Perspectives on the Holocaust – serie

Witnessing the Holocaust presents the autobiographical writings, including diaries and autobiographical fiction, of six Holocaust survivors who lived through and chronicled the Nazi genocide.Drawing extensively on the works of Victor Klemperer, Ruth Kluger, Michal Glowinski, Primo Levi, Imre Kertész and Béla Zsolt, this books conveys, with vivid detail, the persecution of the Jews from the beginning of the Third Reich until its very end. It gives us a sense both of what the Holocaust meant to the wider community swept up in the horrors and what it was like for the individual to weather one of the most shocking events in history.Survivors and witnesses disappear, and history, not memory, becomes the instrument for recalling the past. Judith M. Hughes secures a place for narratives by those who experienced the Holocaust in person.This compelling text is a vital read for all students of the Holocaust and Holocaust memory.

Witnessing the Holocaust presents the autobiographical writings, including diaries and autobiographical fiction, of six Holocaust survivors who lived through and chronicled the Nazi genocide.Drawing extensively on the works of Victor Klemperer, Ruth Kluger, Michal Glowinski, Primo Levi, Imre Kertész and Béla Zsolt, this books conveys, with vivid detail, the persecution of the Jews from the beginning of the Third Reich until its very end. It gives us a sense both of what the Holocaust meant to the wider community swept up in the horrors and what it was like for the individual to weather one of the most shocking events in history.Survivors and witnesses disappear, and history, not memory, becomes the instrument for recalling the past. Judith M. Hughes secures a place for narratives by those who experienced the Holocaust in person.This compelling text is a vital read for all students of the Holocaust and Holocaust memory.

How the Holocaust is depicted and memorialized is key to our understanding of the atrocity and its impact. Through 18 case studies dating from the immediate aftermath of the genocide to the present day, Holocaust Representations in History explores this in detail.Daniel H. Magilow and Lisa Silverman examine film, drama, literature, photography, visual art, television, graphic novels, memorials, and video games as they discuss the major themes and issues that underpin the chronicling of the Holocaust. Each chapter is focused on a critical debate or question in Holocaust history; the case studies range from well-known, commercially successful works about the Holocaust to controversial examples which have drawn accusations of profaning the memory of the genocide. This 2nd edition adds to the mosaic of representation, with new chapters analysing poetry in the wake of the Holocaust and video games from the here and now.This unique volume provides an unmatched survey of key and controversial Holocaust representations and is of vital importance to anyone wanting to understand the subject and its complexities.

How the Holocaust is depicted and memorialized is key to our understanding of the atrocity and its impact. Through 18 case studies dating from the immediate aftermath of the genocide to the present day, Holocaust Representations in History explores this in detail.Daniel H. Magilow and Lisa Silverman examine film, drama, literature, photography, visual art, television, graphic novels, memorials, and video games as they discuss the major themes and issues that underpin the chronicling of the Holocaust. Each chapter is focused on a critical debate or question in Holocaust history; the case studies range from well-known, commercially successful works about the Holocaust to controversial examples which have drawn accusations of profaning the memory of the genocide. This 2nd edition adds to the mosaic of representation, with new chapters analysing poetry in the wake of the Holocaust and video games from the here and now.This unique volume provides an unmatched survey of key and controversial Holocaust representations and is of vital importance to anyone wanting to understand the subject and its complexities.

Appreciating the power of language, and how discriminatory words can have deadly consequences, is pivotal to our understanding of the Holocaust. Engaging with a wealth of primary sources and significant Holocaust scholarship, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust traces the historical tradition of anti-Semitism to explore this in detail. From religious anti-Semitism in ancient Rome to racially-led anti-Semites focused on building superior nation-states in 19th-century Europe to Hitler’s vitriolic attacks, Griech-Polelle analyzes how tropes and stereotypes incited suspicion, dislike and hatred of the Jews – and, ultimately, how this was used to drive anti-Semitic feeling toward genocide. Crucially, this 2nd edition sheds further light on the everyday experience of ordinary Germans and Jews under the Nazi regime, with new chapters examining the role of the Christian Churches in Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and those who participated in rescue work and resistance more broadly.With new illustrations, a detailed glossary and up-to-date further reading suggestions and questions, this 2nd edition provides a concise and lucid survey of European Jewry, the Holocaust, and the language of anti-Semitism.

