The Holocaust Books

Book SynopsisThe New York Times bestseller now a major motion picture starring Jessica Chastain. A true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands.Trade Review"A lovely story about the Holocaust might seem like a grotesque oxymoron. But in The Zookeeper’s Wife, Diane Ackerman proves otherwise. Here is a true story—of human empathy and its opposite—that is simultaneously grave and exuberant, wise and playful. Ackerman has a wonderful tale to tell, and she tells it wonderfully." -- Washington Post Book World"A poignant and absorbing book." -- New York Times Book Review"I can’t imagine a better story or storyteller. The Zookeeper’s Wife will touch every nerve you have." -- Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything is Illuminated"A fresh and compelling addition to Holocaust literature." -- San Francisco Chronicle"A stunning tale of war and sanctuary [that is] perceptive, knowledgeable and rhapsodic.… How incisively and damningly Ackerman dissects the Nazis’ perverted view of nature.… A shining book beyond category.… It is no stretch to say that this is the book Ackerman was meant to write." -- Los Angeles Times"Author Diane Ackerman offers us The Zookeeper’s Wife, a tale of untold bravery with a whimsical dose of history reminiscent of Noah’s Ark.… Ackerman’s story is a treatise on nobility—a word that applies to some humans and all the animals in The Zookeeper’s Wife." -- USA Today"Diane Ackerman has surpassed even herself in her latest book, which is alternatingly funny, moving, and terrifying. This powerful thriller would be a great novel—except that it happens to be true." -- Jared Diamond, author of Collapse and Guns, Germs, and Steel

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDoris L. Bergen, professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto, has written perhaps the best concise history of the Holocaust published to date. She provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to this complex subject. Writing with clarity and sensitivity, and based on the latest research, she places the Holocaust in its historical, cultural, social, and military contexts. The narrative is powerful and engaging, and the analysis is balanced and compelling. In this compact volume, fully illustrated with photographs and maps, Bergen covers all the major issues surrounding the Holocaust. She discusses not only the persecution of the Jews, but other groups victimized by the Nazis: Gypsies, the disabled, Poles, Soviet POWs, homosexuals, and political opponents of the regime. She also provides firsthand accounts from perpetrators, victims, and eyewitnesses thus adding the human dimension of the tragedy that is so often left out of other textbook treatments of the subject. The book is very readable, compelling and informative and highly recommended to expert and novice alike. * Jewish Book World *A striking introduction to the complexity of Holocaust history—precisely because despite being a very short book it does not in any way attempt to evade the complexity and context for Nazi violence against Jews. . . . It is an impressive introduction to the Holocaust which will certainly serve its readers well. * Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of Jewish Studies *A meticulous, sensitive account of the Nazi race wars that combines a powerful narrative and explanatory drive at the same time as it illuminates individual lives and fates with searing precision. While giving full weight to the antisemitic core of Nazi racism, Bergen also shows why it claimed so many other groups of victims, and pursues it to its appalling climax in the wars of imperialist conquest and exploitation launched in 1939. This is a distinctive and remarkable achievement, as assured as it is readable. -- Jane Caplan, University of OxfordTable of ContentsPreface: War and Genocide: Race and Space Chapter 1: Preconditions: Antisemitism, Racism, and Common Prejudices in Early-Twentieth-Century Europe Chapter 2: Leadership and Will: Adolf Hitler, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, and Nazi Ideology Chapter 3: From Revolution to Routine: Nazi Germany, 1933–1939 Chapter 4: Open Aggression: In Search of War, 1938–1939 Chapter 5: Experiments in Brutality, 1939–1940: War against Poland and the So-Called Euthanasia Program Chapter 6: Expansion and Systematization: Exporting War and Terror, 1940–1941 Chapter 7: The Peak Years of Killing: 1942 and 1943 Chapter 8: Death Throes and Killing Frenzies, 1944–1945 Conclusion: The Legacies of Atrocity Sources and Suggestions for Further Reading

Read more less

Book SynopsisFor the first time, the remarkable full story of how the Holocaust was fought in Italy is told in English

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA timeless story rediscovered by each new generation, The Diary of a Young Girl stands without peer. This graphic edition remains faithful to the original, while the stunning illustrations interpret and add layers of visual meaning and immediacy to this classic work of Holocaust literature.For both young readers and adults The Diary continues to capture the remarkable spirit of Anne Frank, who for a time survived the worst horror the modern world has seen—and who remained triumphantly and heartbreakingly human throughout her ordeal.  Includes extensive quotations directly from the definitive edition; adapted by Ari Folman, illustrated by David Polonsky, and authorized by the Anne Frank Foundation in Basel.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book boldly challenges conventional wisdom about the value of preventive war. Beginning with the rise of German power and the French and British response to the Rhineland crisis leading to World War II, Scott Silverstone overturns the common impulse to point an accusing finger at British leadership for its alleged naïveté, willful blindness, or outright cowardice. Arguing against the belief that Britain could have contained Germany and avoided war if it had used force when Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland, the author uses this dramatic event to wrestle with a general strategic problem that has broad relevance for our current foreign policy dilemmas. Silverstone argues that the Rhineland crisis is a critical case for studying a central dynamic of world historypower shifts among statesand the preventive war temptation that power shifts frequently produce. There has been surging interest in the idea of preventive war, an interest stimulated by the Bush administration's articulationTrade ReviewAn incisive and important new book. . . . [Silverstone] provides an important and necessary model for thinking about the costs and benefits of any given military action. Given the disastrous experience of the Iraq war, we would do well to remind future preventive war hawks (of which there will inevitably be many), whether we’re dealing with a nuclear Iran or a rising China, of the history of preventive war’s false prophecy. * The American Conservative *This is a powerful and provocative critique of the temptation to engage in preventive war against potential enemies. Whether you agree or disagree with Silverstone's conclusions, you will benefit from his deep knowledge of history and his reminder to remain humble about one's ability to predict the long-term outcome of the use of military force. -- Scott D. Sagan, Stanford UniversityAt the very top of the list of political catastrophes and devastating wars that we wish could have been prevented is the Nazi domination of Europe and World War II. In this enlightening and deeply researched study, Scott Silverstone describes just how difficult—indeed, nearly impossible—that would have been. And in that tragic story are profound lessons for the difficulty of nearly all successful acts of preventive war. -- Michael Doyle, author of Striking First: Preemption and Prevention in International ConflictThe obvious lesson of the 1930s is that leaders should eliminate gathering threats before they mature. To the contrary, Scott Silverstone’s careful reexamination of this and other cases shows that preventive war, although tempting, usually is a trap. The preventive war paradox is that while such a war can succeed tactically, it may fail to secure a lasting peace. Humility, patience, and the understanding that there are few silver bullets in international politics are better guidelines. -- Robert Jervis, author of How Statesmen ThinkSilverstone provides a timely critique of strategies of preventive war. His historically rich analysis of the 1930s is complemented by illuminating comparisons with ancient Greece and Rome and the contemporary era. He shows that short-term military success against rising powers often increases long-term strategic threats rather than eliminates them. Silverstone’s well-written book is essential reading for international relations theorists, diplomatic historians, policy makers, and others concerned with international peace and security in a changing and uncertain world. -- Jack S. Levy, Rutgers UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgments 1 The False Promise of Lost Opportunities 2 Another Fait Accompli 3 The Preventive War Temptation Meets the Preventive War Paradox 4 Haunted by the Preventive War Paradox 5 The Roots of a Bitter Peace 6 The Ruhr War 7 Sowing Dragon’s Teeth 8 No Heroes, No Goats 9 Searching for a Silver Bullet Notes Selected Bibliography Index About the Author

