness. Max Edelman's life-affirming and exquisitely written story raises love for dogs to a whole new level of respect and gratitude. This book's messages of hope and healing are impossible to forget and essential to remember."—Allen and Linda Anderson, cofounders of Angel Animals Network and authors of A Dog Named Leaf: The Hero from Heaven Who Saved My Life

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Book SynopsisApproaching the Holocaust in your classroom can be a difficult, often daunting task. Using anecdotes and empirical data, this practical guide offers advice for teaching the Holocaust in a way that is nuanced, socially responsible, and historically accurate.

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Book SynopsisTells the story of Guy Stern's remarkable life. This is not a Holocaust memoir; however, Stern makes it clear that the horrors of the Holocaust and his escape from Nazi Germany created the central driving force for his life. If one can name a singular characteristic that gives Stern strength time after time, it is his determination to persevere.

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Book SynopsisIt is the middle of the roaring twenties, and Gittel is living The Hague with her parents, whose blazing rows are the traditional preserve of Sundays and public holidays. What luck, then, that Gittel is Jewish, and must submit to the double helping of public holidays that is the lot of Jewish families.After every matrimonial slanging match, Gittel''s mother runs off to her parents'' home in Antwerp - with her daugher in tow. Much to her delight, Gittel makes the acquaintance of the well-to-do Mardell family, who allow her to practise on their Steinway. Gittel feels that she is taken seriously by Mr Mardell, the head of the household, and by thirty-year-old Lucie, whom she adores. When these friendships turn out to be nothing but an illusion, Gittel learns her first lessons about trust and betrayal. Her second comes soon after, when her father, whose talents for business leave much to be desired, attempts to make a quick killing in Berlin on the eve of the Wall StreeTrade Review[A] delicious . . . waspishly witty story of family squabbles and romances from the perspective of a sharp-eyed buy innocent girl . . . Simons' achievement is such that we think . . . of Muriel Spark - even Jane Austen. -- Boyd Tonkin * Financial Times. *All the makings of a word-by-mouth classic . . . Dazzlingly captures the ebullient voice of an endearingly guileless young girl as she teeters on the edge of the infinitely more precarious world of adulthood. -- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail. *Simons has an impressive lightness of touch which balances the darker theme of betrayal . . . An atmospheric inter-war study of family ties and the more fleeting affection of shallow alliances -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *Found: the Dutch Stoner. A debut between Franz Kafka and John Cheever. A must-read book. * De Standaard. *The Jane Austen of 1920's Antwerp. The success of Ida Simons is mainly due to the quality of the novel. A Foolish Maiden is still charming after half a century since it was written. The language is fresh, humoristic and sober. * Trouw. *Gittel reminds us of Anne Frank. * Nederlands Dagblad *This rediscovered novel from 1959 from the Dutch-Flemish Ida Simons is this summer's Stoner. * Algemeen Dagblad. *An extraordinary novel. Musical prose. Ida Simons shows she is a self-conscious writer in this sensitive yet unsentimental novel. It is incomprehensible that this book hasn't been read for many years. There's no need to read another novel for the time being. * NRC Handelsblad. *This is the Dutch equivalent of Stoner. The novel is remarkably timeless. The language is light and simple, sometimes even poetic and Ida Simons is especially strong in her understatement, which yields a friendly and sometimes biting humor. * De Morgen. *

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Book SynopsisTo disentangle the National Socialistsâ path to power in Germany, one must attend to the discursive strategies and liturgical practices employed by its emocrats, or manipulators of emotions. The apotheosis of martyrdom in the National Socialist propaganda template is far from being a marginal element in the movementâs history. Owing to its mobilising and unifying potential in constructing a community of memory, the glorification of Nazi martyrdom constituted a fundamental pillar of the movementâs communicative and propaganda strategy, stressed to the point of paroxysm.The propaganda and lies that ground the construction of the martyr as a prefiguration of the new man are the core ideas that form the backbone of this book. The Nazisâ politics of death was a carefully managed element of National Socialism from its very inception. The martyrs, and their blood sacrificed on the altar of the fatherland, were an invaluable propaganda weapon. There were three pillars of the Nazi martyrdom frame: sublimation of death, posthumous sugar-coating and tamed death. Once the Nazi movement had taken control of German state apparatus, the mechanisms for disseminating the exemplary martyr in society may have changed, but not the specifics of the propaganda strategy itself.

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Book SynopsisThis book uses an empathic reading of Yiddish diaristsâ feelings, evaluations, and assessments about persecutors in the Warsaw, Lodz, and Vilna ghettos to present an emotional history of persecution in the Nazi ghettos. It re-centers the daily experiences of psychological and physical violence that made up ghetto life and that ultimately led victims to use their diaries as a place of agency to question and attempt to maintain their own beliefs in pre-war Jewish and Enlightenment ethics and morality. Holocaust scholars and students, as well as people interested in personal narratives, interpersonal relations, and the problem of dehumanization during the Holocaust will find this study particularly thought-provoking. Essentially, this book highlights the benefits of reading with empathy and paying attention to emotions for understanding the experiences of people in the past, especially those facing tragedy and trauma.