Appreciating the power of language, and how discriminatory words can have deadly consequences, is pivotal to our understanding of the Holocaust. Engaging with a wealth of primary sources and significant Holocaust scholarship, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust traces the historical tradition of anti-Semitism to explore this in detail. From religious anti-Semitism in ancient Rome to racially-led anti-Semites focused on building superior nation-states in 19th-century Europe to Hitler’s vitriolic attacks, Griech-Polelle analyzes how tropes and stereotypes incited suspicion, dislike and hatred of the Jews – and, ultimately, how this was used to drive anti-Semitic feeling toward genocide. Crucially, this 2nd edition sheds further light on the everyday experience of ordinary Germans and Jews under the Nazi regime, with new chapters examining the role of the Christian Churches in Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and those who participated in rescue work and resistance more broadly.With new illustrations, a detailed glossary and up-to-date further reading suggestions and questions, this 2nd edition provides a concise and lucid survey of European Jewry, the Holocaust, and the language of anti-Semitism.

Paul R. Bartrop examines the formation and execution of Australian government policy towards European Jews during the Holocaust period, revealing that Australia did not have an established refugee policy (as opposed to an immigration policy) until late 1938. He shows that, following the Evian Conference of July 1938, Interior Minister John McEwen pledged a new policy of accepting 15,000 refugees (not specifically Jewish), but the bureaucracy cynically sought to restrict Jewish entry despite McEwen’s lofty ambitions. Moreover, the book considers the (largely negative) popular attitudes toward Jewish immigrants in Australia, looking at how these views were manifested in the press and in letters to the Department of the Interior.The Holocaust and Australia grapples with how, when the Second World War broke out, questions of security were exploited as the means to further exclude Jewish refugees, a policy incongruous alongside government pronouncements condemning Nazi atrocities. The book also reflects on the double standard applied towards refugees who were Jewish and those who were not, as shown through the refusal of the government to accept 90% of Jewish applications before the war. During the war years this double standard continued, as Australia said it was not accepting foreign immigrants while taking in those it deemed to be acceptable for the war effort.Incorporating the voices of the Holocaust refugees themselves and placing the country’s response in the wider contexts of both national and international history in the decades that have followed, Paul R. Bartrop provides a peerless Australian perspective on one of the most catastrophic episodes in world history.

Paul R. Bartrop examines the formation and execution of Australian government policy towards European Jews during the Holocaust period, revealing that Australia did not have an established refugee policy (as opposed to an immigration policy) until late 1938. He shows that, following the Evian Conference of July 1938, Interior Minister John McEwen pledged a new policy of accepting 15,000 refugees (not specifically Jewish), but the bureaucracy cynically sought to restrict Jewish entry despite McEwen’s lofty ambitions. Moreover, the book considers the (largely negative) popular attitudes toward Jewish immigrants in Australia, looking at how these views were manifested in the press and in letters to the Department of the Interior.The Holocaust and Australia grapples with how, when the Second World War broke out, questions of security were exploited as the means to further exclude Jewish refugees, a policy incongruous alongside government pronouncements condemning Nazi atrocities. The book also reflects on the double standard applied towards refugees who were Jewish and those who were not, as shown through the refusal of the government to accept 90% of Jewish applications before the war. During the war years this double standard continued, as Australia said it was not accepting foreign immigrants while taking in those it deemed to be acceptable for the war effort.Incorporating the voices of the Holocaust refugees themselves and placing the country’s response in the wider contexts of both national and international history in the decades that have followed, Paul R. Bartrop provides a peerless Australian perspective on one of the most catastrophic episodes in world history.

For decades scholars have pored over Hitler’s autobiographical journey/political treatise, debating if Mein Kampf has genocidal overtones and arguably led to the Holocaust. For the first time, Hitler’s Mein Kampf and the Holocaust sees celebrated international scholars analyse the book from various angles to demonstrate how it laid the groundwork for the Shoah through Hitler’s venomous attack on the Jews in his text.Split into three main sections which focus on ‘contexts’, ‘eugenics’ and ‘religion’, the book reflects carefully on the point at which the Fuhrer’s actions and policies turn genocidal during the Third Reich and whether Mein Kampf presaged Nazi Germany’s descent into genocide. There are contributions from leading academics from across the United States and Germany, including Magnus Brechtken, Susannah Heschel and Nathan Stoltzfus, along with totally new insights into the source material in light of the 2016 German critical edition of Mein Kampf. Hitler’s views on Marxism, violence, and leadership, as well as his anti-Semitic rhetoric are examined in detail as you are taken down the disturbing path from a hateful book to the Holocaust.

