THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP discussion
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Books & Discussion on the Holocaust
Some of the descriptions of what happened in the Ukraine during the famine are absolutely horrifing. Not to mention what the Germans did to the both Russian POWs and Jews
I want to read "Forever Flowing," by Vasily Grossman, about the famine in the Ukraine. (He wrote "Life and Fate," and also "A Writer at War.") One of the additional horrors of the famine was that it made the Ukrainians hate the Soviets so much that they readily joined up with the Germans. The Nazis had spread the rumor that the Jews were responsible for everything the Communists did to them. Tragically, this resulted in the Ukrainians willingly killing tens of thousands of their Jewish neighbors.
Morgiana wrote: "currently I am reading this book:
by Miklós Nyiszli and I cannot finish this thought:
could this man considered as guilty or not?
B..."
I agree with Michael, Morgiana. The poor man did what he had to in order to survive. He was a prisoner, too. We're fortunate that he wrote the book--he is bearing witness, giving testimony. Perpetrators didn't write books like this.
okay, both of you have right - these just were my thougths while I read this book.I finished this, and agree, he just did what he had to do to survive.
Horrible things, but in a KZ this is all about the pure survival.
I've just posted details of this new book over in the new release section but here it is again in case some folks missed it:
by Matthew Brzezinski
This book may interest a few members of the group:
by Chil RajchmanDescription:
Chil Rajchman, a Polish Jew, was arrested with his younger sister in 1942 and sent to Treblinka, a death camp where more than 750,000 were murdered before it was abandoned by German soldiers. His sister was sent to the gas chambers, but Rajchman escaped execution, working for ten months under incessant threats and beatings as a barber, a clothes-sorter, a corpse-carrier, a puller of teeth from those same bodies. In August 1943, there was an uprising at the camp, and Rajchman was among the handful of men who managed to escape. In 1945, he set down this account, a plain, unembellished and exact record of the raw horror he endured every day. This unique testimony, which has remained in the sole possession of his family ever since, has never before been published in English. For its description of unspeakably cruelty, Treblinka is a memoir that will not be superseded. In addition to Rajchman's account, this volume includes the complete text of Vasily Grossman's The Hell of Treblinka, one of the first descriptions of a Nazi extermination camp; a powerful and harrowing piece of journalism written only weeks after the camp was dissolved.
Another new book on a terrible subject as told by a survivor:
by Sam PivnikDescription:
In 1939, on his 13th birthday, the Nazis invaded Poland. Sam Pivnik survived the two ghettoes set up in his home town of Bedzin and six months working on the processing ramp at Auschwitz, where prisoners were either taken away for entry to the camp or gassing.
After this harrowing experience, he was sent to work at the brutal Furstengrube mining camp. He could have died on the 'Death March' that took him west as the Third Reich collapsed, and he managed to swim to safety when the Royal Air Force mistakenly sank the prison ship Cap Arcona in 1945.
On 14 occasions he should have been killed, yet now in his 80s, Sam tells the story of his life, a tale of survival against the most extraordinary odds.
I picked up a copy of this book today that covers a very interesting incident that many have read before in the Leon Uris novel; Exodus. This book offers the reader the full account:
by Gordon ThomasDescription:
The riveting chronicle of Jewish war survivors and their flight on the dramatic voyage of Exodus 1947, the international incident that gained sympathy for the formation of Israel.
The underground Jewish group Haganah arranged for the purchase of a small American steamer as part of an ambitious and daring mission: to serve as lifeboat for more than four thousand survivors of Nazi rule and transport them to Palestine. Renamed Exodus 1947, the ship and its young crew left France en route to the future state of Israel. The Holocaust survivors aboard Exodus endured even more hardships when the Royal Navy stopped the ship in international waters, used force in boarding (killing two passengers and one crewmember) and eventually deported its human cargo to internment camps in Germany. The death of the ship’s captain in late 2009 generated headlines throughout the world. Enriched with new survivors’ testimonies and previously unpublished documentation, Operation Exodus is the deeply moving saga of a people who risked all in search for a home.
Sounds fascinating! I'll have to look for it!
It does look like a very interesting book Helen.
Helen wrote: "Morgiana wrote: "currently I am reading this book:
by Miklós Nyiszli and I cannot finish this thought:
could this man considered as ..."
Morgiana,
I read this book earlier in the year and was just talking about it to a close friend this evening. It's been months since I've read this book yet it is still with me. What a tragic position the writer was placed in as someone who studied medicine and took an oath to help save lives only to be forced to participate in the atrocities carried out under Dr. Mengele. I can only imagine how difficult it also was for those who were selected as part of the Sonderkommando to carry out what was required, knowing that the same fate was most likely not far off for them.
