The Holocaust Books

Book SynopsisA meticulously researched book that collects twelve playscripts written by European Jews imprisoned in the Terezín ghetto during the Holocaust. The concentration camp and Jewish ghetto at Terezín, or Theresienstadt, in what is now the Czech Republic, was a site of enormous suffering, fear, and death. But amid this horrific period, there was also a thriving and desperately vibrant cultural life. While the children’s drawings and musical pieces created in the ghetto have become justly famous, the prisoners’ theatrical works, though a lesser-known aspect of their artistic endeavors, deserves serious attention as well. Performing Captivity, Performing Escape collects twelve theatrical texts—cabaret songs and sketches, historical and verse dramas, puppet plays, and a Purim play—written by Czech and Austrian Jews. Together these works reveal the wide range of ways in which the prisoners engaged with and escaped from life in the ghetto through performance. The anthology opens with an insightful prologue by novelist Ivan Klíma, who was interned in the ghetto as a child and contains a detailed introduction by editor Lisa Peschel about the pre-war theatrical influences and wartime conditions that inspired the theater of the ghetto. The array of theatrical forms collected in this anthology speaks of the prisoners’ persistence of hope in a harrowing time and will be a moving read for students and scholars of the Holocaust. Trade Review“Performing Captivity, Performing Escape is a fascinating, heartbreaking, frequently witty collection that has been translated with love and care, and that brings to light art that has heretofore been hidden. When you add the essays, thorough biographical notes, and beautiful, evocative artwork, you end up with a powerful portrait of a tragic era in Central European history and of the power of art to ameliorate suffering.”—Austrian Studies Newsmagazine “Performing Captivity, Performing Escape is a fascinating, heartbreaking, frequently witty collection that has been translated with love and care, and that brings to light art that has heretofore been hidden. When you add the essays, thorough biographical notes, and beautiful, evocative artwork, you end up with a powerful portrait of a tragic era in Central European history and of the power of art to ameliorate suffering.” * Austrian Studies Newsmagazine *Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsPronunciation GuideEdition Notes and ConventionsIntroductionPrologue:?Terezín Theater by Ivan KlimaPart 1:?Czech-Language Texts1.Radio Show2.Looking for a Specter3.Songs from the Revue Prince Bettliegend4.The Smoke of Home 5.Laugh with Us6.The Second Czech CabaretPart 2:?German-Language Texts1.From the Strauss Cabarets2.The Treasure3.A Puppet Play in Ten Acts4.Purimspiel5.The Death of Orpheus6.The Insult—But Unintended; 7.or, The Man with the Defective Memory 8.A Theresienstadt Courtroom Scene9.From the Hofer Cabarets10.Epilogue: New Year’s Eve in the Oederan Slave-Labor CampGlossaryBibliography

Read more less

Book Synopsis Following the Axis invasion of Greece, the Nazis began persecuting the country’s Jews much as they had across the rest of occupied Europe, beginning with small indignities and culminating in mass imprisonment and deportations. Among the many Jews confined to the Thessaloniki ghetto during this period were Sarina Saltiel, Mathilde Barouh, and Neama Cazes—three women bound for Auschwitz who spent the weeks before their deportation writing to their sons. Do Not Forget Me brings together these remarkable pieces of correspondence, shocking accounts of life in the ghetto with an emotional intensity rare even by the standards of Holocaust testimony.Trade Review Praise for the Greek edition: “Letters of this kind are uniquely valuable testimonies, for the simple reason that they were not intended as testimonies; they were not written with posterity in mind.” • Kathimerini “The testimonies of the extermination of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki are not mere evidence or potential historical sources. They are in a way a means of communication, phantasmagoric, whose function is based on the recognition of distance—physical or metaphysical.” • Ta NeaTable of Contents List of Illustrations Foreword to the English Edition Serge Klarsfeld Foreword to the Greek Edition Yannis Boutaris Introduction Note from the Jewish Museum of Greece Zanet Battinou Acknowledgements Chronology Maps Introduction Leon Saltiel Translation Note Leon Saltiel and Jenny Demetriou Prologue: Instructions to Jews Migrating from Thessaloniki List of Letters Letters of Sarina (Sara) Saltiel Introduction Eleni Saltiel Short biography of Maurice Saltiel Eleni Saltiel Exercpts from the Autobiography of Maurice Saltiel Letters of Sarina (Sara) Saltiel Letters of Mathilde Barouh Introduction Leon Saltiel Letters of Mathilde Barouh Letters of Neama Cazes Introduction Leon Saltiel Letters of Neama Cazes Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe testament to a tragedy.Voices from The Holocaust follows the whole history of the 'Shoah' from Hitler's rise to power to the Nuremburg trials, but of course the exterminations and death camps of 'The Final Solution' take centre stage. It tells the story from the perspective of the people who were there, and were witnesses - on both sides - of the horror. While some of the eye-witnesses are well-known, such as Anne Frank, Primo Levi and Heinrich Himmler, the book includes recollections of camp inmates, SS Totenkopf guards and the British soldiers who liberated Belsen. Shocking, powerful and personal, Voices from the Holocaust retells history, written by those who were there.

Read more less

"I have read few autobiographies more extraordinary . . . Astonishing" OBSERVER"A classic. I preferred it to Primo Levi's If This is a Man" EDWARD WILSON"A child's clear-eyed journey to hell" ANNE SEBBAThis is a story of a young boy's journey from a sleepy provincial town in Hungary during the Second World War to the concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen. After a winter in Bergen-Belsen where his father died, he and his mother were liberated by the Americans outside a small German village, and handed over to the Red Army. They escaped from the Russians, and travelled, hiding on a goods train, through Prague to Budapest. Unlike other books dealing with this period, this is not a Holocaust story, but a child's recollection of a journey full of surprise, excitement, bereavement and terror. Yet this remains a testimony of survival, overcoming obstacles which to adults may seem insurmountable but to a child were just part of an adventure and, ultimately, recovery. After having established a career in the West, the author decided to revisit the stages on his earlier journeys, reliving the past through the perspective of the present. Along the way, ghosts from the past are finally laid to rest by the kindness of new friends.With an introduction by Lisa Appignanesi

