A Community under Siege: The Jews of Breslau under NazismThis is a study of how the Jewish community of Breslau--the third largest and one of the most affluent in Germany--coped with Nazi persecution. Ascher has included the experiences of his immediate family, although the book is based mainly on archival sources, numerous personal reminiscences, as well as publications by the Jewish community in the 1930s. It is the first comprehensive study of a local Jewish community in Germany under Nazi rule. Until the very end, the Breslau Jews maintained a stance of defiance and sought to persevere as a cohesive group with its own institutions. They categorically denied the Nazi claim that they were not genuine Germans, but at the same time they also refused to abandon their Jewish heritage. They created a new school for the children evicted from public schools, established a variety of new cultural institutions, placed new emphasis on religious observance, maintained the Jewish hospital against all odds, and, perhaps most remarkably, increased the range of welfare services, which were desperately needed as more and more of their number lost their livelihood. In short, the Jews of Breslau refused to abandon either their institutions or the values that they had nurtured for decades. In the end, it was of no avail as the Nazis used their overwhelming power to liquidate the community by force. |
Contents
Jews Settle in Breslau | 27 |
Creeping Persecution 19331934 | 69 |
Calm Before the Storm | 112 |
Kristallnacht | 166 |
Tightening the Screws 19391941 | 204 |
The End | 230 |
Notes | 283 |
Glossary | 301 |
Common terms and phrases
Anita anti-Semitism apartment April archive Aryan asked assets Association attended Auschwitz authorities Barkai became Berlin Board of Governors board president Bres Breslau Jews Breslauer Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt Breslauer Zeitung Buchenwald CAHJP camp Christian consul cultural early emigration Ernst Ernst Marcus father Foerder Gauleiter Gentiles German Jews Gestapo Hadda Hanke Heines Hitler Ibid institutions Jewish community Jewish Hospital Jewish school Jewry Jews of Breslau Judaism Jüdische Zeitung Karla kosher Kristallnacht large number later lawyers leave letter lived Lower Silesia March Marcus marks ment months mother moved National Nazi Nazism November Nuremberg Laws officials Palestine parents Party percent person police political Preiss Rabbi racial received Reich religious remained Riebnig sent Silesia Synagogue teachers Theresienstadt tion took Tormersdorf University of Breslau Vaughan visa Walter Laqueur wanted weeks wife Willy Cohn Wrocław wrote Zionist
References to this book
Die Soziologie von Norbert Elias: Eine Einführung in ihre Geschichte ... Annette Treibel Limited preview - 2008 |