"Forgiving Dr. Mengele" is an incredible and a thought-provoking documentary that takes this topic a step further. It really begs the question of what forgiveness really means. The reunion and interviews deal with some of the surviving twins that served as experimental guinea pigs for the infamous Dr. Mengele. They meet once again nearly 50 years later to discuss what his atrocities did to their lives even after leaving Auschwitz. It is a heartbreaking story but one that needed to be told. The idea and the concept of forgiveness is different for everyone and as one of the survivors pointed out, she didn't feel one could find forgiveness while still in the midst of fighting for one's life. But for many of the survivors, even fifty years after the liberation of the camp, there is still no room for forgiveness in their hearts. A very informative and heartbreaking story that is now a part of recorded history for future generations to have as reference.
Just ran across
at Amazon. The Kindle version is on sale for $2.99 as well as the Nook version. The book looks really interesting and has some very good reviews. Here's an overview:They were teachers, students, chemists, writers, and housewives; a singer at the Paris Opera, a midwife, a dental surgeon. They distributed anti-Nazi leaflets, secreted Jews to safety, transported weapons, and conveyed clandestine messages. The youngest was a schoolgirl of fifteen; the eldest, a farmer’s wife in her sixties.
Eventually, the Gestapo hunted down 230 women active in the French Resistance and imprisoned them in a fort outside Paris. Separated from home and loved ones, these disparate individuals turned to one another, their common experience conquering divisions of age, profession, and class, as they found solace and strength in their deep affection and camaraderie.
In January 1943, they were sent to their final destination: Auschwitz. Only forty-nine would return to France.
A Train in Winter draws on interviews and deep archival research to uncover a dark chapter of history that offers an inspiring portrait of ordinary people, of bravery and survival—and of the remarkable, enduring power of female friendship.
Thanks for the details on that book Christie, much appreciated.
Christie wrote: "Just ran across at Amazon. The Kindle version is on sale for $2.99 as well as ..."Thanks! I purchased it!
Regina wrote: "Christie wrote: "Just ran across at Amazon. The Kindle version is on sale for ..."Awesome. Let me know when you are ready to read it and maybe we can do a buddy read.
Christie wrote: "Regina wrote: "Christie wrote: "Just ran across at Amazon. The Kindle version ..."That sounds good.
Let me know if you guys would like me to set up a page so you can discuss the book when you start reading it.
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Let me know if you guys would like me to set up a page so you can discuss the book when you start reading it."Will do AR and thanks so much for doing so when we start our BR.
message 121:
by
Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces
(new)
I'm a third of the way through this 
by Giles MacDonoghIt has some interesting coverage of the treatment of Jews prior to and after Anschluss, including people's efforts to leave Austria and the hoops required to gain the relevant paperwork, and the options in terms of countries who would/wouldn't take them.
Christie wrote: "Just ran across at Amazon. The Kindle version is on sale for $2.99 as well as ..."Thanks for the pointer Christie, just bought this one as my first NOOK book. Looks good.
Mike wrote: "Christie wrote: "Just ran across at Amazon. The Kindle version is on sale for ..."Glad to be of help Mike! Hope you are enjoying your new Nook from Santa :)
Geevee wrote: "I'm a third of the way through this by Giles MacDonoghIt has some interesting coverage of the treatment of Jews prior to and after Anschluss, including ..."
Geevee, the book sounds really good. Interesting that the red tape was so bad for Jews to leave Austria even prior to the Anschluss.
message 125:
by
Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces
(last edited Dec 27, 2012 10:57AM)
(new)
One of the things I have learnt on reading books about WWII and the Holocaust is that the Jews were pursued and hated across Europe. Today people associate their poor treatment with Nazi Germany because of the holocaust but many countries gave them little if any support or comfort before the 1930s. So even if leaving Austria or Germany had been simple neighbouring countries, and wider did not want them or set quotas.
A very valid point Geevee and one that is sometimes overlooked in many histories.
Geevee wrote: "I'm a third of the way through this by Giles MacDonoghIt has some interesting coverage of the treatment of Jews prior to and after Anschluss, including ..."
Looks like my kind of read Geevee
Christie wrote: "Just ran across at Amazon. The Kindle version is on sale for $2.99 as well as ..."Loaded on the good ole Kindle. Thanks for the suggestion.
Michael wrote: "Christie wrote: "Just ran across at Amazon. The Kindle version is on sale for ..."My pleasure :)
I'm interested in your final views on this book Geevee as I have picked it up a few times and browsed through it but haven't purchased a copy yet, is it a book I should have in my library?
by Giles MacDonogh
message 131:
by
Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces
(new)
Rick I think you'd find it worth reading. I've read a few of the author's books and find them well written.
OK, got me sold, I will drop by and pick up a copy soon then.