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Book SynopsisAn American fighter pilot doomed to die in Buchenwald but determined to survive.On August 13, 1944, Joe Moser set off on his forty-fourth combat mission over occupied France. Soon, he would join almost 170 other Allied airmen as prisoners in Buchenwald, one of the most notorious and deadly of Nazi concentration camps. Tom Clavin''s Lightning Down tells this largely untold and riveting true story.Moser was just twenty-two years old, a farm boy from Washington State who fell in love with flying. During the War he realized his dream of piloting a P-38 Lightning, one of the most effective weapons the Army Air Corps had against the powerful German Luftwaffe. But on that hot August morning he had to bail out of his damaged, burning plane. Captured immediately, Moser's journey into hell began.Moser and his courageous comrades from England, Canada, New Zealand, and elsewhere endured the most horrific conditions during their imprisonment... until the day the orders were issued by Hitler himself to execute them. Only a most desperate plan would save them.The page-turning momentum of Lightning Down is like that of a thriller, but the stories of imprisoned and brutalized airmen are true and told in unforgettable detail, led by the distinctly American voice of Joe Moser, who prays every day to be reunited with his family.Lightning Down is a can't-put-it-down inspiring saga of brave men confronting great evil and great odds against survival.

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Book SynopsisAfter the German attack on Poland in 1939, vast swathes of Polish territory, including Warsaw and Krakow, were occupied by the Nazis in an administration which became known as the ''General Government''. The region was not directly incorporated into the Third Reich but was ruled by a German regime, headed by the brutal and corrupt Governor General Hans Frank. This was indeed the dark heart of Hitler''s empire. As the first genuine Nazi colony, the General Government became the principal ''racial laboratory'' of the Third Reich. As such, it was the site, and main source of victims, of Aktion Reinhard, the largest killing operation in human history in which at least 1.7 million Jews were murdered in just 18 months, and of a campaign of terror, exploitation and ultimately ethnic cleansing against the Polish population which was intended to serve as a template for the rest of eastern Europe. It was a place where 42,000 people could be shot in two days, where thousands of childrenTrade ReviewA perceptive account of one of the darkest periods in human history... this book deserves a wide readership, and should be considered vital in shaping our understanding of the brutal realities of Nazi ideology and the unrelenting horror of the Holocaust. * Jonathan Eaton, Military History *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Notes on Place Names and Sources Introduction: 'The Wild East' 1. 'The Devil’s Work': Origins 2. 'Gangster Gau': The Regime 3. 'Gentlemen, we are not murderers': Early Measures 4. 'Something big is coming': Barbarossa 5. 'The second war': Everyday Life 6. 'That accursed year': Aktion Reinhard 7. 'The crying of the children': Ethnic Cleansing 8. 'the blood of fighting Poland': Resistance 9. 'Herr Roosevelt's list': Collapse Epilogue: 'A study of human madness' Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisUnknown story of a man prepared to stand up to the SS.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis Holocaust movies have become an important segment of world cinema and the de-facto Holocaust education for many. One quarter of all American-produced Holocaust-related feature films have won or been nominated for at least one Oscar. In fact, from 1945 through 1991, half of all American Holocaust features were nominated. Yet most Holocaust movies have fallen through the cracks and few have been commercially successful. This book explores these trends--and many others--with a comprehensive guide to hundreds of films and made-for-television movies. From Anne Frank to Schindler''s List to Jojo Rabbit, more than 400 films are examined from a range of perspectives--historical, chronological, thematic, sociological, geographical and individual. The filmmakers are contextualized, including Charlie Chaplin, Sidney Lumet, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino and Roman Polanski. Recommendations and reviews of the 50 best Holocaust films are included, along with Trade ReviewRich Brownstein's Holocaust Cinema Complete is wonderful and special. His specific examination of the Anne Frank Diary's complicated print history, as well as his deep dive into the entire Anne Frank cinema sub-genre since the 1950s is extraordinary. As with all other Holocaust cinema, Brownstein recommends the best Anne Frank films, based equally on both their educational and entertainment value. His unique and well documented overview of this sub-genre of Holocaust movies is essential for educators and Anne Frank aficionados alike, as well as for film buffs generally." —Tom Brink, head of publications and presentations at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the producer of the Anne Frank Video Diary"The proliferation of films whose subject is the Holocaust, whether in its preliminaries, enactments, or aftermath, whether in Europe or the United States, is a continuing phenomenon, worthy of deeper study. Rich Brownstein's achievement in identifying, analyzing, and critiquing the wide-ranging genre will be of immense utility to a variety of readers, whether educators, film critics, historians, or those drawn almost irresistibly to the topic of how to represent the unrepresentable. In an informed and singular voice, Brownstein's exhaustive lists, numerous classifications, and cogent discussions, have provided us with an invaluable service and considerable material for further thought." —Froma I. Zeitlin, Ewing Professor of Greek Language and Literature and professor of comparative literature, emeritus, Princeton University.Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsForeword by Tim Blake NelsonForeword by Walter ReichForeword by Michael Berenbaum and Edward JacobsForeword by David ZuckerAuthor's Preface and Introduction1. Narrative Holocaust Film BasicsDefining Narrative Film  13Defining Holocaust Film  15Creating a Definitive Holocaust Film List  16Grouping Holocaust Films: The "4+1 Genre" System  19­Non-Holocaust Films: Shorts, Television Episodes, Documentaries and Miniseries  282. Stats and ErasHolocaust Film Stats  32Four Eras of Holocaust Film  433. Surprising Holocaust Film TraitsFiction vs. ­Non-Fiction  55­Non-American Holocaust Film Production  60American Guilt  70God, the Holocaust and Holocaust Exploitation  734. The Unavoidables: Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank, Oskar Schindler and Oscar BaitElie Wiesel: The Elephant in the Room  79Anne Frank: A Microcosm of Holocaust Film  83The Black Hole of Holocaust Films: Schindler's List (1993) & Friends  96Oscar Bait  1075. A Practical History of Holocaust Filmmaking in Hollywood6. The Greatest Narrative Holocaust Film Ever Made7. Roman Polanski and The Pianist (2002)8. Holocaust Film Curriculum Planning: The "SOFTA" SystemStudents  158Objectives  165­Follow-Up  168Time  173Administrative  175Summary  1769. Recommended Holocaust FilmsThe 52 Best Holocaust Films  181The Very Best Holocaust Films  275Epilogue: Eva.Stories and Holocaust Film TrendsAppendix I: List of Holocaust FilmsAppendix II: ­Non-Holocaust Films Often Miscategorized as Holocaust FilmsChapter NotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisShortlisted - 2023 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards for Best Reality-Based Work.An intimate co-creation of three graphic novelists and four Holocaust survivors, But I Live consists of three illustrated stories based on the experiences of each survivor during and after the Holocaust.David Schaffer and his family survived in Romania due to their refusal to obey Nazi collaborators. In the Netherlands, brothers Nico and Rolf Kamp were separated from their parents and hidden by the Dutch resistance in thirteen different places. Through the story of Emmie Arbel, a child survivor of the Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, we see the lifelong trauma inflicted by the Holocaust.To complement these hauntingly beautiful and unforgettable visual stories, But I Live includes historical essays, an illustrated postscript from the artists, and personal words from each of the survivors.As we urgently approach the post-witness era without livinTrade Review"The superb, heart-rending book But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust collects the testimonies of four survivors in a graphic narrative format for new generations. It is a powerful and indispensable educational tool not just for high school students, for whom it was designed, but for anyone. Readers can now carry these indelible stories forward." * Quill & Quire *"I'm convinced that we need more books like this, so that we can preserve a terrible history in a way that makes it easily accessible on the one hand, but also allows a different, very personal access to the stories on the other. I think that this book belongs with Maus in every bookcase." -- Tobi Dahmen, comic artist and illustrator * www.tobidahmen.de *"The graphic narratives in But I Live are powerful and relate the Holocaust stories in profound and intense ways that words alone cannot. Created for middle readers, this book is suitable for adults too." -- Beverly Cramp * BC BookWorld *"Last week I was given a gift of sadness, a gift of violence, fear, tragedy and suffering…But it was also a gift of courage, extraordinary determination, unimaginable resilience, and ultimately triumph…The gift came in the form of a recently published collection of three graphic novellas called But I Live. It is a remarkable achievement bringing together four survivors with three writer/illustrators who help portray the harrowing journey of the survivors’ young lives." -- Chris * In a Spacious Place *"The combination of stories and artwork is powerful and chilling." -- Dean Poling * Valdosta Daily Times *“Who should read this book? Young adults, for sure. But also teachers. Makers of memorials and exhibitions. Historians, literary and art scholars, everyone.” -- Christian Staas * Die Zeit *Table of ContentsPreface Bernice Eisenstein The Stories “A Kind of Resistance” Miriam Libicki and David Schaffer “Thirteen Secrets” Gilad Seliktar, Nico Kamp, and Rolf Kamp “But I Live” Barbara Yelin and Emmie Arbel The Histories The Holocaust in Transnistria Alexander Korb Surviving in Hiding from the Nazis Dienke Hondius Surviving Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen as a Child Andrea Löw In Their Own Words David Schaffer Nico Kamp Rolf Kamp Emmie Arbel Behind the Art Miriam Libicki, Gilad Seliktar, and Barbara Yelin Afterword Charlotte Schallié, Matt Huculak, Ilona Shulman Spaar, and Jan Erik Dubbelman Acknowledgments Biographies

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Book SynopsisIn 1945, soon after the liberation of Auschwitz, Soviet authorities in control of the Kattowitz (Katowice) camp in Poland asked Primo Levi and his fellow captive Leonardo De Benedetti to compile a detailed report on the sanitary conditions they witnessed in Auschwitz. The result was an extraordinary testimony and one of the first accounts of the extermination camps ever written. Their report, published in a medical journal in 1946, marked the beginnings of Levi’s life-long work as writer, analyst and witness. In the subsequent four decades, Levi never ceased to recount his experiences in Auschwitz in a wide variety of texts, many of which are assembled together here for the first time, alongside other testimony from De Benedetti. From early research into the fate of their companions to the deposition written for Eichmann’s trial, Auschwitz Testimonies is a rich mosaic of documents, memories and critical reflections of great historic and human value. Underpinned by his characteristically clear language, rigorous method and deep psychological insight, this collection of testimonies, reports and analyses reaffirms Primo Levi’s position as one of the most important chroniclers of the Holocaust. Trade Review"One of the most important and gifted writers of our time."—Italo Calvino "The triumph of human identity and worth over the pathology of human destruction glows virtually everywhere in Levi's writing.... Time and time again we are moved by his narratives of how men refuse erasure."—Toni Morrison "Primo Levi's poise was one of the greatest achievements in the history of the human spirit. His writing restored the honor of humanism after Auschwitz."—Leon Wieseltier "Whether as witness or imaginative artist, Levi stands high among the truly essential European writers of the past century."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post "Their unvarnished testimony speaks volumes about the weight of responsibility felt by survivors such as Levi to ensure that the world never forgot the 'insane dream of building a thousand-year empire upon millions of corpses and slaves'."—The Sydney Morning Herald "Levi writes of unspeakable things with charity, clarity and objectivity."—Sunday Times "The publication of Auschwitz Testimonies may go some way to fulfil Levi's 40-year post-war odyssey to bear witness to 'the history of today, whose violence is the child of that violence which, by sheer chance, we managed to survive'."—The Morning Star

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Book SynopsisWhat do we really know about the sources of Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitism? What led him to become such a genocidal anti-Semite? It is often said that the strongly anti-Semitic atmosphere in pre-war Vienna, in which Hitler failed to achieve his dream of becoming an artist, was when his hatred of the Jews first began to stir. We also often read that such feelings were compounded by the so-called stab in the back' by Jewish-Marxists at the end of the First World War, which led to Germany's humiliating capitulation. The Darwinian science of natural selection is often included in the debate as well, which to Hitler meant keeping the Germanic race pure' and untainted by the inferior' Jews. However, as Peter den Hertog sets out in this book, such external, cultural and environmental factors were also experienced by most of Hitler's contemporaries, and they did not all turn into rabid Jew-haters. In this study, the author investigates what we do know about the roots of the German leader's anti-Semitism. He also takes the significant step of mapping out what we do not know in detail. This allows the reader to understand which information needs to be looked for in the search for a complete explanation. Historians will be historians and so have their own way of looking at the world. This fails to provide us with complete clarity in this matter. That is why this study also employs insights from Psychology, Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry. Readers even take a trip 65 million years back in time to the field of Evolutionary Psychology. The author reveals how Hitler was a man with highly paranoid traits. The causes of this paranoia are clarified for the first time and its connection to Hitler's anti-Semitism is explained in depth. The author also explores, and answers, whether the F hrer gave one specific instruction ordering the elimination of Europe's Jews, and, if so, when this took place. Peter den Hertog is able to provide an all-encompassing explanation for Hitler's anti-Semitism by combining insights from many different disciplines. He also succeeds in clarifying how Hitler's own particular brand of anti-Semitism could lead the way to the Holocaust.

