What We Are Reading: Nonfiction

A thread to share our nonfiction reading about the Holocaust (excluding memoirs).

One of the most eye-opening books about the Holocaust that I have ever read was Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder. His book includes extensive research from newly opened archives in Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus, after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.



A reviewer in The Guardian wrote that one of Snyder's aims in the book was to aim is to "correct, radically, the way we remember what happened." For instance,

In the concentration camps of the Third Reich, a million prisoners died miserable deaths during the Nazi period. But 10 million others who never entered those camps were shot (mostly Jews), deliberately starved to death (mostly Soviet prisoners of war) or gassed in special "killing centres" which were not holding camps at all. At Auschwitz, the overwhelming majority of Jews were taken straight to the gas chambers on arrival. And Auschwitz, terrible as it was, formed a sort of coda to the Jewish Holocaust. By the time the main gas chambers came on line in 1943, most of Europe's Jewish victims were already dead.

Although the book includes the devastating policies of Stalin, as well as Hitler, I found that by looking at both together, I got a better understanding of the Holocaust as well as the region sandwiched between these two dictators.

I haven't read this book, but I am wondering whether anybody else had. I saw it last time I was at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco and almost bought it, but in the end did not:

Europe Against the Jews, 1880-1945 by Götz Aly

I read Bloodlands - excellent history!
Another book that I read was Who Will Write our History? Rediscovering A Hidden Archive from the Warsaw Ghetto by Samuel D. Kassow. This archive was written by many people who were living in the Warsaw Ghetto. The aim was to show a future generation the work, thoughts and lives of those who would soon be murdered. The organization of the writers and the extent of the work collected is documented by the author.( I have also heard him lecture on this topic- really interesting!)Historian Emanuel Ringelblum established the clandestine organization ( Oyneg Shabes) that recorded and collected the documents that made up the archive. The material was hidden in metal boxes and milk cans and hidden when all the inhabitants of the ghetto was sent to the concentration camps.. A few years after the war had ended I believe that two hiding places were discovered. Today some of the material is on display in Warsaw and there are scholars who are translating the material and preserving what they can.

>4 torontoc: It's fascinating history, absolutely. Did you know there was a documentary film? I haven't seen it yet but want to watch it soon.

https://whowillwriteourhistory.com/

>3 rocketjk: I haven't, Jerry. It sounds interesting, are you thinking of getting it?

>4 torontoc: Yay, another Bloodlands fan. When I first started reading it, I had to stop and start over so that I could take copious notes. Who Will Write Our History has been on my wish list for a while, and I have Notes from the Warsaw ghetto; the journal of Emmanuel Ringelblum on my shelves unread. I should rectify that and read it.

>5 rocketjk: That looks great. How are you going to watch it? Vimeo?

>5 rocketjk: - That sounds very familiar. I don't think I've seen it - I think I'd remember if I had - but I may have read or heard about it. Is it available for anyone to view at any time or do you have to pay, or join somewhere to watch it?

I am a member of TJFF (Toronto Jewish Film Festival) and aside from films I purchase tickets to during the actual festival time, they offer freebies to members throughout the year. One really fascinating one I saw recently was one of Ed Asner's final roles, as a Holocaust survivor, in *Tiger Within*. Worth finding if you can.

>5 rocketjk: I added Who Will Write Our History to the film/doc thread.

>8 jessibud2: Would you like to add Tiger Within to the list? You've seen it, so you could write a review, or I could just post the title.

>6 labfs39: Yes. Sometime soon, I hope. Another I very much want to see for both historical and personal reasons is "I Shall Not Be Silent" about Rabbi Joachim Prinz. He was my rabbi in Newark, NJ, when I was a boy, and I had no idea what a powerful historical figure he was, both in Berlin during the first years of the Nazi regime and then in America as an important figure in the Civil Rights movement:

http://www.prinzdocumentary.org/#prinz-story

>8 jessibud2: I'm not sure. I haven't looked into it that closely yet.

>8 jessibud2: It appears to be available for free on Vimeo, at least in the US. From what I understand, with Vimeo the filmmakers pay to post their content and watching is free.

>9 labfs39: - Done! I added it to the film thread

>11 labfs39: I watched a free 37-minute abridged version of the documentary "Who Will Write Our History" on Vimeo tonight. Wow. Thanks, Jerry, for bringing it to my attention. At some point I will watch the full hour and a have version on Amazon.