For decades scholars have pored over Hitler’s autobiographical journey/political treatise, debating if Mein Kampf has genocidal overtones and arguably led to the Holocaust. For the first time, Hitler’s Mein Kampf and the Holocaust sees celebrated international scholars analyse the book from various angles to demonstrate how it laid the groundwork for the Shoah through Hitler’s venomous attack on the Jews in his text.Split into three main sections which focus on ‘contexts’, ‘eugenics’ and ‘religion’, the book reflects carefully on the point at which the Fuhrer’s actions and policies turn genocidal during the Third Reich and whether Mein Kampf presaged Nazi Germany’s descent into genocide. There are contributions from leading academics from across the United States and Germany, including Magnus Brechtken, Susannah Heschel and Nathan Stoltzfus, along with totally new insights into the source material in light of the 2016 German critical edition of Mein Kampf. Hitler’s views on Marxism, violence, and leadership, as well as his anti-Semitic rhetoric are examined in detail as you are taken down the disturbing path from a hateful book to the Holocaust.

Avinoam Patt examines the relationship between two of the most significant events in modern Jewish history, the Holocaust and the creation of the state of Israel. While there may be no direct causal connection between the Holocaust and the founding of the Jewish state in 1948, the memory of the Holocaust has been a constant presence in Israeli politics, culture, and society since even before 1948.The State of Israel has always existed in an uneasy relationship with the Shoah. On the one hand, Israel was faced with the challenge of taking in hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors as new citizens of the state, many of whom were discouraged from sharing their traumatic wartime experiences with their fellow citizens. On the other hand, the destruction of European Jewry and the failure of Western democracy to protect the Jewish minority in Europe seemed to vindicate the Zionist worldview, even as classical Zionism argued that the Jewish people deserved a state on the basis of their deep historical connection to the Land of Israel. By tracing the evolving relationship to the memory of Shoah, Avinoam Patt argues, we can also trace shifting conceptions of Israeli self-understanding and identity, Israel’s relationship to the wider world, its neighbors, the Jewish Diaspora, and the Jewish past. Israel and the Holocaust documents these tensions and analyses the changing nature of Israel’s relationship to the Shoah, revealing that it only seems to strengthen with the passage of time.

Avinoam Patt examines the relationship between two of the most significant events in modern Jewish history, the Holocaust and the creation of the state of Israel. While there may be no direct causal connection between the Holocaust and the founding of the Jewish state in 1948, the memory of the Holocaust has been a constant presence in Israeli politics, culture, and society since even before 1948.The State of Israel has always existed in an uneasy relationship with the Shoah. On the one hand, Israel was faced with the challenge of taking in hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors as new citizens of the state, many of whom were discouraged from sharing their traumatic wartime experiences with their fellow citizens. On the other hand, the destruction of European Jewry and the failure of Western democracy to protect the Jewish minority in Europe seemed to vindicate the Zionist worldview, even as classical Zionism argued that the Jewish people deserved a state on the basis of their deep historical connection to the Land of Israel. By tracing the evolving relationship to the memory of Shoah, Avinoam Patt argues, we can also trace shifting conceptions of Israeli self-understanding and identity, Israel’s relationship to the wider world, its neighbors, the Jewish Diaspora, and the Jewish past. Israel and the Holocaust documents these tensions and analyses the changing nature of Israel’s relationship to the Shoah, revealing that it only seems to strengthen with the passage of time.

Half a million European Roma were exterminated by the Nazi regime; many more were subjected to a policy of racial discrimination similar to that suffered by the Jewish people. However, the persecution and torment of Roma in Hitler's Europe has little presence in the history books. The Roma and the Holocaust places the Roma genocide in the context of the widespread violence of the Second World War, while offering an explanation that places it within a broader trajectory of anti-Roma persecution in modern societies.The book explores the separation and destruction of families, the sterilisation of adults and children, the plunder of property and deprivation of livelihoods, slave labour, medical experiments, the horror of extermination camps and the mass murder that the Romani people were subjected to. María Sierra uses the first section of the book to provide a much-needed critical overview and synthesis of the fragmented research and scholarship in the area that has been conducted in various languages. In the second section, Sierra shines a light the autobiographical accounts of several Roma survivors of the Nazi genocide in order for the voices of the victims who have claimed recognition and rights for the Roma people to be heard. This journey through the memories of Philomena Franz, Ceija Stojka, Lily Van Angeren, Otto Rosenberg, Walter Winter and Ewald Hanstein, in addition to other testimonies, is contextualized within the framework of other Holocaust survivors’ memoirs and has been approached from a history of emotions perspective.With the Romani people having been denied recognition as victims of Nazism after the end of the war, this book crucially helps to bring about agency for the survivors, supporting their struggle for the right to memory in the process.

