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The Modern South
In the Shadow of Hitler: Alabama's Jews, the Second World War, and the Holocaust
In the Shadow of Hitler chronicles the experiences of Alabama Jews as they worked to overcome their own divisions in order to aid European Jews before, during, and after the Second World War.
In this extensive study of how southern Jews in the United States responded to the Nazi persecution of European Jews, Dan J. Puckett recounts the divisions between Alabama Jews in the early 1930s. As awareness of the horrors of the Holocaust spread, Jews across Alabama from different backgrounds and from Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox traditions worked to bridge their internal divisions in order to mount efforts to save Jewish lives in Europe. Only by leveraging their collective strength were Alabama’s Jews able to sway the opinions of newspaper editors, Christian groups, and the general public as well as lobby local, state, and national political leaders.
Puckett’s comprehensive analysis is enlivened and illustrated by true stories that will fascinate all readers of southern history. One such story concerns the Altneuschule Torah of Prague and describes how the Nazis, during their brutal occupation of Czechoslovakia, confiscated 1,564 Torahs and sacred Judaic objects from communities throughout Bohemia and Moravia as exhibits in a planned museum to the extinct Jewish race. Recovered after the war by the Czech Memorial Scrolls Trust, the Altneuschule Torah was acquired in 1982 by the Orthodox congregation Ahavas Chesed of Mobile. Ahavas Chesed re-consecrated the scroll as an Alabama memorial to Czech Jews who perished in Nazi death camps.
In the Shadow of Hitler illustrates how Alabama’s Jews, in seeking to influence the national and international well-being of Jews, were changed, emerging from the war period with close cultural and religious cooperation that continues today.
In this extensive study of how southern Jews in the United States responded to the Nazi persecution of European Jews, Dan J. Puckett recounts the divisions between Alabama Jews in the early 1930s. As awareness of the horrors of the Holocaust spread, Jews across Alabama from different backgrounds and from Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox traditions worked to bridge their internal divisions in order to mount efforts to save Jewish lives in Europe. Only by leveraging their collective strength were Alabama’s Jews able to sway the opinions of newspaper editors, Christian groups, and the general public as well as lobby local, state, and national political leaders.
Puckett’s comprehensive analysis is enlivened and illustrated by true stories that will fascinate all readers of southern history. One such story concerns the Altneuschule Torah of Prague and describes how the Nazis, during their brutal occupation of Czechoslovakia, confiscated 1,564 Torahs and sacred Judaic objects from communities throughout Bohemia and Moravia as exhibits in a planned museum to the extinct Jewish race. Recovered after the war by the Czech Memorial Scrolls Trust, the Altneuschule Torah was acquired in 1982 by the Orthodox congregation Ahavas Chesed of Mobile. Ahavas Chesed re-consecrated the scroll as an Alabama memorial to Czech Jews who perished in Nazi death camps.
In the Shadow of Hitler illustrates how Alabama’s Jews, in seeking to influence the national and international well-being of Jews, were changed, emerging from the war period with close cultural and religious cooperation that continues today.
- GenresNonfiction
344 pages, Hardcover
First published November 19, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 6, 2014
Dan Puckett's book about the Jewish communities in Alabama during (and preceding and following) World War II provides an in-depth history of how these communities formed, worked together (or not) to support both American's military men (and women) and European refugees, responded to European, American, and Southern events, and, generally, how they coalesced in the main cities in which they lived and served.
As a native of Birmingham, many of these names are familiar to me, although I do not know any of the individuals personally. Their permanence as part of the local economy and as shapers of Birmingham's cultural life is evident even to a non-Jewish girl growing up in mostly protestant Birmingham. Of course, that will be true for any reader who is a native of any of the cities mentioned in the book repeatedly, including Montgomery, Mobile, Dothan, Anniston, and Selma.
The book is comprehensive almost to a fault. In the few places where it is not, the author mentions areas for future research or deeper inquiry. The book speaks not only to the Jewish experience in Alabama during this period, but to the general experience in Alabama and how this period unfolded in these Jewish communities, mostly found in Alabama's leading cities, but also, surprisingly, in some of the smaller places.
This is a well-researched and documented academic book. Therefore, the reader shouldn't expect an easy read, but rather a deeply resonant history that makes the reader ponder on these people and the times and places in which they lived.
Anyone who is interested in Alabama history or Jewish history in the USA, or World War II period history should read this book. Furthermore, the author touches upon the relationship (or lack thereof) in the early to middle part of the 20th century between anti-Semitism in Alabama and the civil rights movement, so those interested in the civil rights movement will find much to interest as well.
My only complaint, which is petty indeed, is the sense of repetition in parts of the book. Mainly this is due to the author's persistence in making sure the reader (who is unlikely to be knowledgeable about these people and the many organizations mentioned in the book) can follow the course of the history. The repetition was likely necessary to the reader's understanding, or at least to mine.
As a native of Birmingham, many of these names are familiar to me, although I do not know any of the individuals personally. Their permanence as part of the local economy and as shapers of Birmingham's cultural life is evident even to a non-Jewish girl growing up in mostly protestant Birmingham. Of course, that will be true for any reader who is a native of any of the cities mentioned in the book repeatedly, including Montgomery, Mobile, Dothan, Anniston, and Selma.
The book is comprehensive almost to a fault. In the few places where it is not, the author mentions areas for future research or deeper inquiry. The book speaks not only to the Jewish experience in Alabama during this period, but to the general experience in Alabama and how this period unfolded in these Jewish communities, mostly found in Alabama's leading cities, but also, surprisingly, in some of the smaller places.
This is a well-researched and documented academic book. Therefore, the reader shouldn't expect an easy read, but rather a deeply resonant history that makes the reader ponder on these people and the times and places in which they lived.
Anyone who is interested in Alabama history or Jewish history in the USA, or World War II period history should read this book. Furthermore, the author touches upon the relationship (or lack thereof) in the early to middle part of the 20th century between anti-Semitism in Alabama and the civil rights movement, so those interested in the civil rights movement will find much to interest as well.
My only complaint, which is petty indeed, is the sense of repetition in parts of the book. Mainly this is due to the author's persistence in making sure the reader (who is unlikely to be knowledgeable about these people and the many organizations mentioned in the book) can follow the course of the history. The repetition was likely necessary to the reader's understanding, or at least to mine.
December 10, 2016
Puckett has thoroughly researched the social and political climate surrounding Jewish organizations in Alabama during and leading up to the second world war. He draws from government records, newspapers and other periodicals as well as letters and personal interviews. I found it fascinating to learn the history of this period in Alabama. There was less anti-semitism than I expected and it was a curious thing that people who spoke up for human rights did not also seem to recognize the inhumanity of the way African Americans were treated. Puckett's book is a valuable historical resource.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews