About the Book
The Holocaust—one of the most horrific examples of man's inhumanity to man in recorded history—resulted in the genocide of millions of people, most of them Jews. This volume explores the daily lives of the Holocaust victims and their heroic efforts to maintain a normal existence under inhumane conditions. Readers will learn about the effects of pogroms, Jewish ghettoes, Nazi rule, and deportation on everyday tasks like going to school, practicing religion, or eating dinner. Chapters on life in the concentration camps describe the incomprehensible conditions that plagued the inmates and the ways in which they managed to survive. Soumerai, a survivor herself, offers a unique perspective on the events. Coverage also includes accounts of resistance and the role of rescuers. Four new chapters explore current human rights abuses, including Holocaust denials, modern genocide, and human trafficking, enabling readers to contrast present and past events. In addition to a timeline, a glossary, and engaging illustrations, the second edition also features an extensive bibliography and resource center that guides student researchers toward web sites, organizations, films, and books on the Holocaust and other human rights abuses.
Primary source testimonies from survivors provide powerful insight into the devastating effects of Nazi rule on people's lives. Soumerai, a survivor herself, offers a unique perspective on the events and insight into the persecution of non-Jews: Gypsies, gays, clergy who protested or protected victims, Communists, Jehovah's Witnesses, the mentally ill and handicapped. Readers will explore the effects of pogroms, Jewish ghettoes, Nazi rule, and deportation on everyday tasks like going to school, practicing religion, or eating dinner. Chapters on life in the concentration camps describe the incomprehensible conditions within the camps, including the ways in which inmates managed to survive: avoiding the infirmary, rationing food, utilizing the market system to trade for goods and clothing. Four new chapters shed a modern light on the events of the Holocaust, exploring human rights abuses that continue even today, including Holocaust Denials; genocide in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Sudan; and child slavery and human trafficking. The new material allows readers to compare and contrast present and past human rights abuses, exploring what lessons we have learned, if any, from the Holocaust. An expanded bibliography and resource center guides readers toward related web sites, organizations, films and books related to the Holocaust, modern-day slavery and genocide, child soldiers, and related human rights topics. Illustrations, a timeline of events and a glossary of terms are also included, making this a comprehensive resource for student researchers.
Table of Contents:
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface
Acknowledgments
Co-Author's Note
Timeline
Prologue
1. Man's Inhumanity to Man: A Short Historical Background
2. Setting the National Socialist (Nazi) Stage
3. The Total Nazification of Germany
4. The Changing Lives of Jews
5. Prologue to World War II
6. World War II Begins
7. Moving into the Ghettos
8. Life in the Ghettos of Poland
9. Coping with Life in a "Concentration" World
10. Einsatzgruppen in the East
11. The Wannsee Conference: Planning the Final Solution
12. The "Final Solution": The Plan
13. Deportation and the Behavior of Jewish Leadership
14. The Roundups
15. Deportations: Country by Country
16. The Terrifying Journey to the East
17. Auschwitz
18. Life in the Lunatic World of the Concentration Camps
19. The Cover-up
20. The Death Marches
21. Resistance
22. The Lives of the Rescuers and the Rescued
23. Liberation
24. The Nuremberg Trials
25. Aftermath
26. Denying History
27. Genocide Continues: Cambodia, Rawanda, Sudan
28. The Twenty-first Century: Modern Slavery in a Global Economy
29. Child Soldiers in the Modern Army
Epilogue
Appendix: Searching for Answers through Tribute Celebrations
Glossary
Selected Bibliography and Resource Center
About the Author :
EVE NUSSBAUM SOUMERAI is an author, lecturer, teacher and Holocaust survivor. She works as a consultant for Trinity College, establishing mentors for the Trinity Boys and Girls club, and also serves as an equity issues consultant for the West Hartford school system. She is co-author, with Carol Schulz, of A Voice from the Holocaust (Greenwood 2003) and Human Rights: The Struggle for Freedom, Dignity, and Equality (1998).
CAROL D. SCHULZ is English Department Chair for the Canton Public Schools in Canton, CT. She has taught history and English for 34 years and has written and presented workshops extensively on human rights issues. She is co-author, with Eve Soumerai, of A Voice from the Holocaust (Greenwood 2003) and Human Rights: The Struggle for Freedom, Dignity, and Equality (1998). She is also the editor of Greenwood Press's Twentieth Century Voices in Conflict series.
Review :
The second edition of this textbook on the Holocaust has been expanded to include discussions on recent genocides in Darfur and Rwanda, anecdotal accounts concerning post-Holocaust atrocities and an analysis of why these types of abuses still occur. Soumerai, an author and Holocaust survivor, has joined with Schulz, a high school English and history
teacher, to provide a thorough survey for students and scholars that traces the planning and execution of "The Final Solution." The authors include an insider's view of deportation and ghettoization, the death marches, life inside the concentration camps such as Auschwitz, liberation and the Nuremberg Trials.
