This book is the first to deal with the impact on the Jews of the area of the sovietization of Eastern Poland. Polish resentment at alleged Jewish collaboration with the Soviets between 1939 and 1941 affected the development of Polish-Jewish relations under Nazi rule and in the USSR. The role of these conflicts both in the Anders army and in the Communist-led Kosciuszko division and 1st Polish Army is investigated, as well as the part played by Jews in the communist-dominated regime in Poland after 1944.

Originally published in 1994, This Working-Day World is lively collection of essays presenting a social, political and cultural view of British women's lives in the period 1914-45. The volume describes women's activities in many different areas, ranging from the weekly wash to the rescue of child refugees. Each essay, from an international list of contributors, is based on new research which will complement existing studies in a range of disciplines by adding information on, among other topics, women's teacher training colleges, and women in the BBC, in medical laboratories and in Art schools. The book does not, however, idealise women: the militarism and racism of the period infected women too, and this is revealed in the account of women in the British Union of Fascists, and the analysis of the Pankhursts' merging of patriotism and gender issues. Through studies and personal accounts, This Working-Day World reveals past issues that are still pertinent to debates in today's society. As we read the chapter on the recently discovered Diary of Doreen Bates which outlines possibly the first female civil servant campaign for rights as a single mother, we hear echoes of issues being discussed today. Indeed, as we approach the end of the century it is a good moment to look back and re-evaluate areas and degrees of progress - or the reverse - in society, and in British women's lives in particular. With its unusual photographs, this accessible and informative collection provides a rich resource for students in twentieth century social and cultural history, and women's studies courses, and an enlightening volume for general readers.

Fearing an imminent Nazi invasion, the British government interned 28,000 men and women of enemy nationality living in Britain in the spring of 1940. Most were Jewish refugees who, having fled Nazi persecution, were appalled to find themselves imprisoned as potential Nazi spies. Using oral histories, unpublished letters and memoirs, artifacts and newspapers from the camps, and government documents, " We Built Up Our Lives" tells the compelling story of sixty-three of these internees. It is a seldom-told part of the history of World War II and the Holocaust and a classic tale of human courage and resilience.

"We Built Up Our Lives" describes the survival mechanisms relied upon by the Jewish refugees. Although the internees, imprisoned in Britain, the Isle of Man, Canada, and Australia, were adequately housed and fed and rarely mistreated, they were cut off from family, friends, school, and work--everything that had given meaning to their lives. Resisting boredom, anger, and despair, the internees made the best of a bad situation by creating education, culture, and community within the camps. Before and after as well as during the internment--in Nazi Germany and in Britain--educational resources and social networks were essential to the refugees' efforts to build up their lives. Equally important were personal qualities of courage, ingenuity, assertiveness, and resilience.

As a twenty-three-year-old veterinarian, William W. Putney joined the Marine Corps at the height of World War II. He commanded the Third Dog Platoon during the battle for Guam and later served as chief veterinarian and commanding officer of the War Dog Training School, where he helped train former pets for war in the Pacific. After the war, he fought successfully to have USMC war dogs returned to their civilian owners.Always Faithful is Putney's celebration of the four-legged soldiers that he both commanded and followed. It is a tale of immense courage as well as of incredible sacrifice. For anyone who has ever read "Old Yeller" or the books of Jack London, here is a real-life story that rivals any fiction. At once a wistful tribute and a stirring adventure, "Always Faithful" will enthrall readers with one of the great animal stories of all time.

The story of Zenon Neumark's experiences as a teenager in Nazi-occupied Europe, from escaping a labour camp to life in Warsaw and Vienna.

Historians have long noted that Jews often appear at the storm center of European history. Nowhere is this more true than when dealing with the tumultuous years between the Nazi seizure of power in Germany on January 30, 1933 and the proclamation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. Yet, the events of Jewish history must also be viewed within the broader contexts of European, American, and global history. Spanning sixteen years of destruction and rebirth, A World in Turmoil is the first book of its kind, an integrated chronology which attempts to provide the researcher with clear and concise data describing the events as they unfolded. From the murder pits of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, to the battlefields in all the major theatres of operation, to the home fronts of all the major and minor combatants, A World in Turmoil covers a broad spectrum of events. Although major events throughout the world are noted, the volume concentrates on events in Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. While the volume deals primarily with politics, significant social and intellectual trends are woven into the chronology. Augmented by an introductory essay and postscript to help place events in their historical context, by a bibliography, and by name, place, and subject indexes, the volume provides scholars and researchers alike a basic reference tool on sixteen of the most important years in modern history.

