Description
Book Synopsis Between 1941 and 1945, thousands of German Jews, in fear for their lives, made the choice to flee their impending deportations and live submerged in the shadows of the Nazi capital. Drawing on a wealth of archival evidence and interviews with survivors, this book reconstructs the daily lives of Jews who stayed in Berlin during the war years. Contrary to the received wisdom that “hidden” Jews stayed in attics and cellars and had minimal contact with the outside world, the author reveals a cohort of remarkable individuals who were constantly on the move and actively fought to ensure their own survival.
Trade Review “With a fine ear for the nuances of the German language, Lutjens extracts meaning from the testimonies of survivors to give readers some sense of the nightmare Jews lived through and from which they never wholly recovered. An excellent, sensitive work… Highly recommended.” • Choice
“The book’s gripping historical account will certainly spark further scholarly interest in this underexplored aspect of the survival of Jews during the Holocaust.” • Journal of Modern Jewish Studies
“Richard N. Lutjen Jr.’s book is both scholarly and readable. Based on a wealth of original archival material, and statistical evidence, the volume is carefully illustrated with portraits and documents of the protagonists. It will become a standard work.” • Holocaust & Genocide Studies
“Richard Lutjens achieves with his study a comprehensive and in-depth description of the help given to many persecuted in Nazi Germany, respectively of the everyday experiences of those who had gone underground. It offers wide-ranging and detailed background information, richly illustrated by diagrams and tables. It helps to close gaps in research, but also offers perspectives for future research. One can only wish that this study finds many readers.” • H-Soz-u-Kult
“This book is approachable for the general history reader, highly informative, and engaging within those parameters. A powerful tale of survival, dignity and ingenuity during one of the darkest periods of human history…This is a book that would interest the non-academic … a fascinating read.” • NB Magazine
“The topic of Jews hiding in Germany has long been neglected on the assumption that historical evidence was too scarce. That makes it all the more remarkable that Richard N. Lutjens Jr. has been able to combine new archival materials with a large sample of survivor testimonies to provide a thoughtful analysis of the act of hiding, its changing conditions, and its impact on the people involved.” • Wolf Gruner, University of Southern California
“Submerged on the Surface is a well-written and well-researched book on a subject that has not yet really been dealt with in English-language histories. The testimonies compiled here are deeply compelling.” • Christoph Kreutzmüller, Jewish Museum Berlin
Table of Contents List of Figures and Tables
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Notes on the Use of Names and Terms
Introduction
Chapter 1. Submerging
Chapter 2. Surviving
Chapter 3. Living
Chapter 4. Resurfacing
Epilogue
Appendix: The Demographics of Submerging in Nazi Berlin
Works Cited
Index
