Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close Encounters in Occupied Germany available in Paperback, eBook
Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close Encounters in Occupied Germany
- ISBN-10:
- 069114317X
- ISBN-13:
- 9780691143170
- Pub. Date:
- 08/30/2009
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- ISBN-10:
- 069114317X
- ISBN-13:
- 9780691143170
- Pub. Date:
- 08/30/2009
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close Encounters in Occupied Germany
Buy New
$29.07Buy Used
$30.81-
SHIP THIS ITEM— Not Eligible for Free Shipping
-
SHIP THIS ITEM
Temporarily Out of Stock Online
Please check back later for updated availability.
-
Overview
In gripping and unforgettable detail, Atina Grossmann describes Berlin in the days following Germany's surrenderthe mass rape of German women by the Red Army, the liberated slave laborers and homecoming soldiers, returning political exiles, Jews emerging from hiding, and ethnic German refugees fleeing the East. She chronicles the hunger, disease, and homelessness, the fraternization with Allied occupiers, and the complexities of navigating a world where the commonplace mingled with the horrific. Grossmann untangles the stories of Jewish survivors inside and outside the displaced-persons camps of the American zone as they built families and reconstructed identities while awaiting emigration to Palestine or the United States. She examines how Germans and Jews interacted and competed for Allied favor, benefits, and victim status, and how they sought to restore normalityin work, in their relationships, and in their everyday encounters.
Jews, Germans, and Allies shows how Jews were integral participants in postwar Germany and bridges the divide that still exists today between German history and Jewish studies.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780691143170 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
Publication date: | 08/30/2009 |
Pages: | 416 |
Product dimensions: | 6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface: Where is Feldafing? xiii
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction: Entangled Histories and Close Encounters 1
Chapter 1 "Poor Germany": Berlin and the Occupation 15
Chapter 2 Gendered Defeat: Rape, Motherhood, and Fraternization 48
Chapter 3 "The survivors were few and the dead were many": Jews in Occupied Berlin 88
Chapter 4 The Saved and Saving Remnant: Jewish Displaced Persons in the American Zone 131
Chapter 5 Mir Zaynen Do: Sex, Work, and the DP Baby Boom 184
Chapter 6 Conclusion: The "Interregnum" Ends 237
Abbreviations in Notes 269
Notes 271
Select Bibliography 359
Acknowledgments 369
Index 373
What People are Saying About This
Atina Grossmann has written a beautiful book, methodologically sophisticated and rich in its detailed reconstruction of everyday life. It opens a grand view on the fascinating and critical period of the years immediately following the end of World War II in Europe.
Jan T. Gross, author of "Neighbors"
Few other books, if any, have told the story of Germany's postwar Jews with such an eye to their interaction with non-Jewish Germans. Grossmann shows that both groups were victims in different ways, but that the status and character of their victimhood was of course very different. She has an eye for telling detail, and the gendered aspects to the story are particularly rich.
Mark Roseman, Indiana University
"Atina Grossmann has written a beautiful book, methodologically sophisticated and rich in its detailed reconstruction of everyday life. It opens a grand view on the fascinating and critical period of the years immediately following the end of World War II in Europe."—Jan T. Gross, author of Neighbors"Jews, Germans, and Allies stakes out new historical and theoretical ground. Beautifully written, studded with verbal and pictorial images, Grossmann's text takes us on a gripping historical journey. A master narrative: she maintains complete control of the riveting history she tells, while weaving in amazing snapshots of individual lives and contemporary reports."—Debórah Dwork, director of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University"Diving into the wreckage, Professor Grossmann expertly sifts through the chaos, refusing reductionist paradigms and describing in detail the many complex encounters between Germans, Americans, Brits, Russians, French, and Jews in postwar Germany. This is fascinating social history that focuses as much on women as on men, on the occupiers as well as on the occupied."—Helen Epstein, author of Children of the Holocaust and Where She Came From"An evocative and richly documented book set in the rubble-strewn streets of postwar Berlin, in the Jewish refugee camps, and in the offices of the Allied occupiers. With an eye for drama and an ear for distinctive tonalities, Grossmann interweaves the three closely related and intersecting stories of Jewish survivors, defeated Germans, and American occupiers to show how these 'close encounters' produced contrapuntal memories of the experience of World War II and the Holocaust. This remarkable work transcends the genres of German and Jewish history and sets a new standard for writing the history of 'entanglements' in the post-1945 era."—Anson Rabinbach, Princeton University"Atina Grossmann's book is, without any doubt, a pioneering work on postwar German, Jewish, and partly also American history. Grossmann uses a whole range of previously unknown sources. The picture emerging from this wealth of new material is quite different from the many stereotypes, which still dominate our view of this unlikely historical episode. The most striking difference is the crucial role that gender plays in her analysis."—Michael Brenner, University of Munich"Few other books, if any, have told the story of Germany's postwar Jews with such an eye to their interaction with non-Jewish Germans. Grossmann shows that both groups were victims in different ways, but that the status and character of their victimhood was of course very different. She has an eye for telling detail, and the gendered aspects to the story are particularly rich."—Mark Roseman, Indiana University
Atina Grossmann's book is, without any doubt, a pioneering work on postwar German, Jewish, and partly also American history. Grossmann uses a whole range of previously unknown sources. The picture emerging from this wealth of new material is quite different from the many stereotypes, which still dominate our view of this unlikely historical episode. The most striking difference is the crucial role that gender plays in her analysis.
Michael Brenner, University of Munich
Jews, Germans, and Allies stakes out new historical and theoretical ground. Beautifully written, studded with verbal and pictorial images, Grossmann's text takes us on a gripping historical journey. A master narrative: she maintains complete control of the riveting history she tells, while weaving in amazing snapshots of individual lives and contemporary reports.
Deborah Dwork, director of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University
An evocative and richly documented book set in the rubble-strewn streets of postwar Berlin, in the Jewish refugee camps, and in the offices of the Allied occupiers. With an eye for drama and an ear for distinctive tonalities, Grossmann interweaves the three closely related and intersecting stories of Jewish survivors, defeated Germans, and American occupiers to show how these 'close encounters' produced contrapuntal memories of the experience of World War II and the Holocaust. This remarkable work transcends the genres of German and Jewish history and sets a new standard for writing the history of 'entanglements' in the post-1945 era.
Anson Rabinbach, Princeton University
Diving into the wreckage, Professor Grossmann expertly sifts through the chaos, refusing reductionist paradigms and describing in detail the many complex encounters between Germans, Americans, Brits, Russians, French, and Jews in postwar Germany. This is fascinating social history that focuses as much on women as on men, on the occupiers as well as on the occupied.
Helen Epstein, author of "Children of the Holocaust" and "Where She Came From"