Mimi Rubin had fond memories of growing up in Novy Bohumin, Czechoslovakia, a place that ten thousand people called home. It was a tranquil town until September 1, 1939, when the German army invaded the city. From that day forward, eighteen-yearold Mimi would face some of the harshest moments of her life.

This memoir follows Mimi's story-from her idyllic life in Novy Bohumin before the invasion, to being transported to a Jewish ghetto, to living in three different German concentration camps, and finally, to liberation. It tells of the heartbreaking loss of her parents, grandmother, and countless other friends and relatives. It tells of the tempered joys of being reunited with her sister and of finding love, marrying, and raising a family.

A compelling firsthand account, "Mimi of Novy Bohumin, Czechoslovakia: A Young Woman's Survival of the Holocaust" weaves the personal, yet horrifying, details of Mimi's experience with historical facts about this era in history. This story helps keep alive the memory of the millions of innocent men, women, and children who died in the German concentration camps during the 1930s and 1940s.

This volume provides a historical narrative, historiographical reviews, and scholarly analyses by leading scholars throughout the world on the hitherto understudied topic of Shanghai Jewish refugees. Few among the general public know that during the Second World War, approximately 16,000 to 20,000 Jews fled the Nazis, found unexpected refuge in Shanghai, and established a vibrant community there. Though most of them left Shanghai soon after the conclusion of the war in 1945, years of sojourning among the Chinese and surviving under the Japanese occupation generated unique memories about the Second World War, lasting goodwill between the Chinese and Jews, and contested interpretations of this complex past. The volume makes two major contributions to the studies of Shanghai Jewish refugees. First, it reviews the present state of the historiography on this subject and critically assesses the ways in which the history is being researched and commemorated in China. Second, it compiles scholarship produced by renowned scholars, who aim to rescue the history from isolated perspectives and look into the interaction between Jews, Chinese, and Japanese.

Advance Praise for Border Crossings from Madeleine Albright:

"Border Crossings" is the well-told and dramatic story of a young man whose comfortable life is abruptly transformed by the savagery of World War II. Forced to rely on primal instincts and his familiarity with the rugged highlands of Moravia, Charles Novacek casts his lot first with the anti-Hitler Underground and then with the resistance to the Nazis Communist successors. My recollections pain me, he writes, still, they have made me who I am. Novacek s experience as a Hungarian-speaking Czecho-Slovak patriot demonstrates the folly of petty nationalism and the resilience of human decency and love. Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State

Description:

"Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance" is the captivating, tender memoir of Charles Novacek, a Czechoslovakian whose idyllic childhood exploring the Tatra Mountains was shattered by the Nazi occupation of his homeland. He spent his youth defending his neighbors, his family, and his country, first from the Nazi atrocities of World War II and then from the Soviet oppression of the ensuing Cold War.

Charles was eleven years old when his father and uncle recruited him into the Czech Resistance. Antonin Novacek not only taught his son to survive in the wild, but also prepared him for wartime: how to resist pain, hunger, and fear and to trust no one. His assignments included delivering messages to soldiers parachuting behind enemy lines and hiding them in caves he equipped for their shelter.

As a young man, Charles was captured and jailed by the Communists and rescued by an underground resistance network. In too much danger to remain in Czechoslovakia, he staged a daring escape only to land in a miserable displaced persons camp. His will to live prevailed once again, and Charles eventually married and built a successful life in America.

Filled with heroic adventures and great bravery, Border Crossingsis one man s remarkable tale of his incredible life and a testament to the human capacity to survive.

