Jewish Responses to Persecution

19411942

By (author) Jürgen Matthäus With Emil Kerenji, Jan Lambertz, Leah Wolfson

Not available to order

Publication date:

18 April 2013

Length of book:

540 pages

Publisher

AltaMira Press

ISBN-13: 9780759122598

Jewish Responses to Persecution: 1941–1942 is the third volume in a five-volume set published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum that offers a new perspective on Holocaust history. Incorporating historical documents and accessible narrative, this volume sheds light on the personal and public lives of Jews during a period when Hitler’s triumph in Europe seemed assured, and the mass murder of millions had begun in earnest. The primary source material presented here, including letters, diary entries, photographs, transcripts of speeches, newspaper articles, and official memos and reports, makes this volume an essential research tool and curriculum companion.

Volume Introduction: From Persecution to Annihilation
Part I: Jews and the Expansion of the German Empire: January to June 1941
Chapter 1: Facing Increased Pressure
Chapter 2: Struggling in the Lódz and Warsaw Ghettos
Chapter 3: Confronting New Challenges
Part II: Escalating Violence: June 1941 to July 1942
Chapter 4: Mass Murder in the Occupied Soviet Union and Deportations to “the East”
Chapter 5: Widening Circles of Persecution
Chapter 6: In the Grip of Germany’s Allies
Part III: Beyond Compliance and Resistance: Interactions after June1941
Chapter 7: Elites and Ordinary Jews
Chapter 8: Support Networks
Chapter 9: Deference, Evasion, or Revolt?
Part IV: Glimpsing the Abyss: Patterns and Perceptions
Chapter 10: The Role of Religion
Chapter 11: Limits of Language
Chapter 12: Making Sense of the Unthinkable
List of Documents
Bibliography
Glossary
Chronology

This volume, highlighting the years 1941 to 1942 when the trajectory of genocide escalated from pogroms to mass shootings and then to gas chambers, covers not only Europe but also areas around the globe threatened by the Nazis. Embedded in an excellent narrative, the carefully selected documents help us see the Holocaust through the eyes of its victims as they depict a broad range of responses from elite to ordinary Jews, from organizations to individuals. As Jews try to understand what was happening around them, their voices cry out in confusion, in disbelief, in agony.