Jewish Histories of the Holocaust

Norman J.W. Goda is the Norman and Irma Braman Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Florida. His publications include Tomorrow the World: Hitler, Northwest Africa and the Path Towards America (1998); Tales from Spandau: Nazi Criminals and the Cold War (2007); and The Holocaust: Europe, the World, and the Jews (2013).

“In the new history, research has been redirected from the perpetrator to the victims, and the goal is to find the authentic Jewish voice. As a consequence, personal diaries, note books, and memoirs have gained a status that traditional historians have not previously imparted to them. Good index and select bibliography. Highly Recommended.” · Choice“…provides an excellent model in how to interweave multiple contexts and multiple sources: by studying interethnic relations in local and regional frameworks, by exploring the infl uence of non-Jewish cultural contexts, and by broadening chronological scopes not limited only to the history of antisemitism.” · Slavic Review“Norman Goda’s Jewish Histories of the Holocaust is an extraordinarily rich collection of essays that brings together an impressive range of Holocaust scholars. Many of the articles represent introductory ways into an individual author’s wider body of work on their particular aspect of the Holocaust’s Jewish history.” · German History“Goda has done a first class service to the field…This history surveys a remarkably broad range of victim experiences in Holocaust history, moving Europe’s Jews from objects of the Holocaust ‘to center stage.’ Viewing perpetrators through their victim’s eyes brings into focus the tragic inability of many victims to ‘suspend their disbelief’ about the perpetrators while also presenting new perspectives for compassion toward those faced with ‘choiceless choices,’ as Lawrence Langer described them.” · Nathan Stoltzfus, Florida State University“…for historiographical reasons and because of difficulties with sources, Jewish perspectives on the Holocaust have been neglected or marred by substantial gaps. The authors seek to remedy that situation, either through historiographical critiques, through case studies using Jewish sources, through addressing topics previously avoided for psychological reasons, or through their own reset of perspectives.” · Richard Breitman, American University

• List of IllustrationsIntroductionNorman J.W. GodaPART I: THEORETICAL OVERVIEWSChapter 1. The Jewish Dimension of the Holocaust in Dire Straits? Current Challenges of Interpretation and ScopeDan MichmanChapter 2. The Holocaust as Regional History: Explaining the BloodlandsTimothy SnyderPART II: NEW APPROACHES TO JEWISH LEADERSHIPChapter 3. An Overwhelming Presence: Reflections on Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski and His Place in Our Understanding of the Łódź GhettoGordon HorwitzChapter 4. Similarity and Differences: A Comparative Study between the Ghettos in Białystok and KielceSara BenderPART III: DOCUMENTATION, TESTIMONY, AND EXPERIENCEChapter 5. Diaries, Testimony, and Jewish Histories of the HolocaustAlexandra GarbariniChapter 6. The Voice of Your Brother’s Blood: Biography of the Town of BuczaczOmer BartovChapter 7. “If He Knows How to Make a Child”: Memories of Birth and Baby-Killing in Jewish Testimony NarrativesSara HorowitzChapter 8. “Why Didn’t They Mow Us Down Right Away?” The Death March Experience in Survivors’ Testimonies and MemoirsDaniel BlatmanPART IV: RETHINKING SELF-HELP AND RESISTANCEChapter 9. Documenting Catastrophe: The Ringelblum Archive and the Warsaw GhettoSamuel KassowChapter 10. Integrating Self-Help into the Narrative of Survival in Western EuropeBob MooreChapter 11. Jewish Communists in France During World War II: Resistance and IdentityRenée PoznanskiChapter 12. Freedom and Death: The Jews and the Greek AndartikoSteven BowmanPART V: AFTERMATH: POLITICS, AESTHETICS, AND MEMORYChapter 13. Contested Memory: A Story of a Kapo In AuschwitzTuvia FrilingChapter 14. Pressure Groups in the American and British Administrations During and After World War IIArieh J. KochaviChapter 15. Travelling to Germany and Poland: Toward a Textual Montage of Jewish Emotions After the HolocaustMichael MengSelected BibliographyList of ContributorsIndex