Additional Praise for Border Crossings:
"I have been transformed by this honest, extraordinary telling. In"Border Crossings"Charles Novacek shows us, through his personal story (told as if we are right there in the room with him) the true face of totalitarianism; he reminds us of the preciousness, the miracle, of freedom. What a gift he has given us--and what a gift his wife, Sandra, has offered us, as well, in making sure that his brave story is here for the world to read. This is a powerful memoir that crosses all borders and speaks directly to the human heart."Joseph Hurka, author of"Fields of Light: A Son Remembers His Heroic Father"

Here is a story that is meant to survive, just as its teller was. I got to know Charles in his later years but only had hints of what is contained in these pages. They are riveting. I was drawn into the best and worst of humanity and, not incidentally, into the history of the West in the mid-twentieth century. Courage, love, despair, a fierce will are all preserved with the help of one who was not the love of Charles life. . . but his last love. " John Kotre, Ph.D., author of "White Gloves: How We Create Ourselves Through Memory"

"Border Crossings" helps fill the lack of personal accounts of resistance movements amidst a voluminous array of World War II literature. This compelling memoir, written through the eyes of young Charles, shows how circumstances required him to become a shrewd hero. In his opposition first toward Nazism and then Communism, Charles Novacek s personal story illustrates why people sacrifice themselves and their families for an ideal. Intimate, intense, fascinating Christina Vella, coauthor of "The Hitler Kiss"

In 1946, legendary broadcaster Norman Corwin traveled to 17 countries to document the postwar world for the radio series, One World Flight. Here, recently discovered and now published for the first time, is his personal journal of that historic trip. A towering figure in broadcast history, Norman Corwin has long been known as "Radio's Poet Laureate." In the late 1930s, a creative revolution was underway in the medium. What some people still called "the wireless" was maturing from a novelty into an art form. After a ten-year career as a newspaperman, columnist, and critic--which began at the age of 17--Corwin joined the ranks of aural provocateurs such as Archibald MacLeish, Arch Oboler, and Orson Welles. Toward the end of 1944, with an Allied victory in Europe apparently assured, CBS asked Corwin to prepare a program celebrating the anticipated event. On May 8, 1945, just after the collapse of Germany, CBS aired "On a Note of Triumph," an epic aural mosaic. This program is considered to be the climax of the luminous period in radio history when writing of high merit, produced with consummate skill was nurtured and protected from commercial interference. After the broadcast, phone calls and letters of praise flooded the network, including a letter from Carl Sandburg calling "On a Note of Triumph ""one of the all the all-time great American poems." Corwin went on to win the first Wendell Willkie Award--a trip around the world sponsored by Freedom House and the Common Council for American Unity. Corwin accepted the Willkie Award on the condition it would be a working trip. He wanted the opportunity to record people in various countries and develop a series of documentaries on the state of the postwar world. CBS offered full support. The thirteen-part series, "One World Flight," aired in 1947. "Norman Corwin's One World Flight "provides the reader with an unrivaled perspective. During Corwin's travels to 17 countries in 1946, he kept a journal of his personal thoughts and observations. It was put in a drawer where it remained for decades. More than sixty years after the trip, media historian Michael Keith asked Corwin--who is now in his nineties--if he had kept a log or journal of his One World travels. He had, and his analysis of international communications still rings true today.>

This book analyses the process of 'reshaping' liberated societies in post-1945 Europe. Post-war societies tried to solve three main questions immediately after the dark times of occupation: Who could be considered a patriot and a valuable member of the respective national community? How could relations between men and women be (re-)established? How could the respective society strengthen national cohesion? Violence in rather different forms appeared to be a powerful tool for such a complex reshaping of societies. The chapters are based on present primary research about specific cases and consider the different political, mental, and cultural developments in various nation-states between 1944 and 1948. Examples from Italy, France, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary demonstrate a new comparative and fascinating picture of post-war Europe. This perspective overcomes the notorious East-West dividing line, without covering the manifold differences between individual European countries.

WINNER OF THE HWA NON-FICTION CROWN A TIMES AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Britain's wartime story has been told many times, but never as cleverly as this.' Dominic Sandbrook In the bleak first half of the Second World War, Britain stood alone against the Axis forces. Isolated and outmanoeuvred, it seemed as though she might fall at any moment. Only an extraordinary effort of courage - by ordinary men and women - held the line. The Second World War is the defining experience of modern British history, a new Iliad for our own times. But, as Alan Allport reveals in this, the first part of a major new two-volume history, the real story was often very different from the myth that followed it. From the subtle moral calculus of appeasement to the febrile dusts of the Western Desert, Allport interrogates every aspect of the conflict - and exposes its echoes in our own age. Challenging orthodoxy and casting fresh light on famous events from Dunkirk to the Blitz, this is the real story of a clash between civilisations that remade the world in its image.