I saw the complete "Who will Write Our History" film- it was really good.
A few books that I have read
The Light of Days The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos by Judy Batalion This book was published in 2020 and is a very comprehensive history of women who were involved in the resistance in the ghettos. I have heard the author speak and she was able to find material written in Yiddish in the British Library. This material led her to the work of many strong women who played a part in the work of the underground.
The Book Smugglers Partisans, Poets, and the Race to Save Jewish Treasures from the Nazis.
by David E. Fishman This book tells the stories of those ghetto inmates in Vilna who rescued many important books and manuscripts from the Nazis and later from the Soviet authorities.
A Bold and Dangerous Family The Remarkable Story of an Italian Mother, Her Sons and Their Fight Against Fascism by Caroline Moorehead This book relates the story of what happened in Italy and the work of the Rosselli family.
A Writer at War A Soviet Journalist with the Red Army 1941-1945 by Vasily Grossman and edited by Antony Beevor and Luba Vinogradova This book could also be placed in the memoirs thread but it does contain essential commentary by the editors on the history of the time and of Grossman's reporting on Treblinka.

>14 torontoc: I have "The Light of Days" on my (relatively) short TBR list for this year or next. Looking forward to it. I also have "A Writer at War" on my shelves to be read one of these days.

>14 torontoc: - I also own The Light of Days but have not yet got to it.

One of the earliest and perhaps most chilling histories is The Destruction of European Jews by Raul Hilberg. My copy was published in 1961. The author says in his introduction that this is a book about the perpetrators. The account is encyclopedic as Hilberg shows a step by step description of how the Germans built their killing operations.

Just curious to know if anyone has read The Pity of It All: A Portrait of the German-Jewish Epoch, 1743-1933? I got this one in today.

>18 alcottacre: I haven't read that one but am aware of it. I look forward to your comments on the book.

>18 alcottacre: Yes, I did read The Pity of It All by Amos Elon- it is terrific. The book is the most recommended by speakers on the webinars that I follow.

>20 torontoc: Which webinars are those, Cyrel?

>20 torontoc: Thanks for the input, Cyrel!

>21 labfs39: The webinars that I listen/see are from "Lockdown University"- there are lectures six days a week on a variety of topics- Jewish History, art history, music history, literature, and more. The webinars are given by speakers from England, South Africa and some special presentations from the US. The time for North America is usually 12 pm ( or 9 am in California) The webinars are free but you have to sign up.
info@lockdownuniversity.org
I just saw one on the "Hare With Amber Eyes" exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York. The author of the book, Edmund De Waal, was interviewed about the collection.
If you are on the mailing list and can't view a presentation , you can ask for a link to view later. They don't have a website yet but that is in the plans.

>23 torontoc: - Cyrel, if there is no website, how do you see a lineup and know what to choose to sign up for?

>24 jessibud2: Is this the right series? Manchester University

>25 labfs39: - Sounds like it but what shows when I click is only from May to June. Nothing current and nothing like what Cyrel mentioned.

>24 jessibud2: >25 labfs39: When you email Lockdown University and ask to be signed up- you receive a schedule every Sunday with zoom sign ups. You don't have to register - just click on the zoom link at the time of the lecture. You also receive an email notice everyday with the zoom link. But you have to email them first to be added to the email list. Sometimes there are special notices about specific programmes or joint programmes.
Manchester University is not part of Lockdown University.

I should add The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal - De Waal writes about his family- the Ephrussi's and their lives in Paris and Vienna. There is a collection of Japanese netsuke that travels to different members of the family and is part of their history. Excellent book and now an exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York- it is on until May- if this virus is under control by then- I would like to go and see the exhibition.

>27 torontoc: - Oh, I just got the sign-up email just now! Thanks, Cyrel. Sounds so interesting

>29 jessibud2: >25 labfs39: I should add- everything is free! Lockdown University is supported by Wendy Fisher and her family foundation. For security, once you have the link you can't pass it on to friends-(apparently at the beginning of the pandemic -Canadians, especially, were passing on their link to friends) For security reasons, the managing team want people to request their own link.

It seems like several universities are advertising "Lockdown lectures" of various sorts. I googled a slew of them, but none seem as interesting as what you are describing, Cyrel. Is Lockdown University only open to Canadians? I will try sending a request and see what happens...

>31 labfs39: No- this Lockdown is not an official university and they don't have a website yet. ( one of the promises for the future) This Lockdown U is open to everyone- the audience is from everywhere! You can see from the questions in the Q and A in the webinar lectures. And of course, some of the questions and comments are very interesting and some are..... well you see examples in every webinar

>32 torontoc: Thank you for letting us know about this resource! I am downloading one by Trudy Gold on the Jewish World in 1945 now.

I have Bloodlands on my shelf, and now I feel I must get to it soon.
Last year I read an interesting nonfiction book called The Unwanted by Michael Dobbs (Subtitle: America, Auschwitz and a Village Caught In Between). It's about a small primarily Jewish village and the efforts (mostly unsuccessful) of its inhabitants to get visas and immigrate once they became aware of Hitler's rise to power. Anti-immigration sentiment in the US in the 1930's rivaled if not surpassed the "build the wall" sentiment of today.
One thing I learned that I wasn't previously aware of is that in Europe the homes of many of the murdered and deported Jews have been commemorated with cobble-stone sized tablets known as Stolpersteine or "stumbling stones," embedded in the pavement outside. The book states that by 2019, some 70,000 Stolpersteine had been installed in 20 European countries--a far cry from the number of lives lost, but, as the book states, "what began as the private initiative of a German artist {has become} the world's largest decentralized memorial project." I'm wondering if anyone here has encountered these?

>34 arubabookwoman: Yes- my brother and sister-in-law went to Germany a few years ago for the installation of "Stolpersteines" in front of the house where my my sister-in-law's family used to live. In fact many family members who live in Canada and the US traveled for the ceremony as well.

The new academic title The Betrayal of Anne Frank is published today:

https://www.harperacademic.com/book/9780062892355/the-betrayal-of-anne-frank/

The 60 Minutes US broadcast TV show just did a report on the cold case investigation of potential informers who may have aided the Nazi round-up of the Frank family in 1944.

>36 MaureenRoy: There was also an interview with the author of the book , Rosemary Sullivan, on CBC Radio this morning.

I watched my first lecture with Lockdown University: The World of the Jews in 1945. It was very interesting, addressing the liberation of the camps, the displaced persons camps, and who was organizing in the dp camps.

>38 labfs39: Does the lecture discuss the number of Jews who were murdered when they returned to their home villages because the people who had taken over their houses in their absence, assuming their deaths, did not want to give them back? I believe that was a relatively common occurrence in Poland in particular.

>39 rocketjk: Yes, including some post-war pogroms, particularly the one in Kielce, Poland where 42 Jews were killed.

Currently reading A Mortuary of Books by Elisabeth Gallas about the American effort "to store, identify, and restore the huge quantities of Nazi-looted books, archival material and ritual objects" that the army found hidden.

>36 MaureenRoy: The Dutch publisher has halted the book The Betrayal of Anne Frank.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/publisher-halts-anne-frank-betrayal-book-aft...
'Among those questioning the research are the foundation set up by Anne Frank’s father, the Basel-based Anne Frank Fund, and historian Erik Somers, of the Dutch NIOD institute for war, holocaust and genocide studies.'

>42 avatiakh: That's interesting. I'm curious as to what the issues are.

I finished A Mortuary of Books this evening and thought it was excellent.

>44 alcottacre: - That one has been on my wishlist for ages, Stasia. Glad you gave it a thumbs up.

I came across The Ghetto Fighters' House International Online Lecture Series on youtube when looking for info on Marisa Fox's 'My Underground Mother' documentary.
http://myundergroundmother.com/about

They also have a 'Talking Memory' lecture series

wikipedia - 'The Ghetto Fighters' House... full name, Itzhak Katzenelson Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum, Documentation and Study Center, was founded in 1949 by members of Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot, a community of Holocaust survivors, among them fighters of the ghetto undergrounds and partisan units. The Ghetto Fighters' House is the world's first museum commemorating the Holocaust and Jewish heroism.
https://www.gfh.org.il/eng

>46 avatiakh: - Oh my goodness. I remember that museum! The woman who gave us a guided tour was a survivor and all I remember was being so moved and almost frightened by her, much more impactful than from Yad Vashem, to be honest. Maybe because it was a smaller space and so personal.