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn extraordinary story about a Jewish woman who pretended to be Catholic to survive the Holocaust. Catholics believed she was one of them. A devoted Nazi family took her in. She fell in love with a German engineer who built aeroplanes for the Luftwaffe. But no one knew that Mala Rivka Kizel had been born into a large Orthodox Jewish family. She survived World War II using her charm, intelligence, blonde hair, and blue eyes to assume different identities. Journalist Pieter van Os retraces Mala’s footsteps through Europe to uncover her extraordinary journey and the stories of those who helped her. This poignant, rich book is an engrossing meditation on what drives us to fear the Other, and what in turn might allow us to feel compassion for them.Trade Review‘In almost every sentence, van Os compels admiration with his elegant prose, demonstrating his erudition but never showing off or taking away from the gravity of the subject matter … Hiding in Plain Sight is more than a survival narrative. It is a history of Eastern European mentality.’ * de Volkskrant *‘I couldn’t stop reading. A stunning book.’ -- Geert Mak, author of In Europe‘Based on the survival story of one woman, van Os wrote a poignant and disconcerting book about the terrible fate of the Jews, and at the same time about current obsessions with national character and identity.’ -- Judges’ comments from the Libris History Prize‘You rarely see a journalistic book of this narrative-literary level. A unique book that reveals every page how much careful research and great writing power lies behind it … Van Os shows the value of dwelling longer on a side path or a detail. In this way he knows how to paint a broad and multicoloured image of the blackest pages of recent European history. You are reading this book in one breath.’ -- Judges' comments from the Brusse Prize for Best Dutch-language Journalistic Book‘Hiding in Plain Sight is an utterly immersive book, bringing readers into lives and places and communities, into their loss and (re)building. It is a hard book to read. As it should be.’ -- Jordana Silverstein * The Conversation *‘Hiding in Plain Sight is, at times, a detective story and at others, a poignant reminder that there were good people who helped, and others who lied to survive, remembering each step of the way that lying, and in turn surviving, was the best revenge of all.’ -- Jessica Abelsohn * Australian Jewish News *‘Hiding in Plain Sight [is] a meticulous, engaging, and thoughtful book.’ -- Yelena Furman * Foreword Reviews *‘Journalist van Os delivers an intense and intriguing portrait of Holocaust survivor Mala Shlafer née Kizel (1926–2021), a Polish Jew who survived the Nazis by passing as an ethnic German Catholic …The result is an immersive study of survival.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘Brings a different take to the well-worn genre of WW2 literature.’ * DutchNews.nl *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis edition is the first of its kind to offer a basic collection of facsimile, English language, historical articles on all aspects of the extermination of the European Jews. A total of 300 articles from 84 journals and collections allows the reader to gain an overview of this field. The edition both provides access to the immense, rich array of scholarly articles published after 1960 on the history of the Holocaust and encourages critical assessment of conflicting interpretations of these horrifying events. The series traces Nazi persecution of Jews before the implementation of the "Final Solution", demonstrates how the Germans coordinated anti-Jewish activities in conquered territories, and sheds light on the victims in concentration camps, ending with the liberation of the concentration camp victims and articles on the trials of war criminals. The publications covered originate from the years 1950 to 1987. Included are authors such as Jakob Katz, Saul Friedländer, Eberhard Jäckel, Bruno Bettelheim and Herbert A. Strauss.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this remarkable introduction, Stephen D Smith, the new Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, describes the inspiring journey he and his family took in creating the first Holocaust centre in Britain. This story was written in response to many questions. It replies with a powerful challenge to all who think that ''never again'' is really worth the struggle. The Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation hosts this lecture by Stephen Smith, the new director of the Shoah Foundation Institute at the University of Southern California and co-founder of the Aegis Trust. In his powerful address, Smith discusses the past century of crimes against humanity and genocide: the links between them, and the ways to understand them in order to avoid them in the future.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe remarkable, untold story of one Holocaust survivor''s resilience against all odds, discovered through a chance encounter with a collection of her wartime poetry.Originally from Nuremberg, Germany, Else Dormitzer dedicated much of her life to combating antisemitism in a city that became synonymous with Nazi propaganda and spectacle in the Third Reich. Drawing on materials from the family’s extensive personal archive, Traces of Memory follows her life from pre-war Nuremberg to war-torn Amsterdam, from the confines of the Theresienstadt ghetto to post-war life in London. The result is a deeply personal story of a woman at the margins of memory. Accompanied by historical photographs, the book includes Dormitzer’s original poetry collection from Theresienstadt and three testimonial accounts of her Holocaust experience to keep alive the work and story of a singular woman.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Shoah Through Muslim Eyes, the author discusses her journey with Judaism as a Muslim. Her book is based on the struggle with antisemitism within Muslim communities and her interviews with Shoah survivors. Rejecting polemical myths about the Holocaust and Jews, Afridi offers a new way of creating understanding between the two communities through the acceptance the enormity of the Shoah. Her journey is both personal and academic: the reader can find nuances of her belief in Islam, principles of justice, and the loneliness of such a journey. The chapters discuss the Holocaust and how it was in truth unprecedented, interviews with survivors, antisemitism and Islamophobia, camps in Arab lands, and Islam and memory. Afridi includes newly-uncovered Muslim-Arab narratives that enhance our understanding of the reach of the Holocaust into Muslim lands under the Vichy and Nazi governments.Trade Review"I just finished reading one of the most profound and important books that I have read in recent years[...] as inspirational as it is informative." - Ron Cornish, Huffington Post blogTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction Chapter One: Why the Shoah? Chapter Two: My Journey through Academia, Jerusalem, and Dachau Chapter Three: Why is the Shoah Unprecedented? Chapter Four: The Document Chapter Five: Is Islam Antisemitic? No. Chapter Six: Muslims and the Memory of a Colonial Holocaust Conclusion Afterword Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis"With this timely book in Hackett Publishing's Passages series, Michael Bryant presents a wide-ranging survey of the trials of Nazi war criminals in the wartime and immediate postwar period. Introduced by an extensive historical survey putting these proceedings into their international context, this volume makes the case, central to Hackett's collection for undergraduate courses, that these events constituted a 'key moment' that has influenced the course of history. Appended to Bryant's analysis is a substantial section of primary sources that should stimulate student discussion and raise questions that are pertinent to warfare and human rights abuses today." Michael R. Marrus, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor Emeritus of Holocaust Studies at the University of TorontoTrade Review"An excellent text for students. Cutting through the vast literature on Nazi criminality and efforts to bring the culprits -- not just the 'major perpetrators,' as these are usually understood, but ordinary professionals as well -- to justice, Bryant's masterful study boils down the essential facts and complex historiography. The inclusion of the actual indictments, court verdicts, and laws upon which the trials were based shows students how the legal scaffolding of modern international criminal law was constructed." -- Michael Bazyler, The 1939 Society Scholar in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies and law professor, Fowler School of Law, Chapman University

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis volume comprehensively explores the life trajectories of nine child/adolescent Holocaust concentration camp survivors as recollected when the subjects were elders. Based on extensive face to face interview material, enduring psychological and symptomatic effects were evident. Survivors retained vivid recollections of the horror of internment and expressed ongoing grief for the multiple losses they had experienced. Unresolved grief contributed to a sense of existential loneliness, particularly prominent in their late life reflections. Despite indications of resilience and life productivity, a ‘Trauma Trilogy’ of inter-linked catastrophic grief, anger, and survivor guilt contributed to a sense of pain and struggle in negotiating Erikson’s final life task of Integrity versus Despair. Trade Review“A book, raw in the visceral descriptions of the effects of the Holocaust provided by ageing child survivors as they painfully and courageously re-visit their experiences in the camps, the death marches and beyond. A book of inspiration in the warmth and compassion of the interviewer who listened and cared and whose personal resonances with the survivors shone through. A hugely informative book in all authors’ scholarly research on complex trauma, complicated bereavement, ageing, resilience and existential loneliness. A remarkable, must read book in contemporary times not only for its collection of rare testimonies of ageing survivors of the holocaust but for its insights into the very long term but individual effects of massive collective trauma, which continue to dog the twenty first century. It is a testimony to despair and hope, trauma and resilience, and a must read for those who at least wish to try to understand.” — Gillian Straker, Clinical Professor, University Of Sydney; Visiting Research Professor, University Witwatersrand"This book captures the voices of some of the last living survivors of the Holocaust. These in-depth interviews provide valuable testimony to how the catastrophic losses and trauma suffered by children and youth in the context of a genocide shaped their life trajectories, and how these early experiences impact their engagement with the final developmental challenges of the late years in life. Moreover, Tracey Farber was one of the few practitioners who braved doing home visits during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her book brings a unique contribution since the interviews took place during a historical time that changed life for all, and exposed aging child survivors of the Holocaust to the most severe pandemic of the last 100 years, forcing them to endure isolation, loneliness and disrupted care, once again. Farber’s gentle and compassionate relationships with the survivors are an inspiration to all who know or work with trauma survivors.”— Irit Felsen, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Co-Chair of the Trauma Working Group at the NGO on Mental Health in Consultative Relationship to the United Nations“This important book adds many layers and considerable clarity to our understanding of child concentration camp Holocaust survivors’ experiences as they age. South Africa was always on the margins of the history of the Second World War and the Holocaust; only about 350 Holocaust survivors settled in the country after the war, many of whom were children and adolescents who were not interviewed about their experiences until the 1990s. It is seldom that a group of survivors trust and feel so comfortable with a researcher such as these nine survivors have been with Tracey Farber. They have known her for years and have benefitted from her visible care and generosity of spirit. Through her research, she does not only study the topic but also makes important steps to make sure they are cared for through the establishment of Holocaust survivors services in South Africa. This book is a testament to the many years of dedication and real care she has displayed, of which we are all grateful beneficiaries. I encourage all to read this important book, which includes not only the cases of these survivors and analysis of their experiences, but also excellent suggested steps forward that can be implemented widely.”— Tali Nates, Founder and Director, Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre“A must-read for those interested in a rich combination of unique perspectives on theories of childhood development and trauma, including the impact on aging for those who were children during the Holocaust. The Survivor narratives are gripping and haunting, and command the reader to pause in honor of their testimonies. Be prepared to be inspired by their resilience. This book contributes to a deeper understanding of the experiences of grief and hope among those who survived the atrocities of the Holocaust as children.”— Jenni Frumer, Ph.D., LCSW, MSEd; Director, NOW for Holocaust Survivors Initiative/MorseLife Health System USATable of ContentsAcknowledgements ForewordProfessor Diana ShmuklerPrefaceTracey FarberIntroductionTracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora Smith1. Literature ReviewTracey Farber2. Research ApproachTracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora Smith3. Experiences and Testimonies of Child Concentration Camp SurvivorsTracey Farber Helene Dave Miriam Lenna Isaac Anne Shlomo Rina Menachem 4. Findings and Discussion: Themes of Trauma and Devastating Loss That Emerged from Testimony of Child Concentration Camp SurvivorsTracey Farber 5. Reflexivity and CountertransferenceTracey Farber6. InterventionsTracey Farber7. Temporality and the Reevaluation of Memories in Aging Child Holocaust Survivors: A Developmental TrajectoryCora Smith8. A Particular Form of Complex TraumatizationGillian Eagle9. What Can Be Learned from Child Concentration Camp Survivors about the Impact of Severe Trauma and Its Long-Term Impact on AgingTracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora Smith10. Responding to the Needs of Aging Child Holocaust Survivors and Other Survivors of Severe Early TraumaTracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora SmithBibliographyAppendix 1. Ethical Clearance CertificateAppendix 2. Turnitin Plagiarism Report