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Book SynopsisINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*A Today Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick* *An Indie Next Great Read*'[A] vivid depiction of a family's heartbreak, its rending and rebuilding.' - Clare Lombardo, New York Times Book Review 'Spanning generations and continents, from pre-WWII Germany to current day midwestern America, Send For Me is a richly imagined testament to the ties that bind.' Whitney ScharerGermany 1930s. Annelise is a dreamer: imagining her future while working at her parents' popular bakery in Feldenheim, Germany, anticipating all the delicious possibilities yet to come. There are rumours that anti-Jewish sentiment is on the rise, but Annelise and her parents can't quite believe that it will affect them; they're hardly religious at all. But as Annelise falls in love, marries, and gives birth to her daughter Ruthie, the dangers grow closer: a brick thrown through her window; a childhood friend who cuts ties with her; customers refusing to patronise the bakery. Luckily Annelise and her husband are given the chance to leave for America, but they must go without her parents, whose future and safety are uncertain.Two generations later, in a small Midwestern city, Ruthie's daughter and Annelise's granddaughter, Clare, is a young woman newly in love. But when she stumbles upon her grandmother's letters from Germany, she sees the history of her family's sacrifices in a new light, and suddenly she's faced with an impossible choice: the past, or her future. A novel of dazzling emotional richness that is based on letters from Lauren Fox's own family, Send for Me is an epic and intimate exploration of mothers and daughters, duty and obligation, hope and forgiveness.Trade ReviewAn anthropological excavation... It is haunted throughout by the endlessly fascinating question of inheritance. How much of our stories - and which parts - truly belong to us?... The book is a real achievement - beautifully written, deeply felt, tender and thoughtful... The storytelling is patient, generous... The major accomplishment of Send for Me [is] its vivid depiction of a family's heartbreak, its rending and rebuilding. * Clare Lombardo, New York Times Book Review *A sense of foreboding shadows this bittersweet intergenerational tale of love and trauma... Subtle, striking, and punctuated by snippets of family letters.. Fox has imbued this deeply personal, ultimately hopeful novel, which she explains in an author's note is based on her own family's story, with emotion, empathy, and an essential understanding of the complicated bonds between generations and the importance of reckoning with the past in order to embrace the future. An intimate, insightful, intricately rendered story of intergenerational trauma and love. * Kirkus, starred *Fox deftly moves between generations as she illuminates the ways that choices echo through the lives of those who came after. This thoughtful, character-driven exploration of the unbreakable bonds of motherhood will appeal to fans of Alice Hoffman and Elizabeth Berg. * Booklist *A beautifully told story of intergenerational loves and sorrows. * Jennifer Rosner, author of The Yellow Bird Sings *Imbued with lyrical prose, Send For Me is a beautiful tale of heartbreak and renewal, and of the love and loss we carry with us, generation after generation. * Georgia Hunter, author of We Were The Lucky Ones *A rare and beautiful novel in luminous prose with great economy and precision... Fox seems to say, life is threaded with hope and joy and human connection... I loved this book. * Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train *Spanning generations and continents, from pre-WWII Germany to current day midwestern America, Send For Me is a richly imagined testament to the ties that bind... Lauren Fox's first historical novel is moving, heartfelt and filled with love. * Whitney Scharer, author of Age of Light *Fox satisfyingly brings this story of love and desire full circle, as Clare and Ruth reflect on what it means to be both a mother and a child in the darkest of times. This tender and deeply inspired story will move readers. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book Synopsis"A remarkable and important story" BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour"Unputdownable . . . Urbach has also retold the tragic Holocaust story in quite unforgettable lines" A.N. Wilson"In a remarkable new book, Alice's granddaughter Karina, a noted historian, has traced what happened to her family but also what happened to the cookbook" Daniel Finkelstein"This fascinating book, by Alice's granddaughter Karina Urbach, shines a spotlight on this lesser-known aspect of Nazi looting" The Times"A gripping piece of 20th-century family history but also something much more original: a rare insight into the 'Aryanisation' of Jewish-authored books during the Nazi regime" Financial TimesWhat happened to the books that were too valuable to burn?Alice Urbach had her own cooking school in Vienna, but in 1938 she was forced to flee to England, like so many others. Her younger son was imprisoned in Dachau, and her older son, having emigrated to the United States, became an intelligence officer in the struggle against the Nazis.Returning to the ruins of Vienna in the late 1940s, she discovers that her bestselling cookbook has been published under someone else's name. Now, eighty years later, the historian Karina Urbach - Alice's granddaughter - sets out to uncover the truth behind the stolen cookbook, and tells the story of a family torn apart by the Nazi regime, of a woman who, with her unwavering passion for cooking, survived the horror and losses of the Holocaust to begin a new life in America.Impeccably researched and incredibly moving, Alice's Book sheds light on an untold chapter in the history of Nazi crimes against Jewish authors."As this engaging memoir makes clear, the theft of the cookbook remained for Alice's entire life the symbol of everything that had been taken from her" TLSTranslated from the German by Jamie BullochTrade ReviewA remarkable and important book * BBC Radio 4 "Woman's Hour" *A gripping piece of 20th-century family history but also something much more original: a rare insight into the "Aryanisation" of Jewish-authored books during the Nazi regime. Urbach has meticulously pieced together everything she could find about how and why Alice's publishers were able to deny her authorship for more than 80 years . . . It's impossible to read this moving and clear-eyed book without admiring Alice's fiercely optimistic spirit -- Bee Wilson * Financial Times *In a remarkable new book, Alice's granddaughter Karina, a noted historian, has traced what happened to her family but also what happened to the cookbook. -- Daniel FinkelsteinUnputdownable . . . I have read all Urbach's historical books with high admiration, but none of them can match this story, for its sheer oddity . . . By telling the story of the brazen theft of a cookbook, and the fate of its title long after the war, Urbach has also retold the tragic Holocaust story in quite unforgettable lines. -- A.N. WilsonUnlike Nazi art theft, about which there are many excellent books, there has been surprisingly little research into the Nazi theft of Jewish authorship . . . As this engaging memoir, smoothly translated by Jamie Bulloch, makes clear, the theft of the cookbook remained for Alice's entire life the symbol of everything that had been stolen from her. -- Caroline Moorehead * TLS *An unputdownable narrative, told with remarkable restraint. * Spectator Books of the Year 2022 *This fascinating book shines a spotlight on this lesser-known aspect of Nazi looting. -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * The Times *The extraordinary story of a phenomenal woman with a cookery school in pre-war Vienna . . . Thanks to [Urbach's] research, recognition and copyright was restored to Alice's descendants in 2021. * Tablet *A fascinating family history [about] a little-known strand of Nazi persecution. -- Matthew Reisz * Spectator *The sheer pettiness of the crime adds to our understanding of the Nazi intent: to rob Jews of any shred of standing, dignity or entitlement . . . Alice's is a story worth telling. -- Jenni Frazer * Jewish Chronicle *This new book is an important act of reclamation * Prospect Magazine Books of the Year *Engaging, elegant and moving . . . a compelling fusion of meticulous history accounting and a family memoir. -- Richard Cockett * Literary Review *What the historian has brought to light is perfect film material - persecution, murder, fraud, imprisonment, escape, rescue, friendship, secret service activities, rise, fall and a new beginning . . . And Urbach's writing is exciting, cinematic. -- Susanne Kippenberger * Tagesspiegel *Exciting, moving, informative - this family memoir belongs on the bestseller list. Simply terrific! -- Mike Altwicker * WDR *A remarkable book . . . The author describes the slow expropriation of Alice Urbach - a fate she shared with many Jewish authors. -- Martin Doerry * Spiegel *Karina Urbach not only reconstructs individual fates from family correspondence and tape interviews from her grandmother's estate, she also draws on a myriad of archives. [...] The fact that she - a traditional historian who is aware of the dangers of a lack of emotional distance - manages this without sentimentality is an achievement in itself. The facts are moving enough. -- Walter Schübler * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *Exciting, touching and insightful: Karina Urbach has written a great book about a strong woman who could not be shaken by anything and who turned her little happiness into happiness for others -- Heribert Prantl * Sueddeutsche Zeitung *A remarkable and important book * BBC Radio 4 "Woman's Hour" *

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Book SynopsisTeaching and Studying the Holocaust is comprised of thirteen chapters by some of the most noted Holocaust educators in the United States. In addition to chapters on establishing clear rationales for teaching this history and Holocaust historiography, the book includes individual chapters on incorporating primary documents, first person accounts, film, literature, art, drama, music, and technology into a study of the Holocaust. It concludes with an extensive and valuable annotated bibliography especially designed for educators. Chapter Ten instructs how to make effective use of technology in teaching and learning about the Holocaust. The final section of the book includes a bibliography especially developed for teachers that lists invaluable resources. From the Back Cover - Holocaust scholars from around the world offer critical acclaim for Totten and Feinberg's ""Teaching and Studying the Holocaust"": Michael Berenbaum; Ida E. King Distinguished Visitor Professor of Holocaust Studies, Richard Stockton College and Former Director of Research at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - 'There are many scholars who are wont to criticize the teaching of the Holocaust. Many journalists critique what they regard as kitsch or trendiness. All critics of contemporary Holocaust education would do well to read this book. One cannot fail to be impressed by the quality of its learning and the seriousness of its purpose. It is a wonderful place for teachers to turn as they contemplate teaching the Holocaust, an open invitation to learn more and teach more effectively'. Barry van Driel; Coordinator International Teacher Education, Anne Frank House, Amsterdam - '""Teaching and Studying the Holocaust"" is an invaluable resource for any teacher wanting to address the complex and sometimes overwhelming history of the Holocaust in the classroom. The book offers a multitude of sensitive and responsible ways of dealing with the issue of the Holocaust. It succeeds in showing teachers very clearly how the study of the Holocaust is not just a topic for history teachers, but for teachers across the curriculum'. Dr. Nili Keren; Kibbutzim College of Education, Tel Aviv, Israel - 'Teaching about the Shoah is one of the most complicated tasks for educators. Indeed, teaching and studying this history raises unprecedented questions concerning modern civilization, and presents teachers and students with tremendous challenges. Samuel Totten and Stephen Feinberg have created a volume that provides educators with essential information and new insights regarding the teaching of this history, and, in doing so, they assist educators to face the aforementioned challenges head-on. ""Teaching and Studying the Holocaust"" does not make the task easier, but it does make it possible'.

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Book SynopsisFor decades, history ignored the Nazi persecution of gay people. Only with the rise of the gay movement in the 1970s did historians finally recognize that gay people, like Jews and others deemed “undesirable,” suffered enormously at the hands of the Nazi regime. Of the few who survived the concentration camps, even fewer ever came forward to tell their stories. This heart wrenchingly vivid account of one man's arrest and imprisonment by the Nazis for the crime of homosexuality, now with a new foreword by Sarah Schulman, remains an essential contribution to gay history and our understanding of historical fascism, as well as a remarkable and complex story of survival and identity.Table of ContentsPreface by Sarah SchulmanIntroduction by Klaus Müller1. Imprisoned as a “Degenerate”2. Arrival at Sachsenhausen3. A Camp of Torture and Toil4. Flossenbürg5. The Polish Boys and the Gypsy Capo6. Commander “Dustbag”7. Burnings and Tortures8. A Pink-Triangled Capo9. A “Cure” for Homosexuality, and Air Raids10. The End, and Home AgainGlossary

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Book SynopsisKurt and Sonja Messerschmidt met in Nazi Berlin, married in the Theresienstadt ghetto, and survived Auschwitz. In this book, they tell their intertwined stories in their own words. The text directly expresses their experiences, reactions, and emotions. The reader moves with them through the stages of their Holocaust journeys: persecution in Berlin, deportation to Theresienstadt and then to Auschwitz, slave labor, liberation, reunion, and finally emigration to the US. Kurt and Sonja saw the death of Jews every day for two years, but they never stopped creating their own lives. The spoken words of these survivors create a uniquely direct relationship with the reader, as if this couple were telling their story in their living room.Table of ContentsTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Preface, by Sarah Cushman IntroductionBerlinTheresienstadt/TerezinAuschwitzSlave LaborDeath MarchLiberationMunichMaineConclusionBibliographyStudy GuideIndex