I just finished reading a book from the Azrieli Series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs.

https://memoirs.azrielifoundation.org/

The one I read was Bits and Pieces by Henia Reinhartz. I actually found three titles from this series on a shelf of books at a local resale shop (Value Village). It was a very interesting memoir though she did not dwell much on the horrors (thankfully). She was one of the lucky ones, surviving 2 concentration camps with her sister and mother (her father did not make it). I discovered in the book that once she arrived in Toronto, she actually taught at the same school where I once taught though she did not mention the years she was there. I was only at that school for one year and did not recognize her name from my time there.

>46 avatiakh: Thank you for sharing this resource. I was dismayed to find that I missed the lecture on Belzec scheduled for 2 pm EST today. I suspect it will be up on YouTube later, however. Some interesting topics.

>47 jessibud2: I'm pleased to have jogged your memory though I'm slightly annoyed that I didn't get there on my last trip, I didn't know about it till now.

>48 labfs39: I'd just discovered the lecture series this afternoon and saw that we'd just missed that one.

I started on Nancy Sinkoff's award winning biography of Lucy Dawidowicz, From Left to Right tonight. Dawidowicz is probably best known for her book The War Against the Jews: 1933-1945 although she wrote several others as well.

>50 alcottacre: I have The War Against the Jews in a box somewhere. Have you read it?

I just finished The Cigarette Sellers of Three Crosses Square by Joseph Ziemian. Fascinating story of Jewish children surviving on the streets after escaping from the Warsaw Ghetto. They sold cigarettes to German soldiers, others survived by singing on trams, in restaurants and on the streets.

Over the weekend I finished The Nazi Hunters, which is apparently a reworking of the author's Hunting Eichmann for a YA audience. It's won lots of awards. A couple of nice features are the photographs of artifacts related to the operation (for example, Eichmann's passport), and a list of important people at the front, grouped by their role. I found the list helpful to keep track of the people as some would disappear from the action for a while, then reappear when their skill was called for at particular times.

I came across Alice’s Book: How the Nazis stole my grandmothers cookbook by Karina Urbach in my library's catalogue. Title is interesting, though reviews show disappointment that the cookbook story is only a small part of the book.
The book itself focuses on the wider family and how they fared in WW2.
From a GR review - 'What made this story unique was the promise embedded in the title that the focus would be on the “stealing” of Alice’s best-selling 1938 cookbook by the Nazi policy of Aryanisation. As the persecution of the Jews began in Austria, it extended to the burning of “Jewish” books and the prohibition of any publication of books written by Jewish authors. For Alice, this meant that her iconic cookbook of Viennese dishes was attributed to another author, her name and all references to her erased from the pages of the publication. It would take 40 years after her death for Alice to succeed in being reinstated as the true author of “Cooking the Viennese Way”, the rights to her publication finally awarded to her granddaughters.'

>54 avatiakh: - Sounds like an interesting premise!

I just finished The Happiest man on Earth, a memoir by Eddie Jaku. Published in 2020, when he was 100 years old, it is the story of his survival during the Holocaust. How he managed to survive the many many trials and tribulations he endured, is remarkable. His engineering skills and his youth (he was only 18 the first time he was arrested and taken to a camp), are certainly part of it. But also, his determination and positive attitude, and a good friend, were also factors. His refusal to hate (that would a difficult one, for me, I can tell you), also. He says he doesn't hate anyone but with the caveat that he also can't forgive or forget. So he teaches, and advocates for peace and happiness.

I also just listened to his TED talk and a short interview with an Australian interviewer (he moved to Australia in 1950) and his words say it all much better than I can:

Ted talk: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=eddie+jaku+ted+talk&view=detail&mid...

interview: Remembering Eddie Jaku : https://www.bing.com/videos/search?&q=eddie+jaku+ted+talk&view=detail&am...

Eddie Jaku died in 2021, at the age of 101. A life well lived is the very best revenge.