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe present volume contains thirteen articles based on work presented at the “XX. Century Conference: If This Is A Woman” at Comenius University Bratislava in January 2019. The conference was organized against anti-gender narratives and related attacks on academic freedom and women’s rights currently all too prevalent in East-Central Europe. The papers presented at the conference and in this volume focus, to a significant extent, on this region. They touch upon numerous points concerning gendered experiences of World War II and the Holocaust. By purposely emphasizing the female experience in the title, we encourage to fill the lacunae that still, four decades after the enrichment of Holocaust studies with a gendered lens, exist when it comes to female experiences.Trade Review“Years after the events, the subject of gender and family during the Holocaust began to be researched and written about by scholars, and this volume is a welcome addition to the topic.”— Michlean Lowy Amir, AJL News and Reviews“The publication If This is A Woman, edited by an international early career stage researchers’ group, is not only an insightful contribution to history and memory studies, it also makes a necessary political statement in times where gender studies and the social position of women are experiencing backlashes across the world. The high level of self-reflection is a very characteristic feature of this volume and may be a symptom of the new generation of researchers reflecting on their own work and how they even are influenced by power imbalances in academia … All contributions have been thoroughly researched and edited. … The strength of this book… is that it provides new research on sources that are not available in English. The volume also demonstrates that historical research on gender and war is addressing very pressing issues.”— Elisa-Maria Hiemer, H Soz Kult“What sets this volume apart from the other Holocaust scholarship are the introductions to new paths of research that use gender as a subject and a lens, and the fact that it features scholars whose work is otherwise unknown to English-language audiences… [T]he real success of the book is that it teases out exciting new horizons for Holocaust research, giving readers insight into questions previously unasked and looking at sources in innovative and exciting ways, such as Vastenhout’s examination of the Jewish councils and Zabransky’s analysis of the connections between religion and sexuality.”— Morgan Morales, H-Judaic“[T]his newest volume offers a unique focus on Eastern Europe and features approaches to gendered experiences of the Holocaust that are far more theoretically and methodologically rigorous. … Almost all the chapters in the volume utilize the micro-historical method to inform their theoretical engagement with gendered experiences of the Holocaust. As such, If This Is a Woman is a veritable repository of micro-historical research, which further magnifies its value as a methodological exemplar for future Holocaust research. … As a result, the book is not simply valuable to those scholars looking for chapters relevant to their own specific localities of interest, but also to scholars searching for examples of theoretical rigor at the micro-scale.”— Catharine Aretakis, Utrecht University, European Journal of Jewish Studies"If This Is a Woman, a collection of well-documented scholarly essays, brings us new insights on women and gender during the Holocaust. Originating in Slovakia, the birthplace of Holocaust heroes Gisi Fleischmann and Haviva Reick, this book is an important contribution to giving women their place in Holocaust history. With the focus on East-Central Europe and some essays the result of research in Russian, Polish, Slovakian, or Ukrainian archives, the book gives English language readers access to important new information on women and gender."— Rochelle G. Saidel, PhD, Founder and Executive Director, Remember the Women Institute, New York CityTable of ContentsTable of Contents AcknowledgementsForeword: Unholy AlliancesAndrea PetőIntroductionDenisa Nešťáková, Katja Grosse-Sommer, Borbála Klacsmann, and Jakub DrábikPart One: Theoretical Reflections on a Gender Focus in Holocaust Studies1. “Will You Hear My Voice?” Women in the Holocaust: Memory and AnalysisDalia Ofer2. A Familial Turn in Holocaust Scholarship?Natalia AleksiunPart Two: Gender in Times of Occupation and Authoritarianism: Expectation and Reality3. Masculinities under Occupation: Considerations of a Gender Perspective on Everyday Life under German Occupation Agnes Laba4. New Slovak Woman: The Feminine Ideal in the Authoritarian Regime of the Slovak State, 1939-1945Eva ŠkorvankováPart Three: Women’s Lives in Camps5. “Our mother organized it all”: The Role of Mothers of Sereď Camp in the Memories of Their ChildrenDenisa Nešťáková6. Women in the Ilava Camp as Political Detainees in 1939Marína ZavackáPart Four: Women in Positions of Community Leadership7. Women in Dror and Gendered Experiences of the Holocaust?Anna Nedlin-Lehrer8. Female Involvement in the “Jewish Councils” of the Netherlands and France: Gertrude van Tijn and Juliette SternLaurien VastenhoutPart Five: Women in the Resistance9. “Ma’am, do you know that a Jew lives here?” The Betrayal of Polish Women and the Jewish Children They Hid during the Holocaust—the Case of CracowJoanna Sliwa10. “And with these boots, I’m gonna run away from here”: The Significance of Female Narratives in the Sobibor Uprising and Its AftermathHannah Wilson11. “After all, I was a ‘female’ and a ‘yid’ to boot.” Jewish Women among Partisans in Lithuania, 1941–1944Modiane Zerdoun-DanielPart Six: Sexuality and Sexual Violence12. Listening to Women’s Voices: Jewish Rape Survivors’ Testimonies in Soviet War Crimes TrialsMarta Havryshko13. Male Jewish Teenage Sexuality in Nazi Germany Florian ZabranskyContributors

Read more less

Book SynopsisInspired by seven photographs of WWII refugees in an old album, the author embarked on a quest to uncover the story behind each portrait. Had the refugees been rescued by the diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust by providing Japanese transit visas? Searching for the identities of the people in the photographs, the author scoured historical records and interviewed numerous fascinating individuals, including Sugihara visa recipients and their descendants. While solving the mystery of the people in the photographs, the author uncovered more hero diplomats and new details about Sugihara visas. This account of the author’s investigation supports the legacy of Chiune Sugihara and highlights other WWII saviors, such as the Dutch diplomat Jan Zwartendijk. Trade Review“[N]early forgotten footnotes in the annals of the Holocaust are resurrected with passion and conviction by Kitade, who has devoted himself to building bridges of mutual understanding between Japan and Jews. In Emerging Heroes, he salutes the Japanese and foreign diplomats who went above and beyond the call of duty to lend a helpful hand to Jewish refugees during their darkest hours of duress.”— Sheldon Kirshner, Times of Israel“Akira Kitade has written a highly entertaining and gripping sequel to his well-received book Visas of Life and the Epic Journey: How the Sugihara Survivors Reached Japan. The first three chapters follow up on the stories of the seven photos discussed in his previous book. The next five chapters focus on the heroic roles played by the Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara and five essential diplomat 'accomplices' in saving over 2000, mostly Polish Jews, who had escaped to Lithuania prior to March 1940. These diplomats included Jan Zwartendijk, Honorary Consul of the Netherlands in Lithuania; Saburo Nei, Acting Japanese Consul General of Japan in Vladivostok; N. A. J. de Voogd, Consul of the Netherlands in Kobe; Yoshitsugu Tatekawa, Ambassador of Japan in the Soviet Union; Tadeusz Romer, Ambassador of the Polish Government-in-Exile in Japan. The last chapter gives an accounting of the 2,140 names on the Sugihara List. Akira Kitade personalizes the stories in each chapter and writes in a relaxed, colloquial style. He exhibits an open-mindedness throughout in relating his stories.”– George Bluman, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Sugihara descendant“Akira Kitade is an unlikely chronicler of courage, hope, and heroism in humanity’s darkest age.Clearing out his modest office as he retired after a lifelong career at Japan’s Tourism Bureau, Akira discovered a dusty 75-year-old scrapbook filled with poems and photos in a neglected drawer. Written by his boss in 1941, it was titled ‘people without nations.’ The scrapbook’s haunting photos of desperate refugees led Akira on a journey of discovery into the lives of terrified Jews fleeing the Nazis and their unknown saviors.His tale, carefully written, with precision and detail, is a gripping story of good interfering in the face of evil, moral choices blunting the teeth of danger, and pure bravery. Reading as fine as dramatic fiction, it will stand for generations as a handbook of ordinary folks whose difficult decisions led them to immortal greatness.”–Rabbi Aaron Kotler, President Emeritus, Beth Medrash Govoha“Huge numbers of refugees took shelter from Poland in Lithuania at the beginning of WWII. Thousands of them were rescued from the Holocaust in the summer of 1940 by Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Kaunas. However, their destinies have scarcely been known after the war. Akira Kitade traces fourteen survivors by their footprints, who or whose parents received 'Visas for Life' from Sugihara or other Japanese diplomats and opened up a field of activity in the new world. Kitade also clarifies the activity of other rescuers than Sugihara.”– Chiharu Inaba, Professor of International Relations, Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan. Author of On the Hill of Yad Vashem: Trees of Righteous among the Nations (in Japanese).Table of ContentsMessage from the Mayor of Tsuruga City Takanobu Fuchikami Foreword Harriet P. Schleifer Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Encounter with an Album 2. The Sugihara Survivors I Met, and the Follow-Up 3. People in the Album Whose Identities Were Discovered 4. Jan Zwartendijk, Consul of the Netherlands in Kaunas 5. Saburo Nei, Acting Consul General in Vladivostok 6. N. A. J. de Voogd, Consul of the Netherlands in Kobe, Later Ambassador of the Netherlands to Japan 7. Yoshitsugu Tatekawa, Ambassador to the Soviet Union 8. Tadeusz Romer, Polish Ambassador to Japan 9. Tracking Down the 2,139 People on the Sugihara List  Conclusion List of Major References

Read more less

Book SynopsisInspired by seven photographs of WWII refugees in an old album, the author embarked on a quest to uncover the story behind each portrait. Had the refugees been rescued by the diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust by providing Japanese transit visas? Searching for the identities of the people in the photographs, the author scoured historical records and interviewed numerous fascinating individuals, including Sugihara visa recipients and their descendants. While solving the mystery of the people in the photographs, the author uncovered more hero diplomats and new details about Sugihara visas. This account of the author’s investigation supports the legacy of Chiune Sugihara and highlights other WWII saviors, such as the Dutch diplomat Jan Zwartendijk. Trade Review“[N]early forgotten footnotes in the annals of the Holocaust are resurrected with passion and conviction by Kitade, who has devoted himself to building bridges of mutual understanding between Japan and Jews. In Emerging Heroes, he salutes the Japanese and foreign diplomats who went above and beyond the call of duty to lend a helpful hand to Jewish refugees during their darkest hours of duress.”— Sheldon Kirshner, Times of Israel“Akira Kitade has written a highly entertaining and gripping sequel to his well-received book Visas of Life and the Epic Journey: How the Sugihara Survivors Reached Japan. The first three chapters follow up on the stories of the seven photos discussed in his previous book. The next five chapters focus on the heroic roles played by the Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara and five essential diplomat 'accomplices' in saving over 2000, mostly Polish Jews, who had escaped to Lithuania prior to March 1940. These diplomats included Jan Zwartendijk, Honorary Consul of the Netherlands in Lithuania; Saburo Nei, Acting Japanese Consul General of Japan in Vladivostok; N. A. J. de Voogd, Consul of the Netherlands in Kobe; Yoshitsugu Tatekawa, Ambassador of Japan in the Soviet Union; Tadeusz Romer, Ambassador of the Polish Government-in-Exile in Japan. The last chapter gives an accounting of the 2,140 names on the Sugihara List. Akira Kitade personalizes the stories in each chapter and writes in a relaxed, colloquial style. He exhibits an open-mindedness throughout in relating his stories.”– George Bluman, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Sugihara descendant“Akira Kitade is an unlikely chronicler of courage, hope, and heroism in humanity’s darkest age.Clearing out his modest office as he retired after a lifelong career at Japan’s Tourism Bureau, Akira discovered a dusty 75-year-old scrapbook filled with poems and photos in a neglected drawer. Written by his boss in 1941, it was titled ‘people without nations.’ The scrapbook’s haunting photos of desperate refugees led Akira on a journey of discovery into the lives of terrified Jews fleeing the Nazis and their unknown saviors.His tale, carefully written, with precision and detail, is a gripping story of good interfering in the face of evil, moral choices blunting the teeth of danger, and pure bravery. Reading as fine as dramatic fiction, it will stand for generations as a handbook of ordinary folks whose difficult decisions led them to immortal greatness.”–Rabbi Aaron Kotler, President Emeritus, Beth Medrash Govoha“Huge numbers of refugees took shelter from Poland in Lithuania at the beginning of WWII. Thousands of them were rescued from the Holocaust in the summer of 1940 by Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Kaunas. However, their destinies have scarcely been known after the war. Akira Kitade traces fourteen survivors by their footprints, who or whose parents received 'Visas for Life' from Sugihara or other Japanese diplomats and opened up a field of activity in the new world. Kitade also clarifies the activity of other rescuers than Sugihara.”– Chiharu Inaba, Professor of International Relations, Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan. Author of On the Hill of Yad Vashem: Trees of Righteous among the Nations (in Japanese).Table of ContentsMessage from the Mayor of Tsuruga City Takanobu Fuchikami Foreword Harriet P. Schleifer Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Encounter with an Album 2. The Sugihara Survivors I Met, and the Follow-Up 3. People in the Album Whose Identities Were Discovered 4. Jan Zwartendijk, Consul of the Netherlands in Kaunas 5. Saburo Nei, Acting Consul General in Vladivostok 6. N. A. J. de Voogd, Consul of the Netherlands in Kobe, Later Ambassador of the Netherlands to Japan 7. Yoshitsugu Tatekawa, Ambassador to the Soviet Union 8. Tadeusz Romer, Polish Ambassador to Japan 9. Tracking Down the 2,139 People on the Sugihara List  Conclusion List of Major References

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis volume comprehensively explores the life trajectories of nine child/adolescent Holocaust concentration camp survivors as recollected when the subjects were elders. Based on extensive face to face interview material, enduring psychological and symptomatic effects were evident. Survivors retained vivid recollections of the horror of internment and expressed ongoing grief for the multiple losses they had experienced. Unresolved grief contributed to a sense of existential loneliness, particularly prominent in their late life reflections. Despite indications of resilience and life productivity, a ‘Trauma Trilogy’ of inter-linked catastrophic grief, anger, and survivor guilt contributed to a sense of pain and struggle in negotiating Erikson’s final life task of Integrity versus Despair. Trade Review“A book, raw in the visceral descriptions of the effects of the Holocaust provided by ageing child survivors as they painfully and courageously re-visit their experiences in the camps, the death marches and beyond. A book of inspiration in the warmth and compassion of the interviewer who listened and cared and whose personal resonances with the survivors shone through. A hugely informative book in all authors’ scholarly research on complex trauma, complicated bereavement, ageing, resilience and existential loneliness. A remarkable, must read book in contemporary times not only for its collection of rare testimonies of ageing survivors of the holocaust but for its insights into the very long term but individual effects of massive collective trauma, which continue to dog the twenty first century. It is a testimony to despair and hope, trauma and resilience, and a must read for those who at least wish to try to understand.” — Gillian Straker, Clinical Professor, University Of Sydney; Visiting Research Professor, University Witwatersrand“A must-read for those interested in a rich combination of unique perspectives on theories of childhood development and trauma, including the impact on aging for those who were children during the Holocaust. The Survivor narratives are gripping and haunting, and command the reader to pause in honor of their testimonies. Be prepared to be inspired by their resilience. This book contributes to a deeper understanding of the experiences of grief and hope among those who survived the atrocities of the Holocaust as children.”— Jenni Frumer, Ph.D., LCSW, MSEd; Director, NOW for Holocaust Survivors Initiative/MorseLife Health System USA"This book captures the voices of some of the last living survivors of the Holocaust. These in-depth interviews provide valuable testimony to how the catastrophic losses and trauma suffered by children and youth in the context of a genocide shaped their life trajectories, and how these early experiences impact their engagement with the final developmental challenges of the late years in life. Moreover, Tracey Farber was one of the few practitioners who braved doing home visits during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her book brings a unique contribution since the interviews took place during a historical time that changed life for all, and exposed aging child survivors of the Holocaust to the most severe pandemic of the last 100 years, forcing them to endure isolation, loneliness and disrupted care, once again. Farber’s gentle and compassionate relationships with the survivors are an inspiration to all who know or work with trauma survivors.”— Irit Felsen, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Co-Chair of the Trauma Working Group at the NGO on Mental Health in Consultative Relationship to the United Nations“This important book adds many layers and considerable clarity to our understanding of child concentration camp Holocaust survivors’ experiences as they age. South Africa was always on the margins of the history of the Second World War and the Holocaust; only about 350 Holocaust survivors settled in the country after the war, many of whom were children and adolescents who were not interviewed about their experiences until the 1990s. It is seldom that a group of survivors trust and feel so comfortable with a researcher such as these nine survivors have been with Tracey Farber. They have known her for years and have benefitted from her visible care and generosity of spirit. Through her research, she does not only study the topic but also makes important steps to make sure they are cared for through the establishment of Holocaust survivors services in South Africa. This book is a testament to the many years of dedication and real care she has displayed, of which we are all grateful beneficiaries. I encourage all to read this important book, which includes not only the cases of these survivors and analysis of their experiences, but also excellent suggested steps forward that can be implemented widely.”— Tali Nates, Founder and Director, Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide CentreTable of ContentsAcknowledgements ForewordProfessor Diana ShmuklerPrefaceTracey FarberIntroductionTracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora Smith1. Literature ReviewTracey Farber2. Research ApproachTracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora Smith3. Experiences and Testimonies of Child Concentration Camp SurvivorsTracey Farber Helene Dave Miriam Lenna Isaac Anne Shlomo Rina Menachem 4. Findings and Discussion: Themes of Trauma and Devastating Loss That Emerged from Testimony of Child Concentration Camp SurvivorsTracey Farber 5. Reflexivity and CountertransferenceTracey Farber6. InterventionsTracey Farber7. Temporality and the Reevaluation of Memories in Aging Child Holocaust Survivors: A Developmental TrajectoryCora Smith8. A Particular Form of Complex TraumatizationGillian Eagle9. What Can Be Learned from Child Concentration Camp Survivors about the Impact of Severe Trauma and Its Long-Term Impact on AgingTracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora Smith10. Responding to the Needs of Aging Child Holocaust Survivors and Other Survivors of Severe Early TraumaTracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora SmithBibliographyAppendix 1. Ethical Clearance CertificateAppendix 2. Turnitin Plagiarism Report

Read more less

Book SynopsisIf language, if any language, lacks the words to express the experience of the concentration camps, how does one write the unspeakable? How can it then be translated?

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis volume is an annotated collection of original, informative, and moving photographs of the twins who survived the brutal medical experiments conducted at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp (1943-1945). The experiments were conducted by the infamous physician, Josef Mengele. These never-before-seen photographs were taken by the author (Segal) at the 40th anniversary of the camp’s liberation (January 27, 1985) and the public hearing on Mengele’s crimes at Yad Vashem (Hand and Name) in Jerusalem that followed. Other memorable moments, captured in photographs include traveling to Krakow, visiting Warsaw and hearing survivors’ testimonies. The photographs are organized into ten sections that unfold chronologically—each section is accompanied by a brief essay to provide compelling context and each photograph has an informative caption.Trade Review“Archfiend Josef Mengele escaped earthly justice for his ghoulish experiments on child twins and other Auschwitz victims, but Nancy Segal gives them a voice and lights an eternal candle in their memory. A testament to the power of love over evil.”— Ralph Blumenthal, former New York Times reporter on Nazi crimes, and author of The Believer“‘For us, forgetting was never an option’ observed Elie Wiesel. In this very moving and significant book of photographs, Dr. Segal has ensured the twins, who endured horrific experiments at the hands of Josef Mengele, will be remembered as Jews who had families before the war and built meaningful new lives after the war. The Germans sought to strip them of their identities and their humanity, but the Jews prevailed against all odds.”— Dr. Alex Z. Grobman, senior resident scholar at the John C. Danforth Society“Dr. Nancy L. Segal has done an incredible job. Looking through The Twin Children of the Holocaust, I was instantly captivated by the photographs, and also left speechless—the emotion they conveyed was overwhelming. The images of the young twins in their striped garments are shocking, even to those of us familiar with such horrific scenes. The nearly 150 photographs also include the twins’ 40th anniversary reunion events at Auschwitz-Birkenau, their public testimonies at Yad Vashem, their visit to Holocaust memorials in Warsaw, and the Inquest that examined evidence of Mengele’s death. Segal takes us on an unforgettable journey in this unique compendium.”— Nancy Spielberg, President, Playmount Productions“Nancy L. Segal has specialized in the psychological study of twins, identical and fraternal. So, we are fortunate that she attended the reunion of the Mengele twins and reminds us of the issues that were raised by the experimentation at Auschwitz by Josef Mengele—rightfully called the Angel of Death—and by the twins’ quest for information and justice. Her work is part scholarship, part reportage, part travelogue, but we are the beneficiaries of a lifetime of learning that led to her insights. The experience of these twins was worthy of independent study and their reunion certainly merits skilled reporting. We are grateful for all that Dr. Segal has revealed, having listened so well to the voices of these survivors and being uniquely capable of understanding them.”— Dr. Michael Berenbaum, Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, Director, Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust, American Jewish University“This riveting photographic accounting of their journey provides a glimpse into the 40th anniversary reunion of the twins’ release from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1985 and their ensuing trip to Israel for the Yad Vashem hearing of Mengele’s atrocities. … The book is not only a recounting of the adventure that a number of surviving twins experienced in 1985. It also serves as a testament to them and a memorial to those who were unable to be there. … This document is fascinating, upsetting, and important. It should be read as a celebration of those who survived, with a reminder to all of us that these events must not be forgotten.”— The Jewish Press“In this book, renowned twin researcher and author, Nancy Segal, offers a unique and photographic perspective of her journey with twins who survived the brutal medical experiments conducted at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. … The rawness of the images effectively captures the twins’ mixed emotions as they meet fellow inmates and recall the horrors of the camp. Alongside photographs of the twins before and after their liberation, Nancy’s annotations provide vital and authentic historical context. … What shines through in the book… are the twins’ personal stories of resilience and resourcefulness at the time of their captivity to the time of their reunion. … I highly recommend The Twin Children of the Holocaust for all twin researchers and for everyone who wants to know about this tragic time in human history.”— Jeffrey M. Craig, Twin Research and Human Genetics“What is fascinating about this book is the format of factual text, accompanied by photographs taken by Nancy Segal and with explanations. The reader feels that they meet the survivors and that they are looking through a personal photo album. … These personal stories, accompanied by photographs, remind the reader of the people who were harmed, making this a very powerful text. In addition, the individual survivors portrayed in this book demonstrate how resilience and intelligence played a role in their ability to survive the ordeals that they faced.”— Julie Aitken Schermer, Personality and Individual Differences“For anyone moved by the stories of the ‘Mengele twins’... the book will be worth consulting. … [T]he photographs of the twins are thought-provoking: pictures of surviving twins in 1985 juxtaposed with images of them as children… are simultaneously images of survival, loss, migration, and a whole host of other things. Photographs need a caption, however brief. Without knowing that the twins shown here are survivors of Mengele’s experiments in Auschwitz, there would be little to say about them. Seeing them with this knowledge moves the viewer to ponder on the suffering of the twins as children and the ways in which their twinhood was a source of comfort, anguish, or both to them, whether during or after their time in the camp.”— Dan Stone, Contemporary Jewry“When I was asked to review this book I hesitated for a moment, fearing that the content would be too gruesome. But I went ahead anyway, thinking that regardless of the emotions it would stir up, reading it was necessary to begin to understand both the depths of depravity to which we humans may sink, and the carnage that can result when research is conducted without a solid grounding in morality and ethics... Yet as I made my way through the book, I felt a surprising sense of uplift and inspiration. … The largely verbally unadorned images bring the victims to life, providing a poignant reminder of their reality and humanity. … It provides a permanent memorial to the victims, who have a right to be known and to have their experiences shared.” — Edward Bell, Behavior Genetics“Thanks to Dr. Segal, the history of the Mengle twins, which, for the most part, has been overlooked by many Holocaust historians, is no longer just a footnote in the history of the Shoah.”— The Jewish Link“The infamous twin medical experiments have been described in many other publications; this unusual book of photographs testifies to the remarkable resilience of those twins who survived.”— Ruth O. Selig, Twinless Times“In this new book, Nancy Segal tells the survival story of some of the people [twins] who were subjected to Josef Mengele's horrors at Auschwitz. . . She can relate what happened at that meeting because she accompanied the survivors on the trip to Auschwitz and Israel. This book will help you realize that this cannot happen again.”— Multifamilias (translated from the Spanish)Table of ContentsForeword by David G. Marwell Preface1. Minneapolis to Auschwitz and Jerusalem: How Did it Happen? 2. Pre-event Activities: Meeting Twins3. Traveling to Poland4. Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau: Reunion and Re-enactment 5. Exploring Auschwitz-Birkenau: An Art Museum, a Chance Meeting and a Trip to the Polish Border6. Medical Experiments: Process and Purpose7. Touring Warsaw: War Memorials and Everyday Life 8. Twin Testimonies: Public Hearing on Josef Mengele’s War Crimes 9. Aftermath: Inquiries and Inquest10. Twin Children of the Holocaust: After the Hearing and BeyondParting WordsAcknowledgmentsAbout the AuthorOther Books by Nancy L. Segal