One of our moderators, Mike, recently found a copy of this book which I figured I would mention here and in the novel section. It sounds like an excellent historical novel covering a very interesting piece of history in Italy during the later stages of WW2:
by Mary Doria RussellDescription:
Set in Italy during the dramatic finale of World War II, this new novel is the first in seven years by the bestselling author of The Sparrow and Children of God.
It is September 8, 1943, and fourteen-year-old Claudette Blum is learning Italian with a suitcase in her hand. She and her father are among the thousands of Jewish refugees scrambling over the Alps toward Italy, where they hope to be safe at last, now that the Italians have broken with Germany and made a separate peace with the Allies. The Blums will soon discover that Italy is anything but peaceful, as it becomes overnight an open battleground among the Nazis, the Allies, resistance fighters, Jews in hiding, and ordinary Italian civilians trying to survive.
Mary Doria Russell sets her first historical novel against this dramatic background, tracing the lives of a handful of fascinating characters. Through them, she tells the little-known but true story of the network of Italian citizens who saved the lives of forty-three thousand Jews during the war's final phase. The result of five years of meticulous research, A Thread of Grace is an ambitious, engrossing novel of ideas, history, and marvelous characters that will please Russell's many fans and earn her even more.
From "Dutch News.nl", WWII transit camp for Jews, Westerbrook- nominated for European heritage listThis is the camp Anne Frank was sent to before being deported to Auschwitz in 1944.
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives...
Hello everybody. I suggest Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience
by Gitta Sereny. I haven't read it yet myself but I plan to, this year. Here is the book synopsis from Goodreads:
Based on 70 hours of interviews with Franz Stangl, commandant of Treblinka (the largest of the extermination camps), this book bares the soul of a man who continually found ways to rationalize his role in Hitler's final solution.
Veeral, the book sounds really interesting. Added to my wishlist. Thanks for the info.
Veeral wrote: "Hello everybody. I suggest Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience
by Gitta Sereny. "
Thanks for posting this. I'm putting it on my TBR list.
Veeral wrote: "Hello everybody. I suggest Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience
by Gitta Sereny. I haven't read it yet myself but..."
I have that one on my shelf ready to go
Geevee wrote: "One of the things I have learnt on reading books about WWII and the Holocaust is that the Jews were pursued and hated across Europe. Today people associate their poor treatment with Nazi Germany b..."As usual, one can expect Finland to make things a little less simple. (I think I also remember reading from memoirs of a Finnish diplomat(?) who, while serving in Washington during the Continuation War, was surprised to find that a shop owned by a Jew was never visited by gentiles. He bought there some fabric for his wife.)
Lessons of Integration of Aliens into Finland between 1917 and 1944
http://www.globalpolitician.com/defau...
(ETA) This article gives you a better overall picture of Jews, Muslims and other non-Finns in Finland before and during the war years.
‘While Jews serve in my army I will not allow their deportation’
http://www.jewishquarterly.org/issuea...
Un-Finnish business
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazi...
A Short but Convoluted History for Finland's Jewish Community
http://www.cjp.org/page.aspx?id=143685
"Most interesting, perhaps, is another local story of a Jewish soldier [a lieutenant at the time, actually, later captain] who defied death to rescue a battalion of SS soldiers pinned down by enemy fire. Offered an Iron Cross he refused, in flawless German.
When a German officer asked where he learned to speak so well, the soldier reportedly answered that he was Jewish, and that since Yiddish was his mother language, it was easy for him to speak German. He then marched out of the deathly silent tent. The Finnish government supported his refusal of the award."
Although in a Finnish book it continues differently:
"When the German heard that his rescuer was a Jew, he nevertheless shook the latter's hand and said: 'I personally have nothing against you as a Jew. Heil Hitler!'"
This is an old book and probably dated, I haven't read it (it's in English afterall). I'm not really sure if it's a good one (I don't think I like the author) but probably the only one in English. But those articles give you some idea about the subject.
Finland and the Holocaust: The Rescue of Finland's Jews
Tytti wrote: "Geevee wrote: "One of the things I have learnt on reading books about WWII and the Holocaust is that the Jews were pursued and hated across Europe. Today people associate their poor treatment with..."Great story!
Tytti wrote: "‘While Jews serve in my army I will not allow their deportation’http://www.jewishquarterly.org/issuea...
..."
Great story. Even now, there are so many stories from WWII unknown to a wide audience. I know little about the war in Finland.
message 143:
by
Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces
(new)
Tytti wrote: "Geevee wrote: "One of the things I have learnt on reading books about WWII and the Holocaust is that the Jews were pursued and hated across Europe. Today people associate their poor treatment with..."Thanks Tytti, I like the information you are able to provide with your Finnish location and connections.