This is a graphic novel but really thoughtful.
As A Burning Flame The Dream of Regina Jonas by Noa Mishkin. This slim book is an accounting of the life of Regina Jonas, a young woman living in Berlin who was Orthodox Jewish and had studied at a rabbinical seminary. Regina believed that she had all the qualifications needed to be ordained as a Rabbi. In 1930 she did explain why she should be declared a rabbi in her Master's thesis. In 1935 a Liberal Rabbi read her petitions and granted her the title of Rabbi. Regina Jonas spent her time in what is consider pastoral work, and did give sermons to various congregations throughout Germany. In 1942 she was deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto. She lectured during her time in Theresienstadt and in 1944 was deported to Auschwitz and murdered. No one really knew about Regina Jonas until a scholar discovered information on her in an archive in the former East Germany. Noa Mishkin used this material and created not only an accounting of Regina Jonas life and work but did it with illustrations in this graphic novel. She also reflected on her own life and how she wanted more participation and recognition as an Orthodox woman. This is a very thoughtful account of one woman's life and it emphasized her writings and ideas.

I've managed to track down a copy of October 16, 1943: Eight Jews by Giacomo Debenedetti. I found out about it from the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand website. They collaborated with the Italian Embassy and writer/artist Sarah Laing on a project to produce a visual adaption of his essay October 16, 1943 which can be read here - https://sarahelaing.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/debenedetti-rome-16-october-1943...

So far I've read the introduction by the translator, Estelle Gilson and the preface by Alberto Moravia.

>57 avatiakh: Thank you for sharing the graphic version, Kerry. The final passage comparing Lecha Dodi with the ragged woman dressed in black was chilling. Doing the roundup on Shabbat was another psychological weapon that the Germans employed.

October 16, 1943 / Eight Jews by Giacomo Debenetti (1945)
essays
There are two essays by Debenetti, a preface by Alberto Moravia and a short essay by Estelle Gilson on the fate of the Roman Jewish Community Library.
In a few pages Debenetti describes the fateful morning of October 16, 1943 when the SS round up most of the Jewish community living in and around the Ghetto in Rome. The second essay, Eight Jews is a response to a police officer's testimony on the Ardeatine Cave Massacres (March 24, 1944).
There is a translator's introduction as well which offers background on Debenetti and the incidents.
From wikipedia: 'Debenetti was an Italian writer, essayist and literary critic. He was one of the greatest interpreters of literary criticism in Italy in the 20th century, one of the first to embrace the lessons of psychoanalysis and the human sciences in general, and among the first to grasp the full extent of Marcel Proust's genius.'

The essay on the fate of the Roman Jewish Community Library is also interesting as unlike most libraries of Hebrew manuscripts which were mostly recovered after the war only very few books or manuscripts have ever been found. The contents were transported to Germany but what happened then remains a mystery. As the oldest Jewish community in Europe the documents in the library were known to be rare and antique but had never been properly catalogued.

I've requested a copy of The Auschwitz Report by Primo Levi & Leonardo De Benedetti as it came up in a library search for 'Debenedetti'. It was published in 1946 and an English edition first published in 2006, is a slim volume of 97 pages.

>60 avatiakh: I didn't catch the De Benedetti connection until you mentioned it. I read this a long time ago, so don't remember it clearly, but it did not make the impression that some of Levi's other works did. I'll look forward to your impressions.

Posted minutes ago from Reuters global news agency, AI is being used to find the previously missing names of Holocaust victims:

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/holocaust-researchers-use-ai-search-un...

>62 MaureenRoy: - Not sure how I feel about this. I have a perhaps warranted, perhaps unwarranted distrust of AI in general and am wary of any proclamation that it can do *good* or miraculous things. I just skimmed your link but will read it in full later in the day when I have the time to absorb it all.

Maybe I am just paranoid but so far, from the little experience I have heard about, I am not convinced that it is a *good force*.

>61 labfs39: It is a different De Benedetti person, just a fluke for me to come across two De Benedettis this year.

>62 MaureenRoy: Off to read this article. I'm also not keen on AI though don't know much about it.

Yessss, AI is the ultimate mixed bag of results. I also sent that AI link to the attention of Rabbi David Wolpe (until recently at Harvard in the USA). So at some point, we will see what he thinks of their results going forward.

This is an incredible link. While, I'm sad that I didn't find it until tonight, I am glad that I did find it. I've already added five books to my list.