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book SynopsisTHE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERHums with living history, human warmth and indignation' New York TimesLess a mystery unsolved than a secret well keptThe mystery has haunted generations since the Second World War: Who betrayed Anne Frank and her family? And why?Now, thanks to radical new technology and the obsession of a retired FBI agent, this book offers an answer. Rosemary Sullivan unfolds the story in a gripping, moving narrative.Over thirty million people have read The Diary of a Young Girl, the journal teenaged Anne Frank kept while living in an attic with her family and four other people in Amsterdam during World War II, until the Nazis arrested them and sent them to a concentration camp. But despite the many works journalism, books, plays and novels devoted to Anne's story, none has ever conclusively explained how these eight people managed to live in hiding undetected for over two years and who or what finally brought the Nazis to their door.With painstaking care, retired FBI agTrade ReviewThe New York Times bestseller ‘A stunning piece of historical detective work, cleverly structured and grippingly written’Daily Telegraph, five stars ‘Powerfully illuminates what it was like to live under a genocidal regime’Kathryn Hughes, Guardian ‘As much about the process of investigation as about the subject investigated. Along the way [Sullivan] lucidly describes many fascinating details of the compromises and betrayals of life under a murderous regime’Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday ‘Sullivan circles all of the possibilities like Agatha Christie with Zoom and a time machine. Shaped like a procedural or a whodunit, The Betrayal of Anne Frank hums with living history, human warmth and indignation’New York Times ‘Featuring startling new revelations and an intriguing new theory of what happened’Daniel Finklestein, The Times ‘Praiseworthy. With impressive clarity and dramatic effect, Sullivan reconstructs a complex investigation lasting five years’Gerard de Groot, The Times ‘A gripping, moving narrative’Press Association ‘Meticulous … Sullivan describes the Cold Case Team’s interdisciplinary methods, from criminal profiling, historical research and crowdsourcing to a Microsoft artificial intelligence program that found connections within a blizzard of archival documents. But the book is most engrossing as a portrait of wartime Amsterdam, a city of conflicting and cross-cutting loyalties, where personal peril could erase the line between heroism and villainy’Boston Globe

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"This collection of valuable studies shows how the German universities—already home to many conservative-nationalist and anti-democratic faculty as well as nazified students before 1933—welcomed the onset of the Nazi dictatorship and pursued a course of "self-coordination" in purging Jews and political opponents. Within the humanities, a core of Nazi activists in major disciplines such as theology, law, archeology, and history certainly exercised an inordinate influence over hiring, funding, and curriculum, but numerous opportunists and fellow travelers even in smaller departments adopted Nazi racial rhetoric and sought to demonstrate their "relevance" and "usefulness" to the Nazi cause. In the post-war period a few of the most egregious academic Nazis served as useful scapegoats, but the vast majority of faculty viewed themselves as the double victims of Hitler's dictatorship and war on the one hand and the Allies' unfair denazification on the other. But at least, in a second act of self-coordination, they sanitized their vitas, forgot their past complicities, and began to act like the non-Nazi, apolitical scholars they now claimed to have been all along."—Christopher R. Browning, Frank Porter Graham Professor of History Emeritus, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill"This is a sobering study of how quickly and completely German universities and the humanities were corrupted by Nazi ideology and policies during the National Socialist era. Led by some of the most prominent scholars in their fields, entire scholarly disciplines conformed to Nazi rule, leading to the broader perversion of humanistic values, standards and ethics throughout Germany. Thoughtful and profound, the essays in this volume explore this history as a warning for our own times."—Victoria J. Barnett, Director (retired), Programs on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust, U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum"As I read this rich collection, I found myself learning at nearly every turn, even from many of the footnotes. These are serious, well-researched and well-written studies; their authors draw upon both primary sources (not infrequently unpublished archival items) and secondary sources in the original languages to construct their arguments. Taken together, this is a compelling collection of serious essays from which readers, whether specialists or non-specialists, will learn much. The essays complement each other and even build on each other."—Saul M. Olyan, Samuel Ungerleider Jr. Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies, Brown University"With Jewish students under assault on campuses across the United States, The Betrayal of the Humanities demonstrates the role academicians can play in "validating" antisemitism and producing research to underpin genocidal worldviews."—The Times of Israel"The Betrayal of the Humanities is a testimony to what can go wrong if humanistic education is separated from ethics, from moral imperatives, and from the face of one's neighbor. We would do well to heed its warning."—Kathleen Gallagher Elkins, Review of Biblical LiteratureTable of ContentsList of ContributorsList of IllustrationsList of AbbreviationsPrefaceI. Nazi Germany and the Historical Humanities1. The History of the Humanities in the Third Reich, by Alan E. Steinweis2. The "Orient" and "Us", by Suzanne L. Marchand3. Luther Scholars, Jews, and Judaism during the Third Reich, by Christopher J. Probst4. Gerhard von Rad's Struggle against the Nazification of the Old Testament, by Bernard M. Levinson5. Jewish Studies in the Service of Nazi Ideology, by Anders Gerdmar6. Hermann Grapow, Egyptology, and National Socialist Initiatives for the Humanities, by Thomas Schneider7. German Assyriology, by Johannes Renger8. National Socialist Archaeology as a Faustian Bargain, by Bettina ArnoldII. Law, Music, and Philosophy in the Third Reich9. Hitler's Willing Law Professors, by Oren Gross10. The Music of Arnold Schoenberg, by Michael Cherlin11. Political Philosophy, by Emmanuel FayeIII. Nazi Germany and Beyond12. The Nazification and Denazification of the University of Göttingen, by Robert P. Ericksen13. The University of Göttingen and Its Postwar Response to Persecuted Colleagues, by Aniko Szabo14. Italian Fascism, by Franklin Hugh Adler15. Is There an Anti-Jewish Bias in Today's University?, by Alvin H. RosenfeldIndex of Scholars and Related Academic Figures ExaminedIndex of Paramilitary and Military Roles HeldIndex of Universities and Academic Institutions Examined Index of AuthorsSubject Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAmong the many narratives about the atrocities committed against Jews in the Holocaust, the story about the Jews who lived in the eye of the stormthe German Jewshas received little attention. Germans against Germans: The Fate of the Jews, 19381945, tells this storyhow Germans declared war against other Germans, that is, against German Jews. Author Moshe Zimmermann explores questions of what made such a war possible? How could such a radical process of exclusion take place in a highly civilized, modern society? What were the societal mechanisms that paved the way for legal discrimination, isolation, deportation, and eventual extermination of the individuals who were previously part and parcel of German society? Germans against Germans demonstrates how the combination of antisemitism, racism, bureaucracy, cynicism, and imposed collaboration culminated in the final solution.Trade Review"The history of German Jews in the Nazi period is generally told as a history of deprivation of rights, expulsion, and exile, while the history of their destruction is subsumed under the history of European Jewry. Moshe Zimmermann is to be commended as the first to have rendered their distinct path to destruction a subject of portrayal: Their obstructed perception of their designated fate on the basis of their habitual legal comprehension of reality, their decency and their acceptance."—Dan Diner, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem"To this brilliant new synthesis on the history of the Jews in the Third Reich, Moshe Zimmermann has brought a lifetime of learning on modern German and Jewish history. Germans against Germans explores the expectations and desires of contemporaries as they lived them, without knowing how history would turn up. This is essential reading for scholars in the field."—Alon Confino, University of Massachusetts AmherstTable of ContentsList of Abbreviations1. The Decline of German Jewry2. The Tabula Rasa Policy3. "Days of Grace" in a Mousetrap4. From Quarantine to Depatriation5. Lost in the East6. Mischlinge, "Divers," and Virtual Jews7. "The Jews Were Our Misfortune"8. Jews as Germans Abroad9. Looking Back, Looking AheadBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisOffers a close look at the legacy of a few Jewish families from Sussen-a village in southern GermanyTrade Review"A decade of archival research, the collection of oral testimonies, and various personal encounters in Germany and beyond eventually provide the stage for this study which merges local, public, and personal history. All of this work allows Schmidt to paint a detailed picture of rural Jewish life in Sussen before, during, and after Nazism." -- Martin Kalb, Northern Arizona University -German Studies Review "Offers a close look at the legacy of a few Jewish families from this region, their long family histories, their engagements in commerce, industry and civic life before 1933, their fate under the Nazis, and their scattered stories after the Holocaust. In this sense this book offers a kind of micro-history of Jews in Germany before, during and after the Holocaust. It is a kind of Yiskor or Memory book for the Jewish communities of this region and especially Sussen. With new and little known material, this book brings new insight into the life of rural Jews in Germany, both through original historical scholarship, interviews, and an engagement with sources only available in German." -- -Laura Levitt Temple University "Sussen is Now Free of Jews features an enormous amount of original research and illustrates the inherent importance of talking about Landjudentum (village Jewry) to an English reading audience. Schmidt's ability to combine archival material, memoir literature, interviews and personal recollections is both impressive and moving." -- -Alan T. Levenson University of Oklahoma