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Book SynopsisIn this vivid memoir originally published in German, Anne Groschler (1888-1982) recounts her 1944 escape from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to Mandatory Palestine via “Transport 222”, an exchange transport of 222 Jews for “Aryan" prisoners of war. In the most detailed contribution of the exchange ever published, Groschler paints an authentic picture of life before WWII amongst the upper echelons of German society, her ultimate persecution and escape to Holland where she was betrayed, the horrors of life in the Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen camps, and her eventual flight via "Transport 222" to Palestine. Written immediately after her liberation in 1944, this unique document captures a little-known chapter of Holocaust history.Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Jever 1938–19392. Groningen and the occupation of the Netherlands—January 1939 to 19423. Groningen 1942/43: Hiding, betrayal and prison4. Camp Westerbork: November 12, 1942, to January 19445. Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, February 1, 1944, to June 1944. Death of Hermann Groschler6. Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, April 16 to June 30, 1944: Before the Palestine exchange7. June 30 to July 10, 1944: From Bergen-Belsen to Palestine by train8. Arrival in Palestine on July 10, 1944, and the time thereafterWorks CitedIllustration Credits

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Book SynopsisA beautifully somber photographic meditation on an ancient Jewish ritual The Jewish tradition of leaving a stone or pebble at the gravesite of a loved one is an ancient custom of remembering the departed by means of a humble natural object. Minneapolis-based photographer Vince Leo (born 1949) began taking photographs of these “visitation stones” after several people close to him died in quick succession, and he found himself enacting the ritual of grief over and over. Placing a stone is a simple but powerful gesture that connects the living to the dead. Remembered as a Blessing contains 30 of Leo’s black-and-white photographs, which honor these stones as the complex objects they are: simultaneously hard, durable pieces of matter and embodiments of ineffable spiritual relationships, often among many generations. Each of Leo’s photographs fuses light, focus, viewpoint, reflection and magnification into a moment in which the ordinary and the symbolic coexist. Daniel Mendelsohn, acclaimed author of The Lost, contributes an essay.Trade ReviewRenders remembrance and grief. * The New York Times Book Review *An aesthetically robust and spiritually poignant reflection on Jewish visitation stones. * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book Synopsis6th September, 1942: a middle-aged Jewish refugee stands on the Swiss side of the Franco-Swiss border above Geneva. He has been living in Switzerland since he fled Vienna in November 1938, as the Nazi persecution of the city’s Jewish population intensified. He is now waiting for the arrival of the wife he has not seen for nearly four years. Against all odds he has managed to get an entry permit for her to join him in Switzerland. She appears on the French side. They see each other. Call out. She begins to cross the few yards of no-mans-land that separate them. An official calls her back. She hesitates, turns, goes back - and is lost forever. This book tells the story of the wartime journey of Toni Schiff, as she ventured across Europe to the this fateful near-meeting at the Franco-Swiss border – and what happened next. Based on the extensive research of her daughter, Kindertransportee Hilda Schiff, and told by Sheila Rosenberg, who shared much of the later research and many of the research journeys, this book sheds light on the lives of one family – caught up in, and ultimately separated by, the tragic and tumultuous events of World War II.Trade ReviewThis is a well-researched and often heartrending book, illustrated with poignant poetry. It draws from Hilda’s own recollections and extensive investigations as well as on historical research by others. It is strong in human interest and painstakingly put together with helpful headings to make reading easier. * AJR Journal *Thoughtfully illustrated by precious family photographs ... Hilda and her family have clearly undertaken a great deal of meticulous research ... [This book] should help anyone else researching a typical European Jewish family in terms of where they might need to undertake research to locate vital fragments of information about what happened to their relatives. * Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine *Contains a terrific amount of information and is thoroughly researched ... Informative and touching, and a worthy contribution to Kindertransport and Holocaust literature ... A beautiful book, with many interesting illustrations; a book that raises interesting questions about memoir as a literary form. * Voices Newspaper *Represents a necessary form of intervention that appeals to the responsibility not of future but of current historians and journalists. * Jewish Historical Studies *The Exit Visa is remarkable. It encapsulates the bravery, fear and ultimately impossible choices of Jewish Refugees from Nazism. Through painstaking research, the journeys of the Schiff family are re-created. it is a study especially of mother and daughter: Toni, who comes agonisingly close to safety on the French-Swiss border, but is turned away and deported to her murder at Auschwitz, and Hilda who comes to England on the Kindertransport. This multi-layered account, curated deftly by Sheila Rosenberg, melds history, memory and reflection, most powerfully through Hilda Schiff's poetry of loss and displacement. It raises troubling questions of what happens when human beings are labelled 'illegal' as relevant to the migrant crisis today as it is to understanding the Jewish experience of persecution during the Holocaust. * Professor Tony Kushner, University of Southampton *The Exit Visa tells how the horrors of the Nazis overwhelmed a typical Jewish family – a unique story of survival by some and the capture of one woman on the Swiss German border within sight of her horrified husband. * Lord Alf Dubs, Arrived in the UK in 1939 on a Kindertransport *A moving and often unsettling investigation of alienation and reunification under and after the Nazi regime. Rosenberg has crafted a skillfully embroidered narrative of the Schiff children, Hilda and Gitti, their experiences as Kindertransportee children in England, and their efforts to unravel the mystery of their mother, Toni, who was separated from her husband at the Franco-Swiss border in September 1942. The story roves across cities, memories and conversations, while historians and archives reveal the painful conclusion of Toni's journey in Nazi Europe. The Exit Visa is a vital memoir of longing and loss. * Dr Simone Gigliotti, Senior Lecturer/Reader in Holocaust Studies, Royal Holloway University of London *Table of ContentsPrologue 1. Hilda 2. Vienna: Toni and the family up to February 1939 3. Escape to Belgium 4. Switzerland: The Moses Schiff story 1938-1942. The Swiss via 5. From Antwerp to Annemasse 6. The last journeys: Annemasse to Rivesaltes; Rivesaltes to Drancy 7. The last journeys: Convoy 33 to Auschwitz and Auschwitz Epilogue: 'And the Sun Still Shone'