Half a million European Roma were exterminated by the Nazi regime; many more were subjected to a policy of racial discrimination similar to that suffered by the Jewish people. However, the persecution and torment of Roma in Hitler's Europe has little presence in the history books. The Roma and the Holocaust places the Roma genocide in the context of the widespread violence of the Second World War, while offering an explanation that places it within a broader trajectory of anti-Roma persecution in modern societies.The book explores the separation and destruction of families, the sterilisation of adults and children, the plunder of property and deprivation of livelihoods, slave labour, medical experiments, the horror of extermination camps and the mass murder that the Romani people were subjected to. María Sierra uses the first section of the book to provide a much-needed critical overview and synthesis of the fragmented research and scholarship in the area that has been conducted in various languages. In the second section, Sierra shines a light the autobiographical accounts of several Roma survivors of the Nazi genocide in order for the voices of the victims who have claimed recognition and rights for the Roma people to be heard. This journey through the memories of Philomena Franz, Ceija Stojka, Lily Van Angeren, Otto Rosenberg, Walter Winter and Ewald Hanstein, in addition to other testimonies, is contextualized within the framework of other Holocaust survivors’ memoirs and has been approached from a history of emotions perspective.With the Romani people having been denied recognition as victims of Nazism after the end of the war, this book crucially helps to bring about agency for the survivors, supporting their struggle for the right to memory in the process.

This book provides an authoritative history of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe and makes a compelling case for why the region can be considered ‘the epicentre of the final solution’.Waitman Wade Beorn introduces us to pre-war Jewish life in Eastern Europe, before tracing the escalating nature of Nazi policies in the area during the Second World War. Beorn crucially reflects on the German obsession with the East and its impact on the Nazi genocidal project there. The Holocaust in Eastern Europe also examines Soviet occupation and its consequences for the Shoah, while offering vital coverage of key themes like ghettoization, the Final Solution, rescue, collaboration, resistance, and many others. The book considers the commonalities and differences of regional Holocaust experiences from the perspectives of perpetrators, witnesses, collaborators, and victims/survivors.Adeptly incorporating material on challenging subjects like sexual violence, the use of slave labour, the treatment of Soviet POWs, and profiteering, this 2nd edition includes two brand new chapters that enhance the scope and usefulness of the text even further; one addresses sources, methods, historiographical debates in the field, and the other focuses on non-Jewish victims of the Nazi genocidal project, such as Soviet prisoners of war, the mental and physically handicapped, Sinti and Roma, and other civilians.

This book provides an authoritative history of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe and makes a compelling case for why the region can be considered ‘the epicentre of the final solution’.Waitman Wade Beorn introduces us to pre-war Jewish life in Eastern Europe, before tracing the escalating nature of Nazi policies in the area during the Second World War. Beorn crucially reflects on the German obsession with the East and its impact on the Nazi genocidal project there. The Holocaust in Eastern Europe also examines Soviet occupation and its consequences for the Shoah, while offering vital coverage of key themes like ghettoization, the Final Solution, rescue, collaboration, resistance, and many others. The book considers the commonalities and differences of regional Holocaust experiences from the perspectives of perpetrators, witnesses, collaborators, and victims/survivors.Adeptly incorporating material on challenging subjects like sexual violence, the use of slave labour, the treatment of Soviet POWs, and profiteering, this 2nd edition includes two brand new chapters that enhance the scope and usefulness of the text even further; one addresses sources, methods, historiographical debates in the field, and the other focuses on non-Jewish victims of the Nazi genocidal project, such as Soviet prisoners of war, the mental and physically handicapped, Sinti and Roma, and other civilians.

Revenge, argues award-winning author Laura Jockusch, was a ubiquitous coping reaction among European Jews during the Holocaust. It manifested as some acts of violence against Nazi perpetrators and their collaborators as well as revenge fantasies expressed in diaries, letters, last wills, wall inscriptions, songs, and poems. Jockusch reveals how Holocaust survivors—alongside other Europeans—continued this multifaceted engagement with revenge after their liberation from Nazi rule, though some survivors claimed in the decades that followed that revenge was absent among Jews.Jewish Revenge and the Holocaust examines the complexities of Jewish revenge during and after the Holocaust. It shows that, since revenge is a universal human response to atrocity and injustice, neither the claim that Jews were particularly vengeful (as Nazi perpetrators commonly held) nor the idea that Jews did not engage in revenge, are accurate. Rather, revenge had many expressions and it fulfilled various functions for the victims and survivors of the Holocaust: a last resort act in face of death; or a coping response in utter powerlessness and despair; or a means to confront and commemorate the traumatic past and to go on living after destruction and loss. Jockusch convincingly contends that, even if most survivors chose to forgo violent revenge for ethical reasons, they nevertheless engaged with the idea of vengeance. This book analyses that engagement and integrates revenge into the spectrum of Jewish responses to the Holocaust, placing it in the wider context of postwar retribution for Nazi crimes in the process.