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis updated edition includes a substantive new preface that reconsiders some of the issues raised in the book.Table of ContentsPreface 2004Preface to the First Edition1. Writing History, Writing Trauma2. Trauma, Absence, Loss3. Holocaust Testimonies: Attending to the Victim's Voice4. Prepetrators and Victims: The Goldhagen Debate and Beyond5. Interview for Yad Vashem (June 9, 1998)6. Conclusion: Writing (about) TraumaIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisMost accounts of the Holocaust focus on trainloads of prisoners speeding toward Auschwitz, with its chimneys belching smoke and flames, in the summer of 1944. This book provides a hitherto untold chapter of the Holocaust by exploring a prequel to the gas chambers: the face-to-face mass murder of Jews in Galicia by bullets. The summer of 1941 ushered in a chain of events that had no precedent in the rapidly unfolding history of World War II and the Holocaust. In six weeks, more than twenty thousand Hungarian Jews were forcefully deported to Galicia and summarily executed. In exploring the fate of these Hungarian Jews and their local coreligionists, A Summer of Mass Murder transcends conventional history by introducing a multitude of layers of politics, culture, and, above all, psychology—for both the victims and the executioners. The narrative presents an uncharted territory in Holocaust scholarship with extensive archival research, interviews, and corresponding literature across countries and languages, incorporating many previously unexplored documents and testimonies. Eisen reflects upon the voices of the victims, the images of the perpetrators, whose motivation for murder remains inexplicable. In addition, the author incorporates the long-forgotten testimonies of bystander contemporaries, who unwittingly became part of the unfolding nightmare and recorded the horror in simple words. This book also serves as a personal journey of discovery. Among the twenty thousand people killed was the tale of two brothers, the author's uncles. In retracing their final fate and how they were swept up in the looming genocide, A Summer of Mass Murder also gives voice to their story.Table of Contents List of Illustrations The Main Characters: Survivors, Witnesses, Rescuers, Perpetrators Author's Note Preface 1. Prologue: A Primer to the Holocaust 2. The Ostjuden: The Galicianer in the Hungarian Imagination 3. Galicia: An Exile into the Unknown 4. Kamenets-Podolsk: The Anatomy of a Massacre 5. Galicia 1941 – 1942: The Delirium of Murder 6. Weapon of War: Rape and Sexual Violence 7. Return from the Abyss: Rescue and Survival 8. Opening Old Wounds: Responsibility and Consequences 9. Requiem for a Deportation: Unanswered Questions Epilogue: Looking for Closure Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisNow in its ninth edition, A History of Modern Germany provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive survey of this complex countryâs history, beginning in 1871 and ending in the present day.Orlow tells the story of Germanyâs troubled past â Prusso-German authoritarianism, the Nazi dictatorship, and the Holocaust â whilst also uncovering the long-standing traditions of political, cultural and economic pluralism that have existed alongside. Over the years, historians have debated the cause for Germanyâs volatile and unpredictable trajectory; this textbook offers readers insight into this lively historiography. Whilst taking Germany as its focus, the book also covers its interaction with the rest of the world, including the two world wars and Germanyâs brief colonial experience. This ninth edition is the only textbook that brings the story to the present day; its new chapter on the years 2017-2024 delves into Germanyâs role in the global balance of power.With âIm Mittelpunktâ (âIn the Spotlightâ) features on key figures and an expanded list of âSuggestions for Further Readingâ, this new edition remains the perfect grounding for all students of German history.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom Spain to Syria, the thrilling, untold history of Nazi fugitives turned postwar agents—for America, the Soviets, the Third World, or themselves. After the Second World War, the Allies vowed to hunt Nazi war criminals “to the ends of the earth.” Yet many slipped away—or were shielded by the West, in exchange for cooperation in the unfolding confrontation with Communism. Reinhard Gehlen, founder of West German foreign intelligence, welcomed SS operatives into the fold, overestimating their supposed capabilities. This shortsighted decision nearly brought down his cherished service, as the KGB found his Nazi operatives easy to turn or expose. However, Gehlen was hardly alone in this cynical strategy; the American, Soviet, French and Israeli secret services—and nationalist organisations and independence movements—all used former Nazi operatives in the early Cold War. Nazi fugitives became freelance arms traffickers, spies, and assassins, playing crucial roles in the clandestine contest between the superpowers. From posh German restaurants, smuggler-infested Yugoslav ports, and fascist holdouts in Franco’s Spain to Damascene safehouses and Egyptian country clubs, these spies created a busy network of influence and information, a uniquely combustible ingredient in the covert struggles of the postwar decades. Unearthing newly declassified revelations from Mossad and other archives, historian Danny Orbach reveals this long-forgotten arena of the Cold War, and its colourful cast of characters. Shrouded in official secrecy, clouded by myth and propaganda, the extraordinary tale of these Nazi agents has never been properly told—until now.Trade Review‘[A] highly intriguing book … Fugitives is genuinely revelatory and Orbach’s research is impressive and scholarly. More to the point, the many fascinating narratives he relates here could easily provide the raw material for a dozen espionage novels. I have a feeling a lot of writers will be inspired.’ -- William Boyd, New Statesman'The tales Orbach tells could fit into a peculiarly cynical 1970s spy novel, and it can read like one too. [Fugitives] is a murky saga of espionage, paranoia, and betrayal.' -- The American Spectator