Read more less

Book SynopsisTells the story of Anne Skorecki Levy, a Holocaust survivor who transformed the horrors of her childhood into a passionate mission to defeat the reputed neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Troubled Memory is a dramatic testament to how the experiences of survivors as new Americans spurred their willingness to bear witness.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDrawing on the work of Hannah Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno, Claudia Leeb discussesguilt and democracy in the case of Austrian Nazi perpetrators and recent public controversies surrounding Austria's involvement in the Nazi atrocities. She shows us that only by guilt can individuals and nations take responsibility for their past crimes.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book presents the insights, advice and suggestions of secondary level teachers and professors in relation to teaching about various facets of genocide. The contributions are extremely eclectic, ranging from the basic concerns when teaching about genocide to a discussion as to why it is critical to teach students about more general human rights violations during a course on genocide, and from a focus on specific cases of genocide to various pedagogical strategies ideal for teaching about genocide.Trade ReviewTotten's Teaching about Genocide provides insights and advice from secondary teachers and professors, many with decades of teaching experience, not to mention writings touching on every major identified genocide. Key is the volume’s interdisciplinary, as well as multinational approach. The time-deprived educator will find abundant strategies, caveats, and electronic resource possibilities. Significantly, “political will” is contrasted with “political won’t,” as students are encouraged to become “constructive activists” in an age of genocides. -- William Younglove, Holocaust Studies Instructor, California State University Long BeachA much-needed and extraordinarily useful resource, Teaching about Genocide: Insights and Advice from Secondary Teachers and Professors will provide educators with well-reasoned and experienced based information on teaching about genocide. Drawing upon the expertise of both secondary and college and university professors, this impressive work examines rationales for teaching about genocide and offers practical pedagogical strategies from a variety of academic disciplines and geographical locations. The importance of this issue demands a timely and powerful resource such as this book. -- Stephen Feinberg, former Director of National Outreach, Education Division, United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumTable of ContentsIntroduction – Samuel Totten Part One: Insights and Advice from Secondary Level Teachers 1. “Student as Worker in Coming to Understand Modern Genocide: From KWL to Stanton’s Ten Stages to Case Studies to Engaging in a Debate” by Keith Eaton (English Teacher, Mount Desert Island High School, Bar Harbor, Maine) 2. “Challenging or Passively Accepting Questionable Authority” by Jamie Allen (History Teacher, Centennial Regional High School, Greenfield Park, Quebec, Canada) 3. “The Power of Story: Teaching About Genocide Through Literature Circles” by Kelley Szany (Director of Education, Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, Skokie, Illinois) 4. “Reader as Witness: Introducing Students to Genocide Through Literature” by Dr. Sarah J. Donovan (English Language Arts Teacher, Plum Grove Junior High, Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and Adjunct Instructor at DePaul University and Dominican University). 5. “Unsettling Narratives: Teaching About the Genocide of Indigenous Peoples in North America” by George Dalbo (Social Studies Teacher, Mounds Park Academy, St. Paul, Minnesota; and Ph.D Candidate, University of Minnesota) 6. “Teaching the Armenian Genocide in a Nation Whose Government Refuses to Acknowledge It” by Dr. Mark Gudgel (English and Honor Humanities Teacher, Omaha North High School, Omaha, Nebraska, and Adjunct Instructor, Southeast Community College, English Department) 7. “Flora’s Journey: Teaching the Cultural Events and Significance of the Armenian Genocide” by Brent Beerman (English and Theater Teacher, Crescenta Valley High School, La Crescenta, California) 8. “Using Rebecca Tinsley’s When the Stars Fall to Earth in the Classroom to Teach About the Darfur Genocide” by Kimberly Klett (English Teacher, Dobson High School, Mesa, Arizona) 9. “Simplicity and Complexity” by Dr. Mary Lee Webeck (Director of Education, Holocaust Museum Houston, Houston, Texas) Part Two: Insights and Advice from Professors 10. “At the Threshold of Genocide Studies: On Not Being a Gatekeeper” by Dr. Andrew Woolford (Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba) 11. “Teaching Ten Stages of Genocide” by Dr. Gregory H. Stanton (Research Professor in Genocide Studies and Prevention, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia) 12. “The Three “Ds” of Teaching History: A Focus on Genocide” by Dr. Khatchig Mouradian (Visiting Assistant Professor, Departments of History and Sociology, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey) 13. “Teaching About Genocide: Three Major Pedagogical Issues Worthy of Serious Consideration by Teachers” by Dr. Rubina Peroomian (Research Associate, Department of Near Eastern. Languages and Cultures. University of California, Los Angeles) 14. “Incorporating the Issue of Genocide into History Courses: Enlightenment and Mobilization” by Dr. John Hubbel Weiss (Associate Professor of History, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York) 15. “Towards a Critical Pedagogy for Genocide Education” by Dr. James G. Brown (Professor of Teaching, Joint Appointment in the Department of Peace Studies and College of Educational Studies, Chapman University, Orange, California) 16. “Teaching About the Bosnian Genocide” by Dr. Fred P. Cocozzelli (Associate Professor, Department of Government and Politics, St. John’s University, Queens, New York) 17. Adam Muller by (Professor and Director of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada) 18. “A Focus on the Prevention of Genocide” by Dr. Agnieszka Bieńczyk-Missala (Assistant Professor, Institute of International Relations, University of Warsaw, Poland) 19. “Educating the Military…and Others. Building the Basis for Effective Atrocity Prevention” by Dr. David Frey (Associate Professor of History and Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, United States Military Academy at West Point) 20. “Teaching Complexity via Documentaries: Trauma and Co-existence after Genocide in Rwanda” by Dr. Gerise Herndon (Professor of English and Global Studies, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, Nebraska) 21. “Acts of Loving Kindness: Genocide Education in Cambodia” by Dr. Theresa de Langis (Associate Professor of Global Affairs, and Director, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, American University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