Revenge, argues award-winning author Laura Jockusch, was a ubiquitous coping reaction among European Jews during the Holocaust. It manifested as some acts of violence against Nazi perpetrators and their collaborators as well as revenge fantasies expressed in diaries, letters, last wills, wall inscriptions, songs, and poems. Jockusch reveals how Holocaust survivors—alongside other Europeans—continued this multifaceted engagement with revenge after their liberation from Nazi rule, though some survivors claimed in the decades that followed that revenge was absent among Jews.Jewish Revenge and the Holocaust examines the complexities of Jewish revenge during and after the Holocaust. It shows that, since revenge is a universal human response to atrocity and injustice, neither the claim that Jews were particularly vengeful (as Nazi perpetrators commonly held) nor the idea that Jews did not engage in revenge, are accurate. Rather, revenge had many expressions and it fulfilled various functions for the victims and survivors of the Holocaust: a last resort act in face of death; or a coping response in utter powerlessness and despair; or a means to confront and commemorate the traumatic past and to go on living after destruction and loss. Jockusch convincingly contends that, even if most survivors chose to forgo violent revenge for ethical reasons, they nevertheless engaged with the idea of vengeance. This book analyses that engagement and integrates revenge into the spectrum of Jewish responses to the Holocaust, placing it in the wider context of postwar retribution for Nazi crimes in the process.

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2016Focussing on German responses to the Holocaust since 1945, Postwar Germany and the Holocaust traces the process of Vergangenheitsbewältigung ('overcoming the past'), the persistence of silences, evasions and popular mythologies with regards to the Nazi era, and cultural representations of the Holocaust up to the present day. It explores the complexities of German memory cultures, the construction of war and Holocaust memorials and the various political debates and scandals surrounding the darkest chapter in German history.The book comparatively maps out the legacy of the Holocaust in both East and West Germany, as well as the unified Germany that followed, to engender a consideration of the effects of division, Cold War politics and reunification on German understanding of the Holocaust. Synthesizing key historiographical debates and drawing upon a variety of primary source material, this volume is an important exploration of Germany's postwar relationship with the Holocaust.Complete with chapters on education, war crime trials, memorialization and Germany and the Holocaust today, as well as a number of illustrations, maps and a detailed bibliography, Postwar Germany and the Holocaust is a pivotal text for anyone interested in understanding the full impact of the Holocaust in Germany.

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2016Focussing on German responses to the Holocaust since 1945, Postwar Germany and the Holocaust traces the process of Vergangenheitsbewältigung ('overcoming the past'), the persistence of silences, evasions and popular mythologies with regards to the Nazi era, and cultural representations of the Holocaust up to the present day. It explores the complexities of German memory cultures, the construction of war and Holocaust memorials and the various political debates and scandals surrounding the darkest chapter in German history.The book comparatively maps out the legacy of the Holocaust in both East and West Germany, as well as the unified Germany that followed, to engender a consideration of the effects of division, Cold War politics and reunification on German understanding of the Holocaust. Synthesizing key historiographical debates and drawing upon a variety of primary source material, this volume is an important exploration of Germany's postwar relationship with the Holocaust.Complete with chapters on education, war crime trials, memorialization and Germany and the Holocaust today, as well as a number of illustrations, maps and a detailed bibliography, Postwar Germany and the Holocaust is a pivotal text for anyone interested in understanding the full impact of the Holocaust in Germany.

The United States and the Nazi Holocaust is an invaluable synthesis of United States policies and attitudes towards the Nazi persecution of European Jewry from 1933 to the modern day. The book weaves together a vast body of scholarship to bring students of the Holocaust a balanced overview of this complex and often controversial topic. It demonstrates that the United States’ response to Nazism, the refugee crisis it provoked, the Holocaust, and its aftermath were—and remain to this day—intricately linked to the shifting racial, economic, and social status of American Jewry. Using a broad chronological framework, Barry Trachtenberg guides us through the major themes and events of this period. He discusses the complicated history of the Roosevelt administration's response to the worsening situation of European Jewry in the context of the ambiguous racial status of Jews in Depression and World War II-era America. He examines the post-war decades in America, and discusses how the Holocaust, like American Jewry itself, moved from the margins to the center of American awareness. This book considers the reception of Holocaust survivors, post-war trials, film, memoirs, memorials, and the growing field of Holocaust Studies. The reactions of the United States government, the general public, and the Jewish communities of America are all accounted for in this detailed survey.