World War I and the Jews: Conflict and Transformation in Europe, the Middle East, and America

World War I utterly transformed the lives of Jews around the world: it allowed them to display their patriotism, to dispel antisemitic myths about Jewish cowardice, and to fight for Jewish rights. Yet Jews also suffered as refugees and deportees, at times catastrophically. And in the aftermath of the war, the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Russian and Ottoman Empires with a system of nation-states confronted Jews with a new set of challenges. This book provides a fascinating survey of the ways in which Jewish communities participated in and were changed by the Great War, focusing on the dramatic circumstances they faced in Europe, North America, and the Middle East during and after the conflict.

Table of Contents:
Figures Tables Maps Acknowledgements Introduction: On the Significance of World War I and the Jews Jonathan Karp and Marsha L. Rozenblit PART I: OVERVIEWS Chapter 1. World War I and its Impact on the Problem of Security in Jewish History David Engel Chapter 2. The European Jewish World 1914-1919: What Changed? Marsha Rozenblit Chapter 3. Jewish Diplomacy and the Politics of War and Peace Carole Fink PART II: LOCAL STUDIES Chapter 4. Bravery in the Borderlands, Martyrs on the Margins: Jewish War Heroes and World War I Narratives in France, 1914-1940 Erin Corber Chapter 5. The Budapest Jewish Community’s Galician October Rebekah Klein-Pejšová Chapter 6. Confronting the Bacterial Enemy: Public Health, Philanthropy, and Jewish Responses to Typhus in Poland, 1914-1921 Daniel Rosenthal Chapter 7. The Union of Jewish Soldiers under Soviet Rule Mihály Kálmán Chapter 8. Global Conflict, Local Politics: The Jews of Salonica and World War I Paris Papamichos Chronakis Chapter 9. Recounting the Past, Shaping the Future: Ladino Literary Representations of World War I Devi Mays Chapter 10. Women and the War: The Social and Economic Impact of World War I on Jewish Women in the Traditional Holy Cities of Palestine Michal Ben Ya’akov Chapter 11. Baghdadi Jews in the Ottoman Military during World War I Reeva Spector Simon Chapter 12. Unintentional Pluralists: Military Policy, Jewish Servicemen, and the Development of Tri-Faith America during World War I Jessica Cooperman Chapter 13. American Yiddish Socialists at the Wartime Crossroads: Patriotism and Nationalism versus Proletarian Internationalism Gennady Estraikh Chapter 14. Louis Marshall during World War I: Change and Continuity in Jewish Culture and Politics M.M. Silver Index

About the Author :
Marsha L. Rozenblit is the Harvey M. Meyerhoff Professor of Modern Jewish History at the University of Maryland.  She is the author of The Jews of Vienna, 1867-1914: Assimilation and Identity (1983) and Constructing a National Identity: The Jews of Habsburg Austria during World War I (2001) and co-editor, with Pieter M. Judson, of Constructing Nationalities in East Central Europe (2005). 

Review :
“The book is a powerful statement of the transformations that affected Jews, particularly the post-war settlement… it is highly recommended to anyone interested in Jewish history, to anyone interested in the war, and to those who study early twentieth century history in the areas covered.” • European Review of History “Any student or scholar of World War I, Jewish history, and twentieth-century nationalism will appreciate this impressive edited volume.” • European History Quarterly “This volume fills a crucial research gap in modern Jewish history, contains excellent essays by senior and junior scholars, and makes a convincing case why the ‘Great War’ marked a crucial turning point in modern Jewish history on both sides of the Atlantic.” • Tobias Brinkmann, The Pennsylvania State University