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisHer beauty saved her life - and condemned her.In 1942 Cilka Klein is just sixteen years old when she is taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. The Commandant at Birkenau, Schwarzhuber, notices her long beautiful hair, and forces her separation from the other women prisoners. Cilka learns quickly that power, even unwillingly given, equals survival.After liberation, Cilka is charged as a collaborator by the Russians and sent to a desolate, brutal prison camp in Siberia known as Vorkuta, inside the Arctic Circle. Innocent, imprisoned once again, Cilka faces challenges both new and horribly familiar, each day a battle for survival. Cilka befriends a woman doctor, and learns to nurse the ill in the camp, struggling to care for them under unimaginable conditions. And when she tends to a man called Alexandr, Cilka finds that despite everything, there is room in her heart for love.Based on what is known of Cilka Klein's time in Auschwitz, and on the experience of women in Siberian prison camps, Cilka's Journey is the breathtaking sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz. A powerful testament to the triumph of the human will, this novel will move you to tears, but it will also leave you astonished and uplifted by one woman's fierce determination to survive, against all odds. 'She was the bravest person I ever met'Lale Sokolov, The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Read more less

Book SynopsisHungarian Imre Kertész was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2002 for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history. His conversation with literary historian Thomas Cooper that is presented here speaks specifically to this relationship between the personal and the historical.In The Holocaust as Culture,Kertész recalls his childhood in Buchenwald and Auschwitz and as a writer living under the so-called soft dictatorship of communist Hungary. Reflecting on his experiences of the Holocaust and the Soviet occupation of Hungary following World War II, Kertész likens the ideological machinery of National Socialism to the oppressive routines of life under communism. He also discusses the complex publication history of Fateless, his acclaimed novel about the experiences of a Hungarian child deported to Auschwitz, and the lack of interest with which it was initially met in Hungary due to its failure to conform to the communist government's simplistic history of the relationship between Nazi occupiers and communist liberators. The underlying theme in the dialogue between Kertész and Cooper is the difficulty of mediating the past and creating models for interpreting history, and how this challenges ideas of self.The title The Holocaust as Culture is taken from that of a talk Kertész gave in Vienna for a symposium on the life and works of Jean Améry. That essay is included here, and it reflects on Améry's fear that history would all too quickly forget the fates of the victims of the concentration camps. Combined with an introduction by Thomas Cooper, the thoughts gathered here reveal Kertész's views on the lengthening shadow of the Holocaust as an ever-present part of the world's cultural memory and his idea of the crucial functions of literature and art as the vessels of this memory.

Read more less

Book SynopsisBetween the Wires tells for the first time the history of the Janowska camp in Lviv, Ukraine. Located in a city with the third-largest ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe, Janowska remains one of the least-known sites of the Holocaust, despite being one of the deadliest. Simultaneously a prison, a slave labor camp, a transit camp to the gas chambers, and an extermination site, this hybrid camp played a complex role in the Holocaust. Based on extensive archival research, Between the Wires explores the evolution and the connection to Lviv of this rare urban camp. Waitman Wade Beorn reveals the exceptional brutality of the SS staff alongside an almost unimaginable will to survive among prisoners facing horrendous suffering, whose resistance included an armed uprising. This integrated chronicle of perpetrators, victims, and bystanders follows the history of the camp into the postwar era, including attempts to bring its criminals to justice.

Read more less

Book SynopsisBased on the incredible true story of the Meller sisters, as told to Heather Morris. 'Gripping, heartbreaking and uplifting.' Christy Lefteri, author of the million-copy bestseller The Beekeeper of Aleppo THEIR STORY WILL BREAK YOUR HEART THEIR JOURNEY WILL FILL YOU WITH HOPE YOU WILL NEVER FORGET THEIR NAMES When they are little girls, Cibi, Magda and Livia make a promise to their father - that they will stay together, no matter what. Years later, at just 15, Livia is ordered to Auschwitz by the Nazis. Cibi, only 19 herself, remembers their promise and follows Livia, determined to protect her sister, or die with her. Together, they fight to survive through unimaginable cruelty and hardship. Magda, only 17, stays with her mother and grandfather, hiding out in a neighbour's attic or in the forest when the Nazi militia come to round up friends, neighbours and family. She escapes for a time, but eventually she too is captured and transported to the death camp. In Auschwitz-Birkenau the three sisters are reunited and, remembering their father, they make a new promise, this time to each other: That they will survive. Three Sisters is a beautiful story of hope in the hardest of times and of finding love after loss. Two of the sisters are alive in Israel today, surrounded by friends and family. They have chosen Heather Morris to tell their story in Three Sisters. Heather Morris is the global bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka's Journey, which have sold eight million copies worldwide. Three Sisters is her third novel, and the final piece in the phenomenon that is the Tattooist of Auschwitz series.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisTHE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARWinner of the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2023Epic, moving and important' ROBERT HARRIS''A modern classic' OBSERVERAn unforgettable epic of a book' DAILY MAILFrom longstanding political columnist and commentator Daniel Finkelstein, a powerful memoir exploring both his mother and his father's devastating experiences of persecution, resistance and survival during the Second World War.Daniel's mother Mirjam Wiener was the youngest of three daughters born in Germany to Alfred and Margarete Wiener. Alfred, a decorated hero from the Great War, is now widely acknowledged to have been the first person to recognise the existential danger Hitler posed to the Jews and began, in 1933, to catalogue in detail Nazi crimes. After moving his family to Amsterdam, he relocated his library to London and was preparing to bring over his wife and children when Germany invaded the Netherlands. Before long, the family was rounded up, robTrade Review A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘Captivating . . . Superb. This is a beautiful book about a horrific time when life was cheap and cruelty abundant. It took possession of me. I read it quickly, but then couldn’t stop thinking or talking about the Finkelstein and Wiener families’ The Times ‘This is a masterful tale, haunting, elegiac, at times joyful and humorous. It is a history, a commentary, and a thriller, alternating between the suffering at the hands of the Germans and the Soviets’ Financial Times ‘Powerful and beautifully written. Once the second world war breaks out the book works like a thriller, as both families race against the clock to escape certain death. But there are bigger themes running through Finkelstein’s writing, elevating Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad to the status of A modern classic – and just as deserving of acclaim as Philippe Sands’s East West Street or Edmund de Waal’s The Hare With Amber Eyes, both of which used inventive ways to examine the Holocaust afresh’ Observer ‘Superb. Finkelstein is a versatile writer who has delivered an exciting story of courage and persistence, powered by a sense of filial duty and engagingly sustained over its hundreds of pages’ Daily Telegraph ‘Profoundly moving . . . This is a vital addition to the literature of two catastrophes of the 20th century. With great clarity and wisdom he demonstrates what evil politics can do. There is not a word of padding. The prose, distilled into what is both true and interesting, can sometimes be disarmingly simple’ Spectator ‘A masterpiece. This book will be read for generations as a classic’ Jewish Chronicle ‘By far the best book published this year’ Peter Hitchens

Read more less

Book SynopsisBuilt in 1927, the German ocean liner SS Cap Arcona was the greatest ship since the RMS Titanic and one of the most celebrated luxury liners in the world. When the Nazis seized control in Germany, she was stripped down for use as a floating barracks and troop transport. Later, during the war, Hitler''s minister, Joseph Goebbels, cast her as the star in his epic propaganda film about the sinking of the legendary Titanic.Following the film''s enormous failure, the German navy used the Cap Arcona to transport German soldiers and civilians across the Baltic, away from the Red Army''s advance. In the Third Reich''s final days, the ill-fated ship was packed with thousands of concentration camp prisoners. Without adequate water, food, or sanitary facilities, the prisoners suffered as they waited for the end of the war. Just days before Germany surrendered, the Cap Arconawas mistakenly bombed by the British Royal Air Force, and nearly all of the prisoners were killed in the last major tragedy of the Holocaust and one of history''s worst maritime disasters.Although the British government sealed many documents pertaining to the ship''s sinking, Robert P. Watson has unearthed forgotten records, conducted many interviews, and used over 100 sources, including diaries and oral histories, to expose this story. As a result, The Nazi Titanic is a riveting and astonishing account of an enigmatic ship that played a devastating role in World War II and the Holocaust.

Read more less