This book, part media history and part group biography, tells the story of the BBC's attempts to reach out to listeners in Nazi Germany at a time when Anglo-German relations were particularly strained. Who were the individuals behind the microphone, whose names could only be mentioned in whispered conversations on the continent? Who wrote the satirical sketches that offered comic relief to housewives struggling to obtain enough food to feed their families? And who made decisions about programme delivery and staffing? Drawing extensively on previously unexamined archival material, The BBC German Service during the Second World War: Broadcasting to the Enemy sheds light on the complex, often difficult working arrangements at the wartime BBC where people from different nationalities and socio-political backgrounds collaborated and argued about the delivery of an effective propaganda programme that would assist the Allies in defeating the Nazis.

This book describes the design, manufacture, covert shipment and use of the many ingenious evasion and escape devices provided to Allied troops during WWII. Following the fall of mainland Europe, hostile Allied actions against land-based Axis forces were generally limited to air attacks. However, as the numbers of those attacks increased, the number of aircraft and crews failing to return grew alarmingly: something needed to be done to provide these air crews with aids to enable them to evade to safe territory or escape captivity, or losses of irreplaceable crews would become critical. Britain's MI-9 and U.S. MIS-X organizations were formed solely to support evaders and prisoners of war in occupied territories. They developed a wide variety of evasion and escape devices that were given to Allied Forces prior to operations in hostile territory or delivered clandestinely to POWs. It worked: the aids facilitated the return of thousands of men to their units.

Behind the celebrated code-breaking at Bletchley Park lies another secret...The men and women of the ' Y' (for Wireless' ) Service were sent out across the world to run listening stations from Gibraltar to Cairo, intercepting the German military's encrypted messages for decoding back at the now-famous Bletchley Park mansion. Such wartime postings were life-changing adventures - travel out by flying boat or Indian railways, snakes in filing cabinets and heat so intense the perspiration ran into your shoes - but many of the secret listeners found lifelong romance in their far-flung corner of the world. Now, drawing on dozens of interviews with surviving veterans, Sinclair McKay tells their remarkable story at last.

The epic, untold story of China's devastating eight-year war of resistance against Japan
For decades, a major piece of World War II history has gone virtually unwritten. The war began in China, two years before Hitler invaded Poland, and China eventually became the fourth great ally, partner to the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. Yet its drama of invasion, resistance, slaughter, and political intrigue remains little known in the West.
Rana Mitter focuses his gripping narrative on three towering leaders: Chiang Kai-shek, the politically gifted but tragically flawed head of China's Nationalist government; Mao Zedong, the Communists' fiery ideological stalwart, seen here at the beginning of his epochal career; and the lesser-known Wang Jingwei, who collaborated with the Japanese to form a puppet state in occupied China. Drawing on Chinese archives that have only been unsealed in the past ten years, he brings to vivid new life such characters as Chiang's American chief of staff, the unforgettable "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, and such horrific events as the Rape of Nanking and the bombing of China's wartime capital, Chongqing. Throughout, "Forgotten Ally" shows how the Chinese people played an essential role in the wider war effort, at great political and personal sacrifice.
"Forgotten Ally" rewrites the entire history of World War II. Yet it also offers surprising insights into contemporary China. No twentieth-century event was as crucial in shaping China's worldview, and no one can understand China, and its relationship with America today, without this definitive work.

With the same drama and excitement as Panzer Aces, Panzer Aces II relates the combat careers of six more decorated German Panzer officers. Extensively researched, these gripping accounts follow the men and their tanks across three continents into some of World War II's bloodiest engagements. They campaigned with Rommel in the deserts of North Africa, participated in the monumental tank battle at Kursk, and, maneuvering only by muzzle flashes, fought frightening small-unit contests in the dark of night. Master tacticians and gutsy leaders, these men, including Hermann von Oppeln-Bronikowski, Kurt Knispel, Karl Nicolussi-Leck, and others, are legends.