Read more less

Book Synopsis'An extraordinary book . . . vivid and heart-breaking'The Jewish ChronicleThrough the discovery of a precious friendship album which belonged to 12-year-old Alie, a Jewish schoolgirl in Amsterdam, Claudia Carli has traced and preserved the lives of an entire class of girls, most of whom did not survive the War. Alie and her friends are brought touchingly and vividly to life, along with their writings, in this extraordinary book. Their everyday hopes, pleasures and longings are offset by the constant fear of a knock on the door, a missing friend from class, a family member taken away. Alie and her mother were to die in Sobibor in 1943. Alie's sister Gretha survived Auschwitz and kept her promise to her sister to preserve the friendship album so long as she hoped to live. This book will sit alongside Anne Frank's diary and The Cutout Girl as a unique window into occupied Amsterdam and the girls who will now never be forgotten.Trade Review'An extraordinary book ... vivid and heart-breaking' * The Jewish Chronicle *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe International Tracing Service, one of the largest Holocaust-related archival repositories in the world, holds millions of documents that enrich our understanding of the many forms of persecution during the Nazi era and its continued repercussions ever since. Drawing on a selection of recently available documents from the archive, this compelling volume provides new insights into human decision-making in genocidal settings, the factors that drive it, and its far-reaching consequences. The sources that the author has collected and contextualized here reflect the full range of behaviors and roles that victims, their oppressors, beneficiaries, and postwar aid organizations played beginning in 1933, through World War II, the Holocaust, and up to the present.Trade ReviewMore than 60 years after the end of World War II, roughly 150 million documents were gradually released to researchers. This evidence cataloged the fates of millions of Jews and other Europeans victimized by Nazi Germany. The International Tracing Service archive yielded concentration camp records, transport and deportation lists, arrest vouchers, prison files, displaced persons and slave-labor documents (implicating scores of corporate, government, and military entities in the use and abuse of forced labor), and a chronicle of inquiries from millions of survivors and extended family members scattered around the world attempting to uncover information about murdered loved ones. More than a half century was required to open the archive; Paul Shapiro, director of the Holocaust Museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, tells that story in the foreword. Brown-Fleming, senior coordinator of programs at the center, modestly describes this volume as a brief ‘point of entry into a complex collection.’ The resource is utterly invaluable to libraries supporting Holocaust research and any scholar or legal expert aiming to reconstruct at the micro-level the experiences of individuals brutalized by Nazi Germany. Sharing a rich cross section of the archive's vast holdings, the author also explains the manner in which the materials are organized into sub-unitsm. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty; professionals/practitioners. * CHOICE *[T]he ITS will play a key role in combating Holocaust denial in the years ahead. All those familiar with it recognize the power of using this vast quantity of dehumanizing documentation to restore the humanity of the Nazis’ victims. * The Times of Israel *Brown-Fleming’s meticulous, document-heavy research showcases the ITS’s potential for research. . . . [S]cholars will appreciate the attention to detail. . . . Nazi Persecution and Postwar Repercussions provokes readers to think about how the ITS can and should be utilized. The author reminds her audience that each document represents a bridge to a person, a life, a family, a community, and that it does so in a way that can further Holocaust scholarship and honor the memory of the victims. * Holocaust and Genocide Studies *A deeply researched, eye-opening, moving, and hugely informative book. The author has done a tremendous service to scholars of the Holocaust, who can utilize the vast ITS collections with greater confidence and efficiency now that they can build on her path-breaking work. -- Dan Stone, Royal Holloway, University of LondonThe first-ever practical research guide to one of the largest digitized Holocaust-related archives, until recently kept under lock and key. It is well written and full of engaging biographies that detail the wide range of experiences of victims, perpetrators, and the many bystanders. This remarkable book convincingly charts new paths for learning about the Holocaust. -- Gerald Steinacher, University of Nebraska–LincolnA critical addition to any library due to its detailed analysis of one of the major Holocaust document archives in the world—only recently opened to the public. The author has made a superb selection of key documents that represent the remarkable diversity of information available in the ITS holdings. This well-crafted volume will provide both students and scholars a window into a seminal collection that could be daunting without this clear and concise guide. -- Johannes-Dieter Steinert, University of WolverhamptonTable of ContentsForeword Acknowledgments Abbreviations Chapter One: The International Tracing Service Holdings Chapter Two: ‘Our Mothers, Our Fathers:’ Lahnstein Chapter Three: Jewish Voices Chapter Four: Hour Zero: The Year 1945 Chapter Five: Imagining the Refugee Appendix I: The International Tracing Service Holdings by Subunit Appendix II: Finding Aids for the International Tracing Service Holdings Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAfter 1948, the 370,000 Jews of Romania who survived the Holocaust became one of the main sources of immigration for the new state of Israel as almost all left their homeland to settle in Palestine and Israel. Romania’s decision to allow its Jews to leave was baldly practical: Israel paid for them, and Romania wanted influence in the Middle East. For its part, Israel was rescuing a community threatened by economic and cultural extinction and at the same time strengthening itself with a massive infusion of new immigrants.In this thoroughly updated edition, Radu Ioanid traces the secret history of the longest and most expensive ransom arrangement in recent times, a hidden exchange that lasted until the fall of the Communist regime. Drawing on a wealth of oral testimonies, recently declassified documents from the archives of the Romanian secret police, and newly available material from the government archives of Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, and Germany, Ioanid follows Israel’s long and expensive ransom arrangement with Communist Romania. He uncovers the elaborate mechanisms that made it successful for decades, the shadowy figures responsible, and the secret channels of communication and payment. The book sheds new light on Romania’s pre-fascist and fascist antisemitic legislation and its implementation. Ioanid explores in greater detail the physical destruction of Romania’s Jewish and Roma communities, including the pogroms of Bucharest and Iasi as well as the deportations and the massacres from Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transnistria. New chapters consider the forced labor of the Jews, persecution by the Protestant churches, and the decision-making process of the Antonescu government in its treatment of Jews and Roma. As suspenseful as a Cold-War thriller, his book tells the full, startling story of an unprecedented slave trade and its origins.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA brother and sister recount their escape from the Nazis and journey to Shangai and beyond in this moving memoir. Covering themes of persecution and the will to survive, it becomes a touching portrait of a family uprooted.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis"Anyone who survived the exterminations camps must have an untypical story to tell. The typical camp story of the millions ended in death ... We, the few who survived the war and the majority who perished in the camps, did not use and would not have understood terms such as 'holocaust' or 'death march.' These were coined later, by outsiders."In 1939 twelve-year-old Felix Weinberg fell into the hands of the Nazis. Imprisoned for most of his teenage life, Felix survived five concentration camps, including Terezin, Auschwitz, and Birkenau, barely surviving the Death March from Blechhammer in 1945. After losing his mother and brother in the camps, he was liberated at Buchenwald and eventually reunited at seventeen with his father in Britain, where they built a new life together. Boy 30529 is an extraordinary memoir of the Holocaust, as well as a moving meditation on the nature of memory.Trade ReviewWith a detachment that makes the telling all the more powerful, Felix Weinberg has given witness to what he saw and experienced through the terror, misery and absurdity of his teenage years. This was, he explains, at first a gift to his family, and this intimacy without sentimentality draws us in to the loss at the heart of the book. It was also a history he had suppressed, and as Weinberg tells it, he explains that it's strange and painful to document it for the first time. He revisits the suddenness of round-ups, random killings, separations, forced labour and marches. This reminded me that the war against the Jews was above all else a war against our physical presence in Europe which this book replies to simply by having been written. Beyond that though, is the reply of a boy who escaped annihilation and found that by staying alive he could think, study, research and eventually teach at the highest level. In the face of genocide on any people, anywhere at any time, the book is the ultimate response: that we exist and have the right to exist. I wasn't only moved by it. I was strengthened by it. -- Michael Rosen, author, poetAn unusually good-natured memoir about life in the Nazi camps and the travails of being a postwar refugee. Weinberg ... has a quick, curious mind...A revelation ... told with both candor and odd innocence. * Kirkus Reviews *All those who care about the proper documenting of this horrendous era must be grateful to Felix Weinberg for giving us this insightful and ultimately uplifting account. -- Suzanne Bardgett, Imperial War MuseumA very witty and highly readable account of life in Nazi camps, with truly original information and an amazing sense of humour. A great lesson in resilience, survival, hope-and genuine modesty. -- Gilbert Achcar * The Arabs and the Holocaust *A sensitive, witty, intelligent-and ultimately, extremely moving-memoir. -- Richard Zimler, author of The Warsaw AnagramsFelix Weinberg's memoir stands out from other Holocaust memoirs in its accomplished style, its powers of exact recollection and depiction and in its dry humour. -- Professor Charmian Brinson, author of The Strange Case of Dora Fabian and Mathilde WurmTold with an honest, contemporary, sometimes wry viewpoint, Weinberg's graphic memories are haunting, as he searches the Web and historical archives to find out now what he did not know then, while it was happening to him: where he was marching, how many died. The dual perspective, then and now, and the blend of family intimacy (including occasional photos) with the gripping, authoritative historical overview make this an essential title for discussion. * Booklist *

Read more less

Book SynopsisBetween the French defeat in 1940 and liberation in 1944, the Nazis killed almost 80,000 of France's Jews, both French and foreign. Since that time, this tragedy has been well-documented. But there are other stories hidden within it--ones neglected by historians. In fact, 75% of France's Jews escaped the extermination, while 45% of the Jews of Belgium perished, and in the Netherlands only 20% survived. The Nazis were determined to destroy the Jews across Europe, and the Vichy regime collaborated in their deportation from France. So what is the meaning of this French exception? Jacques Semelin sheds light on this 'French enigma', painting a radically unfamiliar view of occupied France. His is a rich, even-handed portrait of a complex and changing society, one where helping and informing on one's neighbours went hand in hand; and where small gestures of solidarity sat comfortably with anti-Semitism. Without shying away from the horror of the Holocaust's crimes, this seminal work adds a fresh perspective to our history of the Second World War.Trade Review'may well prove to be a landmark in the historiography of the subject . . . well-researched and cogently argued' -- Times Literary Supplement'[A] careful study . . . Semelin details, in accessible prose and with cogent organization, the extraordinarily complex story of Jews-French and foreign-in France during the Occupation.' -‘Engagingly written, combining psychological perspectives with first-rate historical research, and brimming with original insights, this is masterful scholarship.’ -- CHOICE'An altogether remarkable and indispensable book for all those with an interest in France and the Shoah.' -- Serge Klarsfeld'A most important book on the history of Jews in Vichy France. This meticulously researched work is already standard reading in the field and hugely contributes to the difficult debate on why 75% of Jews in France survived the Holocaust.' -- Jean-Marc Dreyfus

Read more less

Book SynopsisOne summer's night in 1946, over 1,000 European Jews waited silently on an Italian beach to board a secret ship. They had survived Auschwitz, hidden and fought in forests and endured death marchesnow they were taking on the Royal Navy, running the British blockade of Palestine.From Eastern Europe to Israel via Germany and Italy, Rosie Whitehouse follows in the footsteps of those secret passengers, uncovering their extraordinary storiessome told for the first time. Who were those people on the beach? Where and what had they come from, and how had they survived? Why, after being liberated, did so many Jews still feel unsafe in Europe? How do weand don't weremember the Holocaust today? This remarkable, important book digs deep and travels far in search of answers.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe true story of one family's struggle in the chaos of Germany's defeat in 1945'Outstanding' The Times'The most interesting personal document which has come out of Germany since the war' Philip Magnus, Time and TideTowards the end of the Second World War, Lali Horstmann and her husband Freddy, a retired diplomat and art collector, were living at Kerzendorf, an elegant eighteenth-century house with a small park, avenues, statues and a garden, fifteen miles east of Berlin. The house was destroyed one night by allied bombers and the Horstmanns moved into the agent's little house in the park.It was to this small house that the Russian Secret Police came one spring night in1946 and took Freddy away with them into the dark. Two and a half years later Lali learned, almost by chance, that Freddy had died of starvation in a Russian concentration camp only a few miles from their home.Lali Horstmann's account of the last months of the war under the desperate and demoralised Nazis, and the terrifying arrival of the Russians, is both eloquent and heartbreaking.Trade ReviewOutstanding * The Times *The most interesting personal document which has come out of Germany since the war * Time and Tide *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAs her mother slipped into the darkness of old age, Lisa Appignanesi began to realise how little she knew of the reality behind the tales she had heard since childhood. She had shunned her parents' stories of war-time Poland, but now she set out to find the truth. In her quest she flew to Warsaw - imagining and revisiting a past she never knew.This is the moving story of the Jews who survived outside the camps, but it is also the author's own voyage of self-discovery - a family memoir of the rites of passage of emigration, childhood, and growing up an outsider in a closed communityTrade ReviewDistinguished . . . Appignanesi has a sharp eye for the details of everyday life in the Warsaw ghetto . . . Read Losing the Dead and you begin to appreciate what life must have been like for hundreds of thousands of European Jews during the long nightmare of the Third Reich * The Times *This book crosses genre, combining profound story telling and hard history. It is wonderful and heartbreaking in equal measure, and it remains an astonishing work * Edmund de Waal, author of THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES *This book crosses genre, combining profound story telling and hard history. It is wonderful and heartbreaking in equal measure, and it remains an astonishing work -- Edmund de Waal, author of THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES

Read more less

Book SynopsisAs the third and concluding volume of the series, this work examines the persecution of the Gypsy people in Hungary, Norway, Slovakia and Yugoslavia during World War II, together with Switzerland's policy towards refugees. It also looks at the intertwined fates of the Jews and the Gypsies. Included in the coverage is an overview of the events following 1945—reparations and the postwar trials. Various methodologies associated with research and writings about the Holocaust are also discussed.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn a remarkable deed of original scholarly research and detailed detective work, Anne Weise recreates sketches of a lost life - of one of the millions of forgotten souls whose lives came to a violent end in the Holocaust. Her focus is Alfred Bergel (1902-1944), an artist and teacher from Vienna who was a close associate of Karl Koenig - the founder of the Camphill Movement for people with special needs - who wrote of Bergel in his youthful diaries as his best friend 'Fredi'. After the annexation of Austria, Alfred Bergel found himself unable to escape the horror of the National Socialist regime. Subsequently, in 1942 he was deported to the Theresienstadt camp. Imprisoned there, he produced numerous artistic works of the inmates of the ghetto and taught drawing, art history and art appreciation - sometimes in collaboration with the Bauhaus artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis. During this period, he was also forced by the Nazis to produce forgeries of classic art works. One of the central figures of cultural life in the Theresienstadt ghetto, Bergel was eventually transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944 where, tragically, he was murdered. His name and his work are largely forgotten today, even amongst Holocaust researchers, but Weise succeeds in honouring the life of the Jewish artist by lovingly piecing together his biography, based on numerous personal testimonies by friends and contemporaries and supplemented with documents and many dozens of photos and colour reproductions of Bergel's artistic works. This invaluable recreation of a life provides insight not only into the desperate plight of a single individual, but also illustrates the human will and determination to survive in the context of one of the darkest periods of recent history.Table of ContentsThe Holocaust: Looking Back Seventy Years by Robert O. Fisch - Looking for the Human Being-A Preface - Short Biography of Alfred Bergel - 1. Young Friends-A Diary Collage - Childhood and Youth in Olmu tz and Vienna - Summer Respite for Bergels and Koenigs-Friendship between the Families - 'And we became friends'-Fredi and Karl - 'Moonlight Party'-A Summer in Kierling - 'He won't let on about it'-First love - 'Too good to be true'-Wistful Farewell and War Chaos - Kierling, and once again Kierling - 'Wurstelprater'-Theatrical Experiences - 'Become like this man, so happy and great'-A Fairy Tale for the Friend - Poet and mentor-the father Arnold Bergel - 'I saw the creative works of the greatest painters'-Encounters with the visual arts - Another Class Photo-a Talent for Portraits - 'The Different, the Good, and the Beautiful'-Quarrels - 'Man of Skills'-the Artist - 'We are just too connected with each other through Karma' - Rise of Anti-Semitism in Vienna - 2. The Anschluss. Annexation-Repression and Defamation in Vienna - The Destiny of the Childhood-Friends - Banned from Employment, March 1938 - Exit Visa and Capital Confiscation, May 1938 - Marked as Israel and Sara, August 1938 - Evictions, September 1938 - Kristallnacht, November 1938 - Escape of Sister Marianne to Palestine, June 1939 - Teacher in the Youth-Aliyah, October 1939-1942 - 3. Theresienstadt and Auschwitz - Bohemia-'The heart of Europe' - 'My number swung as if on a cow's neck'-Deportation - 'The idea of man'-cultural life for survival, nourishment and spiritual resistance - 'Subtleties like colour, harmony, balance, form and beauty'-Alfred Bergel as a teacher - 'Here is no photographer, then an artist is needed'-Alfred Bergel, the painter - Alfred Bergel-Member of the Sonderwerkstatt - 'Ordering' art - Eyewitness accounts from the painters' workshops - More research needs to be done - Beautification of Theresienstadt - From Vienna: a message of 'an outstanding loan debt' - 'An oasis to breathe'-Hugo Friedmann and the library - A slight movement with the thumb-Deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau - 4. Human dignity is inviolable - 'To serve and not to rule'-The destiny of Karl Koenig and the European cultural impulse - 'Love overcomes hatred'-Pay Attention to the Helpers - 5. Anthroposophical work in Theresienstadt - 6. Destinies of family members - Sophie Bergel / Arthur and Sali Bergel / Marianne and Hans Petersilka / Margarethe and Richard Winter / Fritz Bergel / Elsa, Oskar and Herta Baurose - Members of the Bergel family murdered in Auschwitz/Birkenau - The fate of Karl Koenig's extended family during the Holocaust - 7. A voice from then ... and today-Fred Terna - Notes - Further reading - List of artworks - Picture credits - Index of names

Read more less

Book SynopsisBonhoeffer’s New Beginning investigates the ethics of making new beginnings after devastating moral rupture. The work argues that new beginnings must be made in order to sustain the fundamental convictions that it is good to exist and that life in the world with others should be loved without exclusion. Bonhoeffer’s ethics of new beginning is set in conversation with the thought of four moral philosophers, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hannah Arendt, Jonathan Glover, and Jonathan Lear. DeCort argues that Bonhoeffer’s ethics of new beginning opens and energizes a more promising, world-affirming moral vision with radical hope for new beginnings vis-à-vis the perceived absence of God in the face of devastation. Trade ReviewIn mid-century Europe, totalitarians on both the left and the right sought to remake humanity, society, politics, morality, geography, and population. The scope of their hubris was astonishing, as was the body count they left behind. To accomplish their idolatrous, disastrous goals, everything was permissible. In his important new book, Andrew DeCort demonstrates that Dietrich Bonhoeffer responded theologically in Nazi Germany to this mania for remaking the world through projects of political salvation at the point of a gun. DeCort shows that Bonhoeffer's biblical theology of creation, Christ, and resurrection precluded any human project to serve as our own creators and saviors by engineering a new beginning in human life. Instead, Christians at least, know (or should know) that we are called to respond to God's creative and reconciling action, and that we must do so in love of God and others. This is a groundbreaking work, ranging exhaustively over the Bonhoeffer corpus and the secondary literature. It reveals a new dimension of Bonhoeffer's thought, and demonstrates once again that Bonhoeffer was always responding to the dangerous political and moral ideas around him with a disciplined theological and ethical response -- a response that took him to his death. Highly recommended! -- David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, Mercer UniversityHere we have a fresh – indeed groundbreaking – reading of Bonhoeffer’s entire corpus. As he reconstructs Bonhoeffer’s theological ethics of new beginnings, DeCort shows how Bonhoeffer’s final words, “This is for me the end, but also the beginning,” encapsulates a consistent, central theme unifying his life and work: the nature and practice of new beginnings during and after social, political, and moral devastation. This book is rigorously researched, theologically and philosophically astute, and spiritually and practically relevant. In short, it is learned and wise. -- Jennifer M. McBride, McCormick Theological SeminaryBonhoeffer’s New Beginning addresses one of the deepest challenges of Christian life: how to keep and live our faith in a world of deep suffering and moral trauma, a world that for many people has shattered the notion that faith in God is even possible. After exploring this question through the work of four major philosophers, Andrew DeCort unpacks how Bonhoeffer’s ethical writings offer such a “new beginning,” opening the way for “a radically inclusive, universal vision of moral consciousness." DeCort makes a convincing case that this search for such new beginnings is an undercurrent throughout Bonhoeffer’s work. This is a very fine book: a creative, eloquent, and often moving study of Bonhoeffer’s theology and its continuing relevance. -- Victoria J. Barnett, General Editor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works English EditionAndrew DeCort’s Bonhoeffer’s New Beginning takes on the profound and utterly inescapable problem of the “new beginning,” the "beginning again," in the wake of devastation and catastrophe, and suggests that, and then shows how, Bonhoeffer engages in Christian theology in light of this problem. This book is a terrific vision, in my mind especially illuminating on some of the Christocentric elements in Bonhoeffer’s work, and drawing on work in philosophy and political theory as well as Christian theology; it casts new light on our predicaments and the ways that Bonhoeffer may help us identify, understand, and confront them. -- Charles T. Mathewes, University of VirginiaDeCort’s treatment of Bonhoeffer is creative. This study of Bonhoeffer, which includes analysis of other major figures like Friedrich Nietzsche and Hannah Arendt, takes an innovative turn to look at the concept of an ethics of beginning again. -- Reggie L. Williams, McCormick Theological SeminaryTable of ContentsBeginning Introduction – Our Over-All Take on Human Life: The Problem of Morality and the Ethics of New Beginning Chapter 1 – The Trial: Universal Entry and The Problem of Morality Chapter 2 – Four Options: The Problem of Morality and the Ethics of New Beginning in Nietzsche, Arendt, Glover, and Lear Chapter 3 – “A Rift Irreparable Through Human Initiative”: Devastation and the Human (In)Capacity to Make a New Beginning in Bonhoeffer’s Thought Chapter 4 – “Only with God Is There A New Way, A New Beginning”: Justification and Guidance For New Beginning In Bonhoeffer’s Thought Chapter 5 – “The Dawning of The New World, The New Order”: Practices of New Beginning In Bonhoeffer’s Thought Conclusion – After the Beginning: The Problem of Morality, Divine Absence, and the Ethics of New Beginning after Devastation Beginning Anew Appendix – Bonhoeffer’s Last Words: A Personal Testament and Theological Summary?

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 Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less