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Book Synopsis Throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, approximately ninety thousand German Jews fled their homeland and settled in the United States, prior to that nation closing its borders to Jewish refugees. And even though many of them wanted little to do with Germany, the circumstances of the Second World War and the postwar era meant that engagement of some kind was unavoidable—whether direct or indirect, initiated within the community itself or by political actors and the broader German public. This book carefully traces these entangled histories on both sides of the Atlantic, demonstrating the remarkable extent to which German Jews and their former fellow citizens helped to shape developments from the Allied war effort to the course of West German democratization.Trade Review “… a rich, multilayered account that includes a variety of perspectives, experiences, and reactions to Germany by a diverse community of refugees.” • Studies In Contemporary Jewry “This is a solid, comprehensive study of German-Jewish refugees in the United States, especially in Los Angeles and New York. It is probing and judicious.” • Michael A. Meyer, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of ReligionTable of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. Background Chapter 2. Americanization before 1941 Chapter 3. The Enemy Alien Classification, 1941–1944 Chapter 4. German Jewish Refugees in the U.S. Military Chapter 5. German Jewish Refugees and the Discourse on Germany's Future, 1942–1945 Chapter 6. German Jewish Refugees and the West German Foreign Office in the 1950s and 1960s Chapter 7. German Jewish Refugee Travel to Germany and West German Municipal Visitor Programs Conclusion: Germany on Their Minds? Index

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Book Synopsis “A meticulous and shattering investigation of eight horrific pictures…”—L’Arche In December 1941, on a shore near the Latvian city of Liepaja, Nazi death squads (the Einsatzgruppen) and local collaborators murdered in three days more than 2,700 Jews. The majority were women and children, most men having already been shot during the summer. The perpetrators took pictures of the December killings. These pictures are among the rare photographs from the first period of the extermination, during which over 800 000 Jews from the Baltic to the Black Sea were shot to death. By showing the importance of photography in understanding persecution, Nadine Fresco offers a powerful meditation on these images while confronting the essential questions of testimony and guilt. From the forward by Dorota Glowackay: Straddling the boundary between historical inquiry and personal reflection, this extraordinary text unfolds as a series of encounters with eponymic Holocaust photographs. Although only a small number of photographs are reproduced here, Fresco provides evocative descriptions of many well-known images: synagogues and Torah scrolls burning on the night of Kristallnacht; deportations to the ghettos and the camps; and, finally, mass executions in the killing fi elds of Eastern Europe. The unique set of photographs included in On the Death of Jews shows groups of women and children from Liepaja (Liepája), shortly before they were killed in December 1941 in the dunes of Shkede (Škéde) on the Baltic Sea. In the last photograph of the series, we see the victims’ bodies tumbling into the pit.Trade Review Praise for the French and Polish editions: “A great and shattering book.” • Jan T. Gross “Emotion, sensitivity, and suffering are not the enemies of precision or historical rigor and can sometimes make it more substantial, even more accurate. This is what Nadine Fresco manages to do with strength and brilliance, through a steady effort of writing, in this moving book.” • Politis “A meticulous and shattering investigation of eight horrific pictures, in which the progressive revelation of the truth is reminiscent of Daniel Mendelssohn’s The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million.” • L’Arche “Around the pain, the anguish, the astonishment, the shame, the refusal to see, Nadine Fresco, with all her resources as a historian, delicately undertakes to build a shelter made of arguments, research on facts, deeds, and words. She envelops the horror while revealing it, and she shelters past sufferings as well as the one she awakens in the reader.” • La Quinzaine littéraire “Fresco skillfully guides us from the flat surface of photography to the depths of the victims’ experience—their humiliation, loneliness, suffering, and death. A fascinating essay about the cognitive, aesthetic, and moral dilemmas of the photographic representation of the Holocaust.” • Jacek LeociakTable of Contents List of Illustrations Foreword Dorota Glowacka List of Abbreviations On the Death of Jews Select Bibliography

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