Jeffrey Veidlinger

In the Midst of Civilized Europe

The Pogroms of 1918-1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD * SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE "The mass killings of Jews from 1918 to 1921 are a bridge between local pogroms and the extermination of the Holocaust. No history of that Jewish catastrophe comes close to the virtuosity of research, clarity of prose, and power of analysis of this extraordinary book. As the horror of events yields to empathetic understanding, the reader is grateful to Veidlinger for reminding us what history can do." -Timothy Snyder, author of Bloodlands Between 1918 and 1921, over a hundred thousand Jews were murdered in Ukraine by peasants, townsmen, and soldiers who blamed the Jews for the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. In hundreds of separate incidents, ordinary people robbed their Jewish neighbors with impunity, burned down their houses, ripped apart their Torah scrolls, sexually assaulted them, and killed them. Largely forgotten today, these pogroms-ethnic riots-dominated headlines and international affairs in their time. Aid workers warned that six million Jews were in danger of complete extermination. Twenty years later, these dire predictions would come true. Drawing upon long-neglected archival materials, including thousands of newly discovered witness testimonies, trial records, and official orders, acclaimed historian Jeffrey Veidlinger shows for the first time how this wave of genocidal violence created the conditions for the Holocaust. Through stories of survivors, perpetrators, aid workers, and governmental officials, he explains how so many different groups of people came to the same conclusion: that killing Jews was an acceptable response to their various problems. In riveting prose, In the Midst of Civilized Europe repositions the pogroms as a defining moment of the twentieth century.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Henry Holt and Co.
• Seitenzahl: 480
• Erscheinungstermin: 26. Oktober 2021
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 241mm x 159mm x 39mm
• Gewicht: 684g
• ISBN-13: 9781250116253
• ISBN-10: 1250116252
• Artikelnr.: 59322475

Autorenporträt

Jeffrey Veidlinger is a professor of history and Judaic studies at the University of Michigan. His books, which include The Moscow State Yiddish Theater and In the Shadow of the Shtetl, have won a National Jewish Book Award, the Barnard Hewitt Award for Theatre Scholarship, two Canadian Jewish Book Awards, and the J. I. Segal Award. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction:
Will a Slaughter of Jews Be Next European Horror?
A Note on Sources, Numbers, Dates, and Place-Names Part I: War and Revolution, March 1881
December 1918 1. The Last Years of the Russian Empire 2. The Revolutions of 1917 3. The Central Rada of Ukraine 4. From the Hetmanate to the Directory Part II: The Ukrainian People
s Republic, December 1918
March 1919 5. The Ovruch Pogro 6. The Zhytomyr Pogrom 7. The Proskuriv Pogrom 8. The Second Zhytomyr Pogrom Part III: Power Vacuum, March 1919
August 1919 9. The Entente 10. Warlords 11. Months and Days 12. Poland and Ukraine on the World Stage Part IV: The Triumph of Bolshevism, August 1919
March 1921 13. The Volunteer Army 14. The Tetiiv Pogrom 15. The Polish-Soviet War Part V: Aftermath, 1921
1941 16. Refugees 17. The Schwarzbard Trial 18. The Interwar in Ukraine 19. The Onset of the Holocaust Notes Acknowledgments Index

Rezensionen

Veidlinger's book ranks alongside Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands in forcing our eyes eastwards. It is deeply researched and masterfully written, with a cool restraint that only intensifies its power. It reminded me of Faulkner's line that "the past is never dead. It's not even past." Patrick Bishop Sunday Telegraph