Geevee wrote: "Tytti wrote: ... with your Finnish location and connections. "I'm happy if someone finds them interesting. There is a saying in Finland that goes something like this: "Who would raise a cat's tail if not the cat herself?" :-) (And I hope my English isn't too confusing...)
Knowing the language also helps. I hadn't really realized that it is such an obstacle, probably because most people interested in our history speak Finnish as their mother tongue. No wonder that "Marttinen's men" used Finnish as their secret code language while fighting with the US Army in Korea. (They were highly ranked officers who were told to leave the country when the concealment of arms in preparation for the possible Soviet occupation after the Continuation War was revealed. They then joined the US Army as privates and many retired as colonels. The case served its purpose, though. It's been speculated that knowing Finns were ready for guerrilla warfare convinced Stalin that an occupation/communist coup d'état would have been too risky.)
message 145:
by
Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces
(new)
Has anyone read
by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor? I have it on my TBR but not read it yet. Appreciate it's fiction but has very good reviews.
Description:
A rediscovered classic, originally published in 1938 and now an international bestseller. When it first appeared in Story magazine in 1938, Address Unknown became an immediate social phenomenon and literary sensation. Published in book form a year later and banned in Nazi Germany, it garnered high praise in the United States and much of Europe.
A series of fictional letters between a Jewish art dealer living in San Francisco and his former business partner, who has returned to Germany, Address Unknown is a haunting tale of enormous and enduring impact.
I'm afraid I haven't read it Geevee but it does sound quite interesting.
I haven't read it either, but it does sound interesting.
I don't think this book has been mentioned yet. It's due for release in April 2013 and I am sure it will interest a few members:
by Raphael IsraeliDescription:
In The Death Camps of Croatia, Raphael Israeli shows that throughout Yugoslavia during World War II, anti-semitism was both deeply rooted and widespread. This book traces the circumstances and the historical context in which the pro-Nazi Ustasha state, encompassing Croatia and Bosnia, erected the Jadovno and Jasenovac death camps. Israeli distills fact and historical record from accusation and grievance, noting that seventy years later, the gap in research and the collection of data, memoirs, and oral histories has become almost irreparable. This volume meets the challenge, basing its conclusions on evidence from participants from the period.
The battle between the Serbs and the Croats is not likely to be settled any time soon. Both sides have accused the other of the wrongdoings that everyone knows occurred. While the German Nazis, Croat Ustasha, Serbian collaborators, Cetnicks, and Bosnian Hanjar recruits are often seen as the wrongdoers, there were individuals who helped the Jews, hid them at great risk, and enabled them to survive. These people absorbed the Jews in their own ranks, and gave them the means to fight; they were the only people who helped the Jews.
This volume is not about judging one side or the other; it is about acknowledging the evil all sides inflicted upon the Jewish minority in their midst. Serbs, Muslims, and Croats continue to dominate the ex-Yugoslavian scene. It has been their arena of battle for centuries, while the flourishing Jewish minority culture in that area has all but come to a historical standstill and has almost completely vanished. Yet the struggle over the historical record continues.
Founds this new book as well, due out in April 2013:
by Benjamin GinsbergDescription:
One of the most common assumptions about World War II is that the Jews did not actively or effectively resist their own extermination at the hands of the Nazis.
In this powerful book, Benjamin Ginsberg convincingly argues that the Jews not only resisted the Germans but actually played a major role in the defeat of Nazi Germany. The question, he contends, is not whether the Jews fought but where and by what means. True, many Jews were poorly armed, outnumbered, and without resources, but Ginsberg shows persuasively that this myth of passivity is solely that a myth.
The author describes how Jews resisted Nazism strongly in four major venues. First, they served as members of the Soviet military and as engineers who designed and built many pivotal Soviet weapons, including the T-34 tank. Second, a number were soldiers in the U.S. armed forces, and many also played key roles in discrediting American isolationism, in providing the Roosevelt administration with the support it needed for preparing for war, and in building the atomic bomb.
Third, they made vital contributions to the Allies the Soviet Union, the United States, and Britain in espionage and intelligence (especially cryptanalysis), and fourth, they assumed important roles in several European anti-Nazi resistance movements that often disrupted Germany s fragile military supply lines. In this compelling, cogent history, we discover that the Jews were an important factor in Hitler's defeat.
Those both sound interesting! Thanks for finding them, Rick!
THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP
Books mentioned in this topic
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World (other topics)The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World (other topics)
The Unspeakable: Breaking my Family's Silence surrounding the Holocaust (other topics)
Something Beautiful Happened: A Story of Survival and Courage in the Face of Evil (other topics)
If This is a Woman: Inside Ravensbrück: Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jonathan Freedland (other topics)Nicola Hanefeld (other topics)
Yvette Manessis Corporon (other topics)
Sarah Helm (other topics)
Sarah Helm (other topics)
More...
Another one to move to the top of my TBR list.