Dina Porat - Böcker

The Fall of a Sparrow is the only full biography in English of the partisan, poet, and patriot Abba Kovner (1918–1987). An unsung and largely unknown hero of the Second World War and Israel's War of Independence, Kovner was born in Vilna, "the Jerusalem of Lithuania." Long before the rest of the world suspected, he was the first person to state that Hitler was planning to kill the Jews of Europe. Kovner and other defenders of the Vilna ghetto, only hours before its destruction, escaped to the forest to join the partisans fighting the Nazis. Returning after the Liberation to find Vilna empty of Jews, he immigrated to Israel, where he devised a fruitless plot to take revenge on the Germans. He then joined the Israeli army and served as the Givati Brigade's Information Officer, writing "Battle Notes," newsletters that inspired the troops defending Tel Aviv. After the war, Kovner settled on a kibbutz and dedicated his life to working the land, writing poetry, and raising a family. He was also the moving force behind such projects as the Diaspora Museum and the Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature. The Fall of a Sparrow is based on countless interviews with people who knew Kovner, and letters and archival material that have never been translated before.

The true story of a vigilante group of Holocaust survivors who conspired to kill six million GermansNakam (Hebrew for "vengeance") tells the story of "the Avengers" (Nokmim), a group of young Holocaust survivors led by poet and resistance fighter Abba Kovner, who undertook a mission of revenge against Germany following the crimes of the Holocaust. Motivated by both the atrocities they had endured and the realization that murderous antisemitic attacks on survivors continued long after the Nazi surrender, these fifty young men and women sought retaliation at a level commensurate with the devastation caused by the Holocaust, making clear to the world that Jewish blood would no longer be shed with impunity. Had they been successful, they would have poisoned city water supplies and loaves of bread distributed to German POWs, with the aim of killing six million Germans. Kovner and his followers went to great lengths to carry out their plans, going so far as to obtain the schematics for Nuremberg's municipal water system, secure large quantities of poison, infiltrate a POW camp and the bakery that supplied it, and distribute poisoned bread to prisoners—but their plots were ultimately stymied. Most of the members of Nakam eventually returned to Israel, where for decades many of them refused to speak publicly about their roles in the group.While the Avengers' story began to come to light in the 1980s, details of the relations between the group and Zionist leadership and the motivations of its members have remained unknown. Drawing on rich archival sources and in-depth interviews with the Avengers in their later years, historian Dina Porat examines the formation of the group and the clash between the formative humanistic values held by its members and their unrealized plans for violent retribution.

The true story of a vigilante group of Holocaust survivors who conspired to kill six million GermansNakam (Hebrew for "vengeance") tells the story of "the Avengers" (Nokmim), a group of young Holocaust survivors led by poet and resistance fighter Abba Kovner, who undertook a mission of revenge against Germany following the crimes of the Holocaust. Motivated by both the atrocities they had endured and the realization that murderous antisemitic attacks on survivors continued long after the Nazi surrender, these fifty young men and women sought retaliation at a level commensurate with the devastation caused by the Holocaust, making clear to the world that Jewish blood would no longer be shed with impunity. Had they been successful, they would have poisoned city water supplies and loaves of bread distributed to German POWs, with the aim of killing six million Germans. Kovner and his followers went to great lengths to carry out their plans, going so far as to obtain the schematics for Nuremberg's municipal water system, secure large quantities of poison, infiltrate a POW camp and the bakery that supplied it, and distribute poisoned bread to prisoners—but their plots were ultimately stymied. Most of the members of Nakam eventually returned to Israel, where for decades many of them refused to speak publicly about their roles in the group.While the Avengers' story began to come to light in the 1980s, details of the relations between the group and Zionist leadership and the motivations of its members have remained unknown. Drawing on rich archival sources and in-depth interviews with the Avengers in their later years, historian Dina Porat examines the formation of the group and the clash between the formative humanistic values held by its members and their unrealized plans for violent retribution.

The five volumes provide a compendium of the history of and discourse about antisemitism - both as a unique cultural and religious category. Antisemitic stereotypes function as religious symbols that express and transmit a belief system of Jew-hatred, which are stored in the cultural and religious memories of the Western and Muslim worlds. This volume explores the phenomenon from the perspectives of Philosophy and Social Sciences.

This volume provides a compendium of the history of and discourse about antisemitism - both as a unique cultural and religious category. Antisemitic stereotypes function as religious symbols that express and transmit a belief system of Jew-hatred, which are stored in the cultural and religious memories of the Western and Muslim worlds, migrating freely between Christian, Muslim and other religious symbolic systems.

This unique collection offers a survey of legal and legislative means to combat racism, xenophobia, anti-semitism and other forms of related intolerance. Its aim is threefold: 1) to provide a legal model for fighting racism, xenophobia, anti-semitism and discrimination through domestic legislation; 2) to compare existing national legislation with international legal instruments designed to combat racial and other forms of discrimination, in order to bring domestic laws into line with international legal norms; 3) to provide a tool for researchers, legislators, human rights activists and all those who work to protect the rights of minorities and victims of incitement and discrimination, as well as for domestic and international institutions, which monitor compliance with these laws. The survey thus constitutes a major contribution to the study of racism and anti-semitism because it demonstrates how these phenomena can be fought through the medium of the law.Each volume consists of two sections: the first, containing international conventions; the second, and main section, containing current constitutional law, specific legislation and ratification of international conventions in (over 200) individual states. Volume 1 deals with Europe; Volume 2 with the Americas; Volume 3 with Africa and Volume 4 with Asia and the South Pacific.

Legislating for Equality – a Multinational Collection of Non-Discrimination Norms is a compilation of constitutional provisions, penal code provisions and national laws on the prohibition of discrimination, racism and xenophobia. The book, divided into four volumes, offers a useful compendium for governmental and non-governmental agencies, civil rights practitioners and researchers, outlining the legal framework in all UN Member States on matters relating to discrimination on the basis of race, religion and ethnicity, prohibition of hate crimes and hate speech, and the protection of minorities. Each volume also includes relevant international and regional treaties and ratification tables.The first volume on Europe was published in August 2012. In this second volume, updated to 31 November 2012, we turn our attention to the Americas: North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. During the past decade many American countries amended their constitutions and enacted laws protecting the